The Trout Stream

Trout Unlimited and the DNR promote voluntary catch and release and CPR, no, not cardiopulmonary resuscitation for the fish, but Consider Proper Release. Proper release means that you follow simple strategies to return the fish to the water with little to no harm to its health. CPR advocates using a landing net and not playing the fish to exhaustion, handling the fish in the net and grasping it across the back and head, turning it belly up when removing hooks, cutting the line of a swallowed hook and not removing it, and returning the fish to water in less than 10 to 15 seconds.

Season for trout and limits can all be found in the DNR Trout Fishing publication or online at the DNR website www.dnr.wi.gov. Regular open season for inland waters begins on May 3 at 5:00 AM, but an early catch and release season for trout began on March 2 and runs until April 29. With the snow finally melting and the sun warming the air, the trout fishing bug is beginning to hit and if you’re in Marquette or Waushara Counties, you’re not far from a trout stream.

In A River Runs Through It, author Norman Maclean wrote, “My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things – trout as well as eternal salvation – come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy.”

Trout nor art may not come easy, but swift flowing, clear, cold trout streams are plentiful in Marquette and Waushara Counties for those seeking to find where they fit into the grander scheme of things.

Captions

David Bartz, DNR Fisheries Biologist works out of the office in Montello. He recently talked about habitation management of trout streams in Waushara and Marquette Counties. There are 33 streams in Waushara and 13 in Marquette. Many are Class 1 streams where trout populations maintain themselves naturally.

Fishermen and women in Marquette and Waushara Counties will find Brook, Brown, and Rainbow trout in various trout streams. Only the Brook is native to Wisconsin waters. Some streams are stocked and others have naturally maintained populations. The Department of Natural Resources and groups like Trout Unlimited do extensive work to maintain good habitat for trout.

Chaffee Creek in Marquette County is a Class 1 trout stream. That means that stocking is not needed to maintain the population, but that habitat is right for natural reproduction. This picture was taken last summer on the swiftly flowing trout stream. Catch and release is open now and regular fishing season starts May 3 this year.