Colorado Trout Stocking Report 2026
Every sentence here comes from Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), and each section names its sources. Updated .
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) runs 19 fish hatcheries, and rainbow trout are the mainstay of what they stock. Most of Colorado's lakes and reservoirs are managed as put-and-take: stocked on the expectation that anglers will keep their limits. Catchable trout, about 10 inches long, go into ponds, lakes and reservoirs across the state, and CPW's Fish Stocking Report lists the waters stocked recently. It is updated every Friday through the fishing season.
From CPW: Fish Hatcheries, CPW: Rainbow Trout, CPW: How Fish Are Stocked and CPW: Fish Stocking Report.
The CPW trout stocking report
The waters stocked with catchable trout in recent weeks, by region, each with the date it was added and a link to the water on the Colorado Fishing Atlas. It is updated on Fridays, and the date beside a water is when it went onto the report: the trout may have gone in earlier that week.
Open the Fish Stocking ReportWhen Colorado stocks trout
Catchable trout, Front Range and Eastern Plains
The Chalk Cliffs unit stocks 10-inch trout in public ponds and lakes from Loveland to Trinidad and out to the Kansas border. Its season starts in January, is busiest from mid-February to mid-June, stops when the water gets too warm, and resumes from late September through December. In western Colorado the Rifle Falls hatchery, the largest state-run trout hatchery, stocks streams, lakes and reservoirs, and it sends catchable trout to the Front Range as well.
By airplane to backcountry lakes
CPW stocks more than 500 backcountry lakes by airplane with fingerling trout under an inch long, most of the flights early in the morning in late summer and fall, when storms and wind are less likely. More than 90 percent of the fingerlings survive the drop.
From CPW: Chalk Cliffs Trout Rearing Unit, CPW: Rifle Falls Fish Hatchery and CPW: How Fish Are Stocked.
Rules on stocked water
- Anglers 15 and under fish free. Residents 18 to 63 pay $44.87 for an annual license and 16- and 17-year-olds $12.96; nonresidents pay $124.01 a year or $41.04 for five days. A one-day license is $18.07 for residents and $21.90 for nonresidents.
- Anglers 18 to 64 also buy a $12.76 Habitat Stamp once a year, except with their first two one-day licenses. An annual license runs 13 months, from March 1 through March 31 of the next year.
- Bag and possession limits, and the special rules on many waters, are in CPW's Colorado Fishing Brochure. Gold Medal waters, the rivers and lakes with exceptional chances at large trout, usually carry special restrictions, so check them before you fish.
From CPW: Fishing Licenses and Dates, CPW: Fish Stocking Report and CPW: How Fish Are Stocked.
How to hear about a stocking
- Check the Fish Stocking Report on Fridays during the season, when it is updated.
Worth knowing before you go looking
- Kids' fishing days are usually stocked with catchable trout beforehand.
- Not every Colorado water is stocked. Some trout streams hold wild, self-sustaining fish, though most waters in the state are stocked from hatcheries.
From CPW: Rifle Falls Fish Hatchery and CPW: How Fish Are Stocked.
Which day to fish it
The schedule says where the fish went in. Which day to go is a different question: the forecast scores each day of the week for trout at the water you pick, from its water temperature, the wind and the weather.
See the week for rainbow troutSpecies guides: Rainbow Trout · Cutthroat Trout · Brown Trout · Brook Trout
Sources
Every sentence above was read on one of these pages, and a check re-reads each quoted line against the page it came from.
Spotted something out of date or plain wrong here? Tell us and we will check it.