Restocking Trout Program for Colorado River

Since
the beginning of October, we have seen the first action of the restocking
program in the Colorado River, devoted to putting trout back in the streams.
The program, developed by the Arizona Game and Fish department, was one of many
options they had been trying to decide on for bringing trout back into the
Colorado River. It was such a momentous occasion to have grown the first batch
of trout in the hatchery and then released them that it led to celebrations,
and those celebrations continue as more than 20,000 trout are being pushed back
into the streams.

Many of
these celebrations over the past few weeks have included events for free
fishing just in the excitement of having so many trout back in the River. Of
course, fishing was never slacking for the Colorado River goers since Trout had
been vanishing from the river. But this program is supposedly only temporary,
as a means of putting trout back in the waters while a more long-term solution
is determined.

Many
people believe it is unlikely that restrictions on fishing will be set in
place, other than ones that already exist. Mohave County in particular stated
that the fish are biting and fishing is open, but others still think the only
option is to limit fishing or continually restocking the lake so that water can
still be drawn from the Colorado River.

The best
advantage to the fishing events going on for the month though, is that fishing
licenses are waived only for the events. Limits are still held such as the
limit of ten trout to an adult, but anyone is free to fish during those event
times. It’s a great time to bring along some people who haven’t, because even
if they don’t catch any trout, the experience is still well worth it. So stop
by for some fishing in Arizona and celebrate the emergence of the rainbow trout
in the lake and river.