Iowa Trout Stocking Schedule 2026

Every sentence here comes from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (Iowa DNR), and each section names its sources. Updated October 16, 2026.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (Iowa DNR) stocks catchable rainbow trout in 48 public streams and ponds in northeast Iowa from April through October, and in community lakes and ponds around the state in fall, winter and spring, in places too warm for trout in summer. Its 2026 Trout Stream Stocking Calendar lists the announced stream stockings, and its Community Trout Stocking Schedule the lake and pond dates. To fish for or keep trout, anyone who needs a fishing license must also pay the trout fee. The limit is 5 trout a day.

From Iowa DNR: Trout Fishing, Iowa DNR: Winter community trout stockings start Jan. 10 (23 December 2025), Iowa DNR: 2026 Trout Stream Stocking Calendar (PDF) and Iowa DNR: Community Trout Stocking Schedule.

The Iowa DNR trout stocking schedule

Every community lake and pond with its town and the date and time of its fall and spring stockings for 2026. Each location is stocked twice, with about 1,500 trout each time. Winter stockings depend on the weather and the ice, and the DNR posts changes on this page.

Open the Community Trout Stocking Schedule

2026 Trout Stream Stocking Calendar: The announced stream stockings, day by day, from April through September 2026, with the streams stocked about once a week and those stocked at least twice a month. Each stream appears only once a month, though it is stocked as often as its group says; its other stockings are not announced. Dates can move with the weather.

From Iowa DNR: Trout Fishing, Iowa DNR: 2026 Trout Stream Stocking Calendar (PDF), Iowa DNR: Community Trout Stocking Schedule and Iowa DNR: Winter community trout stockings start Jan. 10 (23 December 2025).

When Iowa stocks trout

Northeast Iowa trout streams

The trout page, as read in 2026, puts stream stocking at more than 300,000 catchable rainbow trout a year, from April through October, plus more than 600 brood trout of over 2 pounds released a few at a time. How many trout a stream gets, and how often, depends on its length and how many anglers use it. Announced stockings run from April through September, and the streams also get unannounced ones. The trout come from the Manchester, Big Spring and Decorah hatcheries. Brown trout are no longer stocked in northeast Iowa streams, because wild browns reproduce on their own. Brook trout are stocked to restore wild populations, from wild Iowa eggs hatched at Manchester.

Community lakes and ponds

In 2026 the spring community stockings ran from March 16 to April 25, and the fall ones run from October 23 to November 24. For the winter of 2026 the DNR planned stockings at nine locations, the dated ones from January 10 to February 7. Several were postponed for the weather, and four were left unannounced until the ice was safe.

Rules on stocked water

An annual fishing license costs a resident $22 and a nonresident $48, and the trout fee $14.50 for a resident and $17.50 for a nonresident. Nonresidents can also buy a 1-day license for $12, a 3-day for $20.50 or a 7-day for $37.50.
Children under 16 need no license and may fish for trout with an adult who has a license and the trout fee, sharing that adult's limit of 5. A child who pays the trout fee can fish alone and keep a limit of their own.
Trout season is open all year on all waters. You may keep 5 trout a day and have 10. There is no length limit except a 14-inch minimum on all trout in Spring Branch, from the spring to County Highway D5X as posted, and on brown trout in posted parts of Bloody Run Creek.
Catch and release only on the posted parts of Hewett and Ensign creeks, McLoud Run and Waterloo Creek for all trout; of French Creek and West Branch French Creek for brown trout; and of South Pine Creek, Casey Springs, Falcon Springs and Pine Spring Creek for brook trout.
Artificial lures only, with no scent or flavor added, on the posted parts of Bloody Run Creek, Casey Springs, Ensign Creek, Falcon Springs, French Creek, Hewett Creek, McLoud Run, Pine Spring Creek, South Pine Creek, Spring Branch and Waterloo Creek.
The kids' trout ponds at Big Spring Hatchery and the Bellevue Fishing Station are for anglers 15 and younger, who must be with an adult holding a license and the trout fee. The limit there is 2 trout a day, counting any released.

From Iowa DNR: Trout Fishing and Iowa DNR: Fishing Licenses.

How to hear about a stocking

The stream calendar names the announced stockings for each day from April through September; the rest are not announced.
The DNR announces the winter community stockings in a news release; for 2026 it came on December 23, 2025, and said the spring locations would be announced in February.

From Iowa DNR: Trout Fishing and Iowa DNR: Winter community trout stockings start Jan. 10 (23 December 2025).

Worth knowing before you go looking

Dalton Pond in Jackson County is still on the 2026 stream calendar, but the DNR has ended trout stocking there and the privately owned pond is closed to the public.
Trout streams run through public and private land, and the stream bottom is private unless the land around it is public. Where there is no public fishing sign, assume it is private and ask the landowner.

From Iowa DNR: 2026 Trout Stream Stocking Calendar (PDF) and Iowa DNR: Trout 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 · 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.