When's the St. Peter trout pond stockings?

[fisherman-andy]

When's the St. Peter trout pond stockings? Or are their any stockings planned for 2012 year and dates.

[Comit 2]

Trout season opens on the 14 of April, The Ponds should be stocked the day before that and something like every other Friday after that for a total of 4 stockings.

[Scott M]

Come and get it!

2012 Schedule

Friday April 13 (eve of state stream trout opener) – 1,500 rainbow trout yearlings

Friday, April 20 – 1,500 rainbow trout yearlings

Friday, May 4 – 1,000 rainbow trout yearlings

Friday, May 18 – 1,000 rainbow trout yearlings

[Comit 2]

Quote:

Come and get it!

You gotta love.

Thank you Scot.

[rushing]

They need to mix some browns in with them rainbows.

[hookncook]

why do you guys want to go after stock pond trout? To me that's a lot like walking up to the petting zoo and shooting the biggest buck.

tie on a small grey fly or put some fish pellets in a spawn sack hardly sounds like much of a challenge. Aside from this, the meat is white and pasty (IMHO)

[OnAFly]

I'll have to agree with hookncook. The meat on those things tastes almost muddy. I went down there a couple times in college. It was nearly elbow to elbow some times.

[ted4887]

why do you guys want to go after stock pond trout?

It's because it's the only place withing about 100 miles to fish for trout. Another reason is because it is a great opportunity to put the kids onto fish. Even when it is elbow to elbow, you can bet that there will be a lot of children reeling in fish.

[Comit 2]

Just make the pond a little bigger, put some Walleyes in it and you have all the lakes in this area. Walleye ponds.

Who said you have to eat them?????????????????????

[JBMasterAngler]

Although I do believe trout fishing is a great oppurtunity, I will always believe the st peter pond is a huge waste of money for a trout budget that is in danger! With a few rare exceptions in the state, trout belong in trout country! Might suck for people that don't have the chance to make it up north (or southeast), but that's how it goes sometimes.

[itchmesir]

I agree.. it's a great waste.. all the trout ponds are basically a big waste with how the budget is a year from being in the red... There are plenty of lakes in Minnesota that are filled with sunnies if the main objective is "a place for kids to catch fish".. and there are a handful of streams that are handicap accessible if that's the other reason.. would be cheaper to make more streams accessible than tossing rainbows.. of all species.. into ponds.. i got nothing against rainbows... but seems it would make more sense to stock these ponds.. if we must.. with stream harvested browns/brookies... the DNR seems to have this idea down pretty well for stream stocking.. don't see why they don't do it with the ponds

[ted4887]

Have you ever seen the trout stamp sales that are generated out of the St. Peter area? If you did you'd realize that the St. Peter trout ponds, as far as the few thousand trout they get yearly, are anything but a waste of money.

I searched back for the data, but can't seem to find it. I'd bet Da_chise has access to it though, or at least knows what I'm referring to.

[Comit 2]

Quote:

I will always believe the st peter pond is a huge waste of money for a trout budget that is in danger!

Elbow to elbow fishermen need to buy Trout stamps too.

How is stocking fish different just by region? A stocked fish is a stocked fish. We pay someone to grow them so we can catch them. End of story.

No way are Rainbows native.

So what is your outlook on 7 mile creek? How about the creek near Northfield(native Trout there)? How about the Courthouse pond? I do think that is a lot of stamps being sold that wouldn't be if we only stocked the Driftless.

Wouldn't it be something to see ALL the trout stamp holders head to the Root River on opening day? Now that would be a lot of whiny little babes wondering what happened to there spot.

Don't knock the ponds.

[itchmesir]

"No Way Rainbows Are Natives"

Neither are browns.. but when they reproduce solely by themselves.. we start thinking of them as ones.. Brook trout are the only native trout species in Minnesota.. and I bet within a decade or so.. we start seeing more streams that reproduce rainbow/steelies... From what I've been told.. some streams are already reproducing rainbows.. not in numbers.. but it is an improvement from the "it'll never happen" attitude

I guess my thing with the ponds is that rainbows don't hold over.. either they are all caught or die off... why can't we work on making these ponds sustain trout like up north with brooks? maybe i'm missing something in the equation here.. sure it gets warm down here... but august up north ain't no daisy either

[JBMasterAngler]

I could care less if rainbows are native or not. I never even mentioned that in my argument. It costs about $3 to $4 per yearling rainbow to stock. So that puts the cost of the st peter pond at $15,000 to $25,000 a year. And that's just the price of the fish, that doesn't include labor and equipment costs. Are enough trout stamps sold down there to cover that? This isn't the only place I think trout money is being wasted at, there are several lakes/streams up north that would benefit the budget if stocking were to be discontinued.

[rushing]

lol @ Wasted

[hookncook]

I retract my argument. Yesterday, I went to a convention where the social impact of trout fishing was discussed.

Many people look forward and desire this kind of trout fishing. It seems to appear that the "take a kid fishing" point gets brought up when discussing these stock ponds; I would like to point out the old timers that you see sitting on buckets on a Tuesday morning. They limit out, run home; then return only to limit out again. I do enjoy the concept of kid only ponds though, and see these stock ponds getting abused.

On the social impact, I grew up fishing the trout streams of the coulee region (driftless area) and am spoiled. I forget that there are others that don't have access to the fishery that I have and ponds like these produce a sudo trout environment that may create to some point a tradition of sorts.

[reinhard1]

in my opinion Trout are for everybody. these trout ponds here in the metro serve a purpose for those who for some reason or other cant make the trip up north or just for a chance to catch a trout close by. there are a few old timers at Cenaiko who are there almost every day for the chance of a meal of trout. sometimes they are lucky and sometimes conversation rules the day.

busy parents also have a shot at taking the kids fishing after work or on a weekend in these spots. i dont think you can put a dollar value on the enjoyment of catching a trout down here, or one up north to any one individual. i prefer up north because there the trout is a bonus for me, and being outdoors and observing nature at it's best is my priority. my trout stamp covers the state, not just my prefered area. good luck.

[Comit 2]

Let us not forget the guys like the one who owns the bait shop on Ottawa road near the St Peter Ponds (Pauls Creek). I'm sure he brings in some tax revenue. Gander Mt in Mankato sells a few more Hares ears and Trout worms too because of the ponds.

I also get to meet a lot of new people. My daughter will catch her first Trout this year!

[Wabamskee]

I personally think there is no match to catching a wild trout on the fly, but from growing up in St Peter I know a large number of fisherman that look forward to these stockings more than any other fishing event of the year. For me it is a chance to take the mom and dad out with a fly rod, which they would never do if this was not available locally. I agree that this ponds are abused, and it is extremely unfortunate that they are fished out in about 2 days after stocking, but you have to love our DNR for making these types of efforts to broaden the local selection.