OutdoorMN News - Enjoy fall, winter with Minnesota trout fishing opportunities

[Rick]

A southeastern Minnesota stream reflects brilliantly colored leaves in fall – until the splash of a trout on the end of an angler’s line breaks the surface. Anglers can enjoy scenes like these now through a variety of fall trout fishing opportunities.  

“Fall is a beautiful time to experience trout fishing in streams in southeastern Minnesota,” said Brian Nerbonne, stream habitat consultant with the Department of Natural Resources. “Anglers are fewer, the scenery can be awe inspiring and fishing can be quite good.”

In most of the state, trout fishing is open until Friday, Sept. 30. However, anglers can make a longer go at it in southeastern Minnesota streams.

Catch-and-release trout fishing is open through Saturday, Oct. 15, on streams in the southeastern Minnesota counties of Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Wabasha and Winona. In these counties, fishing then reopens for a winter catch-and-release season that runs Sunday, Jan. 1, to Friday, April 14, 2017.

For even more fishing, anglers who want to trout fish all year long can do so in streams in Beaver Creek Valley, Forestville and Whitewater state parks, whether through a catch-and-release or harvest season depending on the time of year.

“If you think trout are hard to catch in winter, consider the research over the last year that shows trout continue to feed heavily in winter,” Nerbonne said. “Different teams of researchers found trout with anywhere from 30 to more than 100 prey items in their stomachs, depending on the study.”

Vaughn Snook, Lanesboro assistant area fisheries supervisor, said numbers of brown trout longer than 12 inches are at record highs or close to it on some trout streams in southeastern Minnesota.

“Now is the time to take advantage of those great fish. Numbers of young trout look good for coming years,” Snook said.

Reports of anglers using hopper patterns (grasshopper imitating flies) have been good in areas thick with grass. Grasshoppers will become active, and thus more likely to fall into the stream, as the sun warms their bodies in the afternoon. Blue-winged olive hatches (try using no. 20-22 olive mayfly) will be seen until the first frost, sometimes even after.

Because both brown trout and brook trout become aggressive in the fall, closer to their spawning time, anglers should also consider presenting streamers (minnow imitating flies) in deep runs and pools.

“Numerous brown trout over 20 inches have been reportedly caught by anglers already this late summer and fall period,” Snook said.

Minnesota has 3,817 miles of designated trout streams, plus 2,699 miles of designated trout stream tributaries. In 2015, the state’s five coldwater hatcheries produced 1.7 million fingerlings, yearlings and adult fish for stocking in 75 streams and 158 lakes – roughly 201 tons of fish. Last year, 106,463 anglers purchased a validation required to fish for trout, an all-time high. However, fewer anglers tend to fish in the fall.

Anglers fishing on designated trout waters must have a trout stamp in addition to an angling license. Maps showing trout fishing locations in southern Minnesota, as well as other information on trout fishing, can be found at www.mndnr.gov/fishing/trout_streams.

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