Catch a rainbow for Thanksgiving

Nov. 18, 2020

Randy Zellers

Assistant Chief of Communications

LITTLE ROCK — Turkey, dressing and football may be at the front of people’s thoughts during the Thanksgiving holiday, but the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has another tradition some people may want to take part in. The AGFC’s Family and Community Fishing Program is busy stocking rainbow trout in FCFP locations throughout the state. 

Each year, rainbow trout raised at the Jim Hinkle Spring River State Fish Hatchery in Mammoth Springs are delivered to community ponds in Arkansas once the water temperatures have cooled enough to accommodate these cold-water fish. According to Maurice Jackson, AGFC Family and Community Fishing Program coordinator, the fish will be delivered beginning this week, and all program ponds scheduled for trout should have fish swimming in them in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.

“The cold weather gives us the opportunity to bring these fish to some of our anglers who can’t venture up to Arkansas’s famous trout tailwaters,” Jackson said. “We’ve added these stockings to our program for more than a decade, and many of our anglers get excited to see the switch. As the catfish bite begins to slow from cooler water temperatures, the trout pick up, giving our anglers the opportunity to keep catching all winter long.”

Jackson says specially tagged trout also will be released in program ponds later in December to offer even more incentives for anglers to get out and enjoy a day by the pond during winter. 

Visit www.agfc.com/familyfishing to learn more about the Family and Community Fishing Program and to find a pond near you participating in the winter trout stocking schedule.