Fishing season already? Hatchery gearing up for spring stocking

Spring is but three weeks off on the horizon and I’ve already spoken to a few itchy-fingered anglers who have the local trout streams in their sights. Whether they be bait, lure or fly fishers, they are all chomping at the bit. For some of them this has been a winter like no other, and they are ready to be streamside again.

It will not be long before our local streams will be receiving their allocations of trout from the state’s hatchery system. Some elements of the state’s new trout stream management plan will help shape the spring stocking activity in the coming months. Streams that allocated hatchery trout in the past may no longer be stocked, and some streams may receive more trout, more times during the season, than in the past.

Most of the trout that Dutchess County streams receive start life in the Catskill Hatchery. Located in Sullivan County near the Village of Livingston Manor, the Catskill Hatchery was incorporated in the state system in 1946. It is located near…