Early Trout Stockings Taking Place This Week

Take advantage of beautiful spring weather and plan a trout fishing trip to the north Georgia Mountains! How about an early trout stocking to sweeten the deal?

WRD and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will cooperatively stock 40,000 trout in Georgia during the week of Mar. 6, giving anglers their first opportunity to harvest some freshly stocked trout in 2017.  Regular weekly stockings for the 2017 stocking season begin on Mar. 20, when an additional 70,000 trout will hit the water.

Despite the low stream flows being experienced in north Georgia, the trout stocking program is still aiming to stock 1 million fish this year.

“With the current spring-like conditions and all trout waters open to fishing year-round, we have decided to stock approximately 40,0000 trout two weeks early,” says WRD trout stocking coordinator John Lee Thomson. “Due to the mild winter, we have experienced excellent trout growth in our hatcheries, and with the continuing low stream flows, these fish have outgrown the available hatchery space giving us the opportunity to stock a few weeks early this year.”

Some popular stocked streams that will receive trout during this early stocking effort include Cooper Creek in Union County, Tallulah River in Rabun County, Dicks Creek in Lumpkin County, Holly Creek in Murray County and Johns Creek in Floyd County. The daily limit is eight trout on general regulation trout waters. Anglers are reminded to respect private property rights along streams flowing through private lands and to obtain permission before fishing on private property.

Anglers must possess a current Georgia fishing license and a trout license to fish in designated trout waters and to fish for or possess trout.  Anglers must also possess a wildlife management area license or Georgia Outdoor Recreation Pass (GORP) in order to fish on certain WMAs.  Find a list of designated areas at www.georgiawildlife.com/Georgia-Outdoor-Recreational-Pass .

Anglers must possess a current Georgia fishing license to fish in public waters.  Buy it online at www.gooutdoorsgeorgia.com, at a retail license vendor (list at www.georgiawildlife.com/licenses-permits-passes ) or buy it by phone at 1-800-366-2661.

For the list of stocked trout streams, visit www.georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Trout or call (770) 535-5498.