Nearly 100,000 fish released to Nebraska lakes

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – If you happen to head to any of Nebraska’s lakes, you may go fishing and once you do you’ll most likely catch a fish or two. The query is, how do they get there? 10/11 NOW’s Nathan Brennan bought a take a look at how the method performs out to inventory Nebraska’s lakes.

It’s not so simple as dumping a bunch of fish in a lake, it’s fairly the duty. Thousands and thousands of fish are grown after which moved to dozens of Nebraska’s lakes and waterways. This time of yr, it’s rainbow trout that make the journey.

“They’re 10 inch trout that we’ve raised in our hatcheries,” Fisheries Outreach Program Supervisor for Nebraska Recreation and Parks, Daryl Bauer mentioned. “Severely you can begin catching them as quickly as we inventory them.”

All through the month of October, Nebraska Recreation and Parks restocks rainbow trout, numerous them.

“It’s about 99,000 of these 10 inch rainbow trout that we’re stocking across the state this fall,” Bauer mentioned. “About 70 totally different water our bodies from actually one nook of Nebraska to the opposite.”

It’s not simply rainbow trout which are stocked all year long. In complete Nebraska Recreation and Parks hatcheries will produce over 30 million fish all through the state in a given yr. Bauer mentioned there could also be hundreds of thousands of fish on website nearly all yr spherical.

As for the rainbow trout, right here’s how the method works. Trout eggs arrive in Nebraska from neighboring states. As soon as right here, they’re raised in a hatchery for a couple of yr, earlier than they’ll lastly be launched.

“We inventory them in city park waters across the state this time of yr when the water is chilly sufficient to help trout,” Bauer mentioned. “It’s just because they’re comparatively straightforward to catch and we wish to put them within the city areas for starting anglers particularly youngsters to get them simply.”

In Lincoln, 3,000 rainbow trout had been launched at Holmes Lake and 400 had been launched at Bowling Lake on Oct. 18. Bauer mentioned the fish gained’t be there for lengthy.

“As soon as the water warms up subsequent summer time it will get too heat for trout, so even the fish that we inventory within the spring, most of them will get caught earlier than the water will get too heat,” Bauer mentioned. “Most of these fish, consider it or not, will likely be caught by anglers and so they’ll be caught in a couple of months.”

Whereas it’s an in depth and interesting operation, it’s all completed with a objective.

“In the end our aim is to get folks out right here and get them fishing,” Bauer mentioned. “It’s an ideal exercise, one thing the entire household can do collectively.”

The fish in Holmes Lake are anticipated to be caught so shortly, Nebraska Recreation and Parks already plans to launch one other 3,000 rainbow trout in December.

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