As you read through the stocking tables, please note that many lakes are open year-round or open on March 1, and are stocked as early as February. While it may be too late this year to take advantage of this knowledge, stocking schedules are fairly consistent from year-to-year, so you may be able to get in some good early season fishing next year.

Studies have shown that trout tend to stay in the top three to five feet of water for the first week or so after stocking. This makes them easy prey for cormorants and other avian predators, which take a significant bite out of our stocking efforts each year. Your best chance for success may come within the first couple of weeks after fish are stocked. Lots of anglers on the water tends to disrupt feeding birds and thus may improve fishing later in the season.

Because trout tend to remain shallow for a while after stocking, fishing on the bottom may not be as productive in the early season as it will be later. Try shallow trolling with small lures, flies or spinner-and-bait combinations. The newer "light" trolling lures allow you to fish with spinner- and-bait rigs without the heavy pull you had to put up with in the past. When fishing from the shore, use a float to keep your bait up in the feeding zone.

Trout tend to go deeper as the lake surface warms in the late spring and summer. This is the time to try fishing on or just off the bottom, using floating paste-type baits or other buoyant baits. Trout have also been feeding more on natural food, so artificial baits may lose some of their attraction. When this happens, try natural baits such as worms, eggs, or flies and lures that imitate natural trout forage. This would also be the case in lakes managed primarily with fry plants where the fish have been feeding on natural forage since at least last fall.