Indiana Trout Stocking Schedule 2026

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

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (Indiana DNR) stocks rainbow and brown trout in lakes and streams in spring, and again in mid-to-late October. For spring 2026 it planned nearly 52,000 trout for 37 waters in 22 counties: the lakes first, then the streams before trout season opened on the last Saturday in April. Lakes are open for trout all year. On streams, trout can be kept from the last Saturday in April through December 31, and caught and released from January 1 through April 14. Anglers 18 and older need a fishing license and a trout/salmon stamp.

From Indiana DNR: Curtis Creek Trout Rearing Station, Indiana DNR: Inland Trout Stocking Plan (PDF), Indiana DNR: Trout stockings taking place across Indiana (April 21, 2026), Indiana DNR: Indiana Fish Stocking and 312 IAC 9-7-13, Trout and salmon (Indiana Administrative Code).

The Indiana DNR trout stocking schedule

Every water DNR plans to stock that year, by county, with the target number of rainbow and brown trout for each: the lakes in early spring, the streams for opening day, the extra stream stockings in May, and the fall stocking. Each round has a planned window rather than a date, set by ice-out in spring and by the water cooling in fall, and every number is a target that production, access and other factors can change.

Open the Inland Trout Stocking Plan
  • Indiana Fish Stocking Dashboard: Every stocking DNR has on record, past and current, searchable by water, species, county and year, on a map and in a table. It counts fish from DNR hatcheries, fish DNR bought, and stockings by clubs under a DNR permit. It updates every 24 hours as staff enter stockings. A river stocking marks only its county, with no dot on the map.

From Indiana DNR: Indiana Fish Stocking, Indiana DNR: Inland Trout Stocking Plan (PDF) and Indiana DNR: Indiana Fish Stocking Dashboard.

When Indiana stocks trout

Spring lake stocking

Rainbow trout go into the lakes as soon as the ice allows. The plan sets a window of mid-March to mid-April; in 2026 every lake was stocked in February and March. The 2026 plan listed 14,150 rainbows for lakes and pits from Lake Gage in Steuben County to Spring Mill Lake in Lawrence County. Oliver Lake in LaGrange County also gets brown trout in mid-May: 3,245 of them in the 2026 plan. Lakes have no closed season for trout, so there is no wait for opening day.

Opening day and May on the streams

DNR stocks rainbow trout in streams in the weeks before the last Saturday in April, when stream season opens: 20,850 of them in 2026, most in the northern counties and the rest in three southern waters, the Brookville and Harden Reservoir tailwaters and the Big Blue River. Brown trout follow in May: more than 11,000 in 2026. A few streams get more rainbows on the second weekend of the season and again for Memorial Day weekend: in 2026 the Pigeon River, Turkey Creek, the Little Elkhart River, the Little Kankakee River, Slocum Ditch and Potato Creek. The trout come from the Curtis Creek Trout Rearing Station near Howe, in LaGrange County, and averaged about 11 inches in 2026.

Fall stocking

The fall stocking runs in mid-to-late October, once the water cools. The 2026 plan listed 7,200 brown and 2,155 rainbow trout for lakes, ponds and a few streams around the state, from Shoaff Park Pond in Fort Wayne to Garvin Park Lake in Evansville.

Steelhead and salmon for Lake Michigan

DNR's Bodine and Mixsawbah hatcheries raise steelhead, coho and Chinook salmon for Lake Michigan, and DNR stocks them in three of its tributaries: Trail Creek in LaPorte County, the East Branch of the Little Calumet River in Porter County, and the St. Joseph River, which Indiana manages with the Michigan DNR. The steelhead are two strains, the summer-run Skamania and the winter-run Little Manistee. Most of the young fish go in during early spring and a few in the fall. DNR's Lake Michigan page gives the stream seasons for each: Chinook and coho from September to mid-November, Skamania from mid-July to mid-October and again in winter, and winter-run steelhead from mid-November to mid-March.

From Indiana DNR: Inland Trout Stocking Plan (PDF), Indiana DNR: Trout stockings taking place across Indiana (April 21, 2026), Indiana DNR: Bodine State Fish Hatchery, Indiana DNR: Mixsawbah State Fish Hatchery and Indiana DNR: Lake Michigan Fishing.

Rules on stocked water

  • Anglers 18 and older need an Indiana fishing license and a trout/salmon stamp to fish for trout. Residents pay $23 a year or $10 a day; nonresidents pay $60 a year, $35 for seven days or $15 a day. The stamp is $11, and the one-day licenses include it. A $1 fee is added at a retailer or by mail, or $3 and a card fee online. Annual licenses and stamps run from April 1 to March 31.
  • On streams the limit is 5 trout a day, each at least 7 inches long and no more than one of them a brown trout, from the last Saturday in April after 6 a.m. through December 31.
  • From January 1 through April 14, streams can be fished for trout as long as every fish is released.
  • On parts of three Elkhart County streams all fish must be released, and no live or natural bait, food or scent may be used, only artificial lures and flies: the Little Elkhart River from County Road 43 down to County Road 16, except along Riverbend Park from County Road 16 up to the footbridge; Solomon Creek from County Road 33 to the Elkhart River; and Cobus Creek from Old U.S. 20 to the St. Joseph River.
  • On lakes, trout may be kept at any time of year: 5 trout or salmon a day, no more than one of them a brown trout.
  • A brown trout must be 18 inches or longer to keep at Oliver, Olin and Martin lakes in LaGrange County and on the Whitewater River below the Brookville Reservoir dam.
  • In Lake Michigan and its tributaries, trout and salmon must be at least 14 inches, and the limit is 5 in all, no more than 3 of them lake trout. The St. Joseph River and its tributaries above the Twin Branch Dam are exempt from that rule.

From Indiana DNR: Trout stockings taking place across Indiana (April 21, 2026), Indiana DNR: License Fees, Indiana DNR: Indiana Fish Stocking, 312 IAC 9-7-13, Trout and salmon (Indiana Administrative Code) and Indiana DNR: Inland Trout Stocking Plan (PDF).

How to hear about a stocking

  • DNR's stocking dashboard updates every 24 hours as staff enter stockings, so it shows which waters have been stocked so far.
  • The plan carries the date it was last updated, March 20 for the 2026 plan, so open it again before a trip rather than trusting a saved copy.
  • Wild Bulletin, DNR's free monthly email newsletter, covers fishing opportunities and regulation updates.

From Indiana DNR: Indiana Fish Stocking Dashboard, Indiana DNR: Inland Trout Stocking Plan (PDF) and Indiana DNR: E-mail Newsletters.

Worth knowing before you go looking

  • Trout stocked in streams in October can be kept only through December 31; from January 1 through April 14 they must be released. In the 2026 fall plan those streams were the Brookville Tailwater, the Little Kankakee River, Potato Creek and Spy Run Creek in Fort Wayne.
  • DNR says its trout stocking plans may change with the weather and river levels.
  • Most Lake Michigan tributaries run through private land, where you need the landowner's permission to fish.

From 312 IAC 9-7-13, Trout and salmon (Indiana Administrative Code), Indiana DNR: Inland Trout Stocking Plan (PDF), Indiana DNR: Indiana Fish Stocking and Indiana DNR: Lake Michigan Fishing.

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 · Brown Trout · Steelhead · Coho Salmon · Chinook Salmon

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.