Oklahoma Trout Stocking Schedule 2026
Every sentence here comes from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC), and each section names its sources. Updated .
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) stocks rainbow trout in the state's trout areas, and brown trout in the Lower Mountain Fork and Lower Illinois rivers when it has them. Those two rivers below dams are stocked all year; the other areas are winter fisheries, stocked from November or December into March. Every stocking is tentative, depending on floods, water temperature, how many trout there are and the roads. ODWC posts the latest stocking dates in its weekly fishing reports.
From ODWC: Trout Areas.
The ODWC trout stocking schedule
Each trout area's stocking season, and any stocking ODWC has paused or changed, which it notes on this page. It gives seasons, not dates. For the most recent stocking dates, ODWC points to its weekly fishing reports.
Open the Trout Areas page- Fishing Reports: ODWC's weekly fishing reports, water by water, which carry the latest trout stocking dates. Reports are required only from March to June, so outside those months a water may have none, and ODWC suggests asking it or a local bait shop about conditions.
From ODWC: Trout Areas and ODWC: Fishing Reports.
When Oklahoma stocks trout
Two tailwaters stocked all year
The Lower Mountain Fork River, 12 miles below the Broken Bow Reservoir spillway, about five of them in Beavers Bend State Park, and the Lower Illinois River, 7.75 miles below Tenkiller Ferry Dam, are stocked year-round. In summer, warm water and low oxygen can stop the stocking on both. ODWC asks for water releases from the dams when it needs them, but heat and a shortage of water can still end it.
Winter trout areas
The Blue River near Tishomingo, Sunset Lake in Guymon and the Turtle Pond at Lake Carl Blackwell are stocked from November 1 through March 31. Robbers Cave, below Carlton Lake Dam near Wilburton, and Medicine Creek in Medicine Park are stocked from November 1 through March 15.
City trout in Oklahoma City and Jenks
From December 1 through February 28, ODWC and the cities stock trout at Edwards Park and Route 66 Park in Oklahoma City and at Veterans Pond in Jenks.
From ODWC: Trout Area Information, ODWC: Trout Areas and ODWC: Urban Trout Fishing Locations.
Rules on stocked water
- Anglers 18 and older need an Oklahoma fishing license, for trout as for anything else. Residents pay $31 a year or $11 a day; nonresidents pay $81 a year or $26 a day.
- In the trout areas the daily limit is 3 trout combined, with no minimum size, except on parts of the Blue River, the Lower Illinois and the Lower Mountain Fork. Use one rod and reel or one pole, no snagging; a trout put on your stringer cannot be released later, and each angler needs their own stringer, marked with their customer ID number. After the first day you may hold no more than six trout.
- On the Lower Mountain Fork only barbless hooks may be used. From the spillway down to the Old State Park Dam the limit is 3 trout, with at most one rainbow over 25 inches and one brown, which must be over 30 inches; below that dam, a rainbow must be over 25 inches and a brown over 30, one of each.
- On the Lower Illinois the limit is 3 trout, only one of them a brown over 20 inches, and from the USGS stream gauge down to Gravel Pit County Road it is one trout of at least 20 inches. In the Simp and Helen Watts Management Unit, from the gauge down to E 1000 Road, trout fishing is with artificial flies and lures and barbless hooks only.
- On the Blue River, from November 1 to the end of February, the stretch from where the river enters the north side of the property to the end of the first walk-in trail is catch-and-release only, with barbless hooks and artificial flies and lures. From March 1 those rules lift.
- At the city ponds the limit is 3 trout a day, with one rod and reel, bank fishing only and no culling. Oklahoma City also requires its own fishing permit.
From ODWC: License Requirements, ODWC: Trout Regulations, ODWC: License Fees, ODWC: Trout Area Information and ODWC: Urban Trout Fishing Locations.
How to hear about a stocking
- ODWC's weekly fishing reports carry the most recent stocking dates, and the Trout Areas page notes any change to a stocking.
From ODWC: Trout Areas.
Worth knowing before you go looking
- Not every trout area on older lists is still stocked: Lake Watonga's stocking is suspended indefinitely, Lake Boecher's is paused, and the Perry CCC stockings now go to the Turtle Pond at Lake Carl Blackwell. ODWC says to confirm a site is active before going.
- Lake Carl Blackwell sells its own daily and seasonal permits, so check with it before fishing the Turtle Pond.
- Didymo, the algae called rock snot, is in the Lower Mountain Fork. Clean and dry waders and gear after fishing it.
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 · Brown 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.