Rhode Island Trout Stocking Report 2026

Every sentence here comes from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RI DEM), and each section names its sources. Updated .

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RI DEM) stocks most of its designated trout waters before opening day, while they are closed, and many of them again through the spring. For opening day 2026 it had stocked more than 100 locations with over 60,000 brook, brown, rainbow and golden rainbow trout. A fall stocking follows in October, and some years a winter one. Each is announced shortly before in a press release that lists the waters, and DEM logs every stocking by date on its trout waters page.

From RI DEM: Designated Trout Waters, RI DEM: 60,000 Fish Stocked in Over 100 Waterbodies (8 April 2026), RI DEM: Hooked on Autumn (30 September 2026) and RI DEM: Winter Trout and Salmon Stocking (20 January 2026).

The RI DEM trout stocking report

The season's stockings by date, naming the waters stocked each day, and the list of designated trout waters by town, each marked if it is fly fishing only, for children, or wheelchair accessible. Read down the dated updates for what went in and where. The log covers the current season only, 11 April 2026 to 28 February 2027.

Open the RI DEM Designated Trout Waters page

From RI DEM: Designated Trout Waters.

When Rhode Island stocks trout

Opening day and spring

Most designated waters are stocked before opening day, while they are closed to fishing, with trout from DEM's own hatcheries, and many get more through the spring. Golden rainbow trout go in with them, and in 2026 anyone who caught one between opening day and 3 May could claim a golden trout pin.

Fall

Fall stocking runs over about a week in October, announced with its list of waters: 2 to 8 October in 2026, and 17 to 23 October in 2025.

Holiday and winter

Some years bring extra rounds. DEM stocked rainbow and brook trout the week of Veterans Day in November 2024, and trout and Sebago salmon from 27 to 29 January 2026.

From RI DEM: Designated Trout Waters, RI DEM: Freshwater Fisheries Updates and FAQs, RI DEM: 60,000 Fish Stocked in Over 100 Waterbodies (8 April 2026), RI DEM: Hooked on Autumn (30 September 2026), RI DEM: 24 Waterways to Be Stocked with Trout (16 October 2025), RI DEM: Veterans Day Trout Stocking (4 November 2024) and RI DEM: Winter Trout and Salmon Stocking (20 January 2026).

Rules on stocked water

  • The season opens on the second Saturday in April and runs to midnight on the last day of February: 11 April 2026 to 28 February 2027.
  • From then until opening day, every designated trout water is closed to all fishing, and no trout, salmon or charr from any water in the state may be kept.
  • You may keep 5 trout a day from the second Saturday in April through 30 November and 2 a day from 1 December to the end of February, each at least 8 inches long. Stocked landlocked salmon: 2 a day, at least 11 inches.
  • Anglers 15 and older need a fishing license, which runs out on the last day of February. A Trout Conservation Stamp is needed too, to keep a trout, salmon or charr, or to fish a catch-and-release or fly-fishing-only area.
  • Three stocked ponds are fly fishing only: Deep Pond in Exeter, A.L. Mowry Pond in Smithfield and Upper Rochambeau Pond in Lincoln. Others are reserved for children 14 and under, some all season and some at set times.
  • On the free fishing weekend, the first full weekend of May, nobody needs a license or a trout stamp.

From RI DEM: Designated Trout Waters, Rhode Island Code of Regulations: 250-RICR-60-00-10 Freshwater Fishing, RI DEM: Hooked on Autumn (30 September 2026) and RI DEM: Freshwater Fisheries Updates and FAQs.

How to hear about a stocking

  • DEM's trout waters page carries the latest stocking information, and DEM posts each stocking on Facebook at @RIfishwildlife.
  • Every stocking is announced in a DEM press release, and DEM will send its releases by email, alongside the Division of Fish and Wildlife's monthly newsletter.
  • By phone, DEM's Great Swamp Field Office (401-789-0281) and its Aquatic Resource Education office (401-539-0019) answer stocking questions.

From RI DEM: Designated Trout Waters, RI DEM: Hooked on Autumn (30 September 2026) and RI DEM: Winter Trout and Salmon Stocking (20 January 2026).

Worth knowing before you go looking

  • DEM's map of trout stocking locations says where, and its trout waters page says when. Locations can change from year to year.
  • Blue-green algae can keep a pond off a stocking: in October 2025 some ponds and lakes stocked before could not be, because of cyanobacteria alerts.

From RI DEM: Freshwater Fisheries Updates and FAQs, RI DEM: Designated Trout Waters and RI DEM: 24 Waterways to Be Stocked with Trout (16 October 2025).

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 · Brown Trout · Landlocked 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.