Idaho Trout Stocking Schedule 2026

Every sentence here comes from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (Idaho Fish and Game), and each section names its sources. Updated .

Idaho Fish and Game stocks fry, fingerlings and catchable trout from its hatcheries into rivers, lowland lakes, reservoirs and mountain lakes, most of them rainbow trout and kokanee. The catchable rainbows, 10 to 12 inches, go into ponds and lakes across the state in spring, summer and early fall, where they are likely to be caught. Each region posts the month's stocking forecast by water. Waters are open all year unless a special rule says otherwise, and the general trout limit is 6 a day, all species combined.

From Idaho Fish and Game: Fish Stocking and Schedules, Idaho Fish and Game: Southwest Region Fish Stocking Forecasts and Idaho Fishing Seasons and Rules 2025-2027 (PDF).

The Idaho Fish and Game trout stocking schedule

The current stocking forecast for each of Idaho's regions and a statewide one, each listing the month's stockings by water. Unless a forecast says otherwise, the fish are 10 to 12 inch rainbow trout. Open your region. Between seasons a region's forecast can be empty, and every stocking on it is tentative, depending on the water's condition and on angler safety.

Open the Fish Stocking and Schedules page
  • Historical Stocking (Idaho Fishing Planner): Every stocking on record since 1967, over 100,000 of them by 2026, which can be filtered by region, water and type of water. Anglers use the older records to find lakes and streams that hold grown fish today.

From Idaho Fish and Game: Fish Stocking and Schedules, Idaho Fish and Game: Southwest Region Fish Stocking Forecasts and Idaho Fish and Game: Fishing Planner, stocking records.

When Idaho stocks trout

Catchable rainbows in ponds and lakes

Catchable rainbow trout go into ponds and lakes across Idaho in spring, summer and early fall, put where anglers are likely to catch them.

From Idaho Fish and Game: Fish Stocking and Schedules.

Rules on stocked water

  • Anyone 14 or older needs an Idaho fishing license. Resident children under 14 need none and have their own limit; nonresident children under 14 must fish with a licensed adult, whose limit their fish count toward, unless they buy their own license.
  • Residents pay $30.50 a year, or $13.50 for a first day and $6 for each day after. Nonresidents pay $108 a year, or $22.75 for a first day and $7 for each day after; a nonresident junior license, ages 14 to 17, is $23.75.
  • Unless a water has its own rule, waters are open all year and the trout limit is 6 a day, all species combined, with brook trout counted separately at 25. In the Clearwater Region the trout limit is 2 in rivers and streams and 6 in lakes and reservoirs.

From Idaho Fish and Game: License Fees, Idaho Fish and Game: Resident license, tag and permit fees, Idaho Fish and Game: Nonresident license, tag and permit fees and Idaho Fishing Seasons and Rules 2025-2027 (PDF).

How to hear about a stocking

  • Each region's forecast page lists the coming month's stockings by water, so check your region's at the start of the month.

From Idaho Fish and Game: Southwest Region Fish Stocking Forecasts and Idaho Fish and Game: Fish Stocking and Schedules.

Worth knowing before you go looking

  • Many waters have special rules that change the season or the limit, and the regional maps in the rules brochure show which.
  • The rules brochure covers 2025 to 2027, and the online copy is revised when seasons or rules change; the one current in October 2026 is the 2nd edition, revised September 18, 2026.

From Idaho Fishing Seasons and Rules 2025-2027 (PDF) and Idaho Fish and Game: Fishing Seasons and Rules.

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 trout

Species guides: Rainbow Trout · Kokanee

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.

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