Illinois Trout Stocking Schedule 2026

Every sentence here comes from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), and each section names its sources. Updated .

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) stocks catchable rainbow trout of 10 to 11 inches in lakes, ponds and streams for a fall season and a spring season: more than 80,000 for the fall and another 80,000 for the spring. The 2026 fall season opens at 5 a.m. on Saturday, October 17, at 60 sites, and IDNR's Trout Fishing Sites page lists them. Keeping trout takes an inland trout stamp on top of the fishing license, and the limit is 5 trout a day.

From IDNR: 2026 Illinois Fishing Information, April 2026 to March 2027 (PDF) and IDNR (ifishillinois.org): Trout Fishing Sites.

The IDNR trout stocking schedule

The season's opening date and every stocked site, by region and county. For fall 2026 it lists 60 ponds, lakes and streams. Opening times differ: not every site opens at 5 a.m., and IDNR asks anglers to check their site's time and rules before opening day.

Open the Trout Fishing Sites
  • Fish Stocking Reports: Stockings from the last five years, filtered by species, year or water. It records what was stocked, not what is coming.

From IDNR (ifishillinois.org): Trout Fishing Sites and IDNR (ifishillinois.org): Fish Stocking Reports.

When Illinois stocks trout

Spring catchable trout

Trout are stocked in the closed period from March 15, and the spring season opens at 5 a.m. on the first Saturday of April. Select sites are stocked early for a catch and release season that starts two weeks before the opener.

Fall catchable trout

Trout are stocked in the closed period from October 1, and the fall season opens at 5 a.m. on the third Saturday of October: October 17 in 2026, at 60 sites, with early catch and release at select sites from October 3. Stocked trout can last the winter at some sites, so trout may be kept there through the year except in the two closed periods.

From IDNR: 2026 Illinois Fishing Information, April 2026 to March 2027 (PDF) and IDNR (ifishillinois.org): Trout Fishing Sites.

Rules on stocked water

  • Anglers 16 and older need a fishing license. For the license year to March 31, 2027, a resident annual license costs $15 and a nonresident one $31.50; nonresidents can also buy a 3-day license for $15.50 or a 24-hour one for $10.50, and residents a 24-hour one for $5.50. The inland trout stamp is $6.50.
  • The inland trout stamp covers trout anywhere but Lake Michigan, where a salmon stamp is needed instead. IDNR's trout page says everyone fishing the stocked sites, including those releasing fish during the early catch and release season, needs the license and stamp unless exempt.
  • At the stocked sites no trout may be kept from March 15 to the spring opener or from October 1 to the fall opener, though other species may be fished. During an early catch and release season every trout goes back at once. In season the limit is 5 trout a day.

From IDNR: 2026 Illinois Fishing Information, April 2026 to March 2027 (PDF), IDNR: Fishing Licenses and IDNR (ifishillinois.org): Trout Fishing Sites.

How to hear about a stocking

  • IDNR announces each season's opener and its stocked sites on its Trout Fishing Sites page.
  • For more on the program, IDNR's Division of Fisheries takes calls at 217/782-6424.

From IDNR (ifishillinois.org): Trout Fishing Sites and IDNR: 2026 Illinois Fishing Information, April 2026 to March 2027 (PDF).

Worth knowing before you go looking

  • At a fee fishing area licensed by IDNR, neither a fishing license nor the inland trout stamp is needed.

From IDNR: 2026 Illinois Fishing Information, April 2026 to March 2027 (PDF).

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

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.