Puts trout outside of normal trout-waters
Hanging Rock State Park is getting a boost to its lake on Oct 12. The NCWRC and the NC State Parks Commission is stocking 1200 catchable-size rainbow trout. This is the second stocking of rainbow trout in the lake, and it offers anglers the unique opportunity of catching trout in an area other than traditional trout waters.
The earlier rainbow trout stocking took place in April, and the NCWRC reported it as an instant highlight for anglers, said NCWRC Fisheries Biologist Kin Hodges.
“Park staff reported that there was a major increase in fishing activity on the lake’s pier as soon as the trout were stocked and they regularly observed anglers catching trout throughout the spring,” Hodges said. “They also noticed a decline in the number of people fishing and the number of trout being caught as we got into early summer, suggesting that anglers had succeeded in harvesting most of the trout stocked in the lake by then.”
This type of success by anglers is what the NCWRC had hoped for, because it is unlikely many of the trout would have survived throughout the summer months when temperatures rise, causing the level of dissolved oxygen to fall.
Hanging Rock State Park’s lake is a 12-acre body of water that features a handicapped-accessible pier, and anglers fishing here only need a basic fishing license, unlike other trout waters that require a special trout fishing license. The limit for each anger is seven trout per day, and there is no size limit or bait restrictions in the Stokes County lake, which is also home to largemouth bass and a variety of bream.
Similar stockings will occur from now on, every April and October.
-To read about other trout fishing opportunities in North Carolina, click here.
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