April 29, 2024
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2024 trout season opens with sites in Bureau, La Salle counties

Hennepin Canal Parkway, I&M Canal Lock 14, Lake Mendota among 58 sites opening statewide

By Shaw Local News Network
Landon Gleason finds a picturesque spot to try his luck Saturday, June 4, 2022, during the Kids Fishing Tournament at Lock 14 in La Salle.

Lock 14 in La Salle is one of 58 ponds, lakes and streams throughout Illinois that will open spring trout fishing season Saturday, April 6. (Tom Sistak for Shaw Media)

The 2024 Illinois spring trout fishing season will open Saturday, April 6, at 58 ponds, lakes and streams throughout the state, including a site in Bureau County and two in La Salle County.

The Hennepin Canal Parkway in Bureau County, along with the Illinois & Michigan Canal Lock 14 in La Salle and Lake Mendota in Mendota, will open their season that day.

An early opportunity at select trout sites – the spring catch-and-release fishing season – will open Saturday, March 23. No trout may be kept during the catch-and-release period, but anglers can keep trout after the opening of the regular season begins April 6. The daily harvest limit for each angler is five trout.

The Illinois Catchable Trout Program receives funding support by those who use the program through the sale of inland trout stamps.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources stocks more than 80,000 rainbow trout each year in bodies of water where trout fishing is permitted during the spring season. An additional 80,000 trout will be stocked for the fall trout season, which begins in October.

For the 2024 spring trout season, no trout may be taken from any stocked sites between March 15 and the season opening at 5 a.m. April 6. Anyone trying to harvest trout before the legal harvest season will be issued citations.

For information about all site regulations, anglers should contact individual sites that will be stocked with catchable-size trout. Not all sites are open for trout catch-and-release season, and not all sites open at 5 a.m. April 6.

The spring trout season offers opportunities for families to get outdoors and enjoy fishing. For youth fishing, resources are available at ifishillinois.org/Kids_Fishing/kidsfishing.html. All anglers, including those who intend to release fish caught before April 6, must have a fishing license and an inland trout stamp unless they are younger than 16, blind or disabled, or are an Illinois resident on leave from active duty in the Armed Forces.

Fishing licenses and trout stamps can be bought by using a credit card online. For information on trout seasons and other Illinois fishing opportunities, visit ifishillinois.org.