A crowd of onlookers gathered at mid-day Saturday at Lake Shawnee’s east boat ramp as the frigid waters became filled with about half of the more than 7,000 pounds of rainbow trout that were scheduled to be stocked that day. The remainder of the fish were released on the other side of the lake.
The lake will be closed to all anglers until 6 a.m. Nov. 4 to allow the rainbow trout — which came to Topeka from Crystal Lake Fisheries in Ava, Mo. — time to disperse throughout the lake.
Trout can be caught on a variety of baits and lures, including dough bait, salmon eggs, Vibric Rooster Tails, Little Cleos, spinners and dry or wet flies.
In years past, the state’s Fisheries Division would stock state-managed trout waters four times over the course of the season, which runs Nov. 1 through April 15, 2018. This year, state-managed waters will be stocked two additional times to reduce the amount of time between each stocking. Community-managed lakes, such as Lake Shawnee, will not see an increase.
Trout permits can be purchased for $14.50 at any license vendor location and online at ksoutdoors.com.