Photo By Scott Sturkol | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) employees stock rainbow trout April 24, 2023,...... read more read more
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Anglers have several thousand more reasons to fish at Fort McCoy in 2023 as workers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) Genoa National Fish Hatchery of Genoa, Wis., stocked more than 15,000 rainbow trout in several waterways throughout the post.
USFWS personnel delivered the trout April 24 and 25, said Watershed Management Biologist Steve Rood with the Colorado State University who works in cooperation with the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch (NRB). Trout were stocked in Suukjak Sep, Sandy, Stillwell, and Big Sandy lakes and Sparta and Swamp ponds.
The trout were stocked in time for the new fishing season, which begins May 6, and the average fish size is 10 inches long, hatchery officials said.
Some fish are larger as well as evert year hatchery personnel generally throw in some larger fish to give anglers a chance at some bigger fish. According to the NRB, Fort McCoy has an agreement with the USFWS to do the fish stocking every year. The USFWS hatchery raises the fish and certifies the fish health before delivery and stocking on post, Rood said.
The Genoa National Fish Hatchery was established in 1932.
The hatchery serves six Midwestern states and rears 23 species of fish to support high-priority federal management, restoration, and threatened and endangered species programs, according to the USFWS.
The certification of fish health is completed by the USFWS La Crosse Fish Health Center.
Fort McCoy Fisheries Biologist John Noble has said in previous articles that rainbow trout are the preferred fish to stock at Fort McCoy because they do well in Fort McCoy lakes and ponds. Also, he said stocking fish once a year in the spring allows for better survivability for the trout because of cooler water temperatures, and it saves money from multiple fish-stocking efforts.
“Trout are raised in water that is about 50 degrees (Fahrenheit), so, when the lake water is warmer, these fish need to be tempered by bringing up the water temperature on the fish inside the tank before stocking,” Noble said. “We can have issues with mortality due to temperature, stress, and shock when stocking in warmer lake conditions, so cooler water temperatures (in spring) help significantly reduce fish mortality.”
Most anglers are used to catching the rainbow trout on post, and it’s quite popular, Noble said in 2022.
“For many years now, trout have been stocked in waters on Fort McCoy,” he said. “The addition of rainbow trout also helps reduce the burden of harvest on other species that are present and reproduce naturally.”
Rood said in fish surveys they have seen rainbow trout survive and grow from previous years. In one case, they found a rainbow trout that was stocked in previous years, and found it to be over 20 inches long.
Anglers must have the appropriate Wisconsin licenses to fish on post, as well. This includes a general Wisconsin fishing license, a trout stamp if fishing for trout, and the Fort McCoy fishing permit.
The cost of a Fort McCoy annual fishing permit is $13 for people age 16 and older. Permits for youth under 16, seniors, and disabled anglers and four-day fishing permits are $8. All are available for purchase through the iSportsman website, https://ftmccoy.isportsman.net. Anglers can also learn more about fishing rules and regulations on post by visiting that same iSportsman website.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base.
| Date Taken: | 04.25.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 04.25.2023 01:59 |
| Story ID: | 443288 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 421 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, USFWS plants 15,000-plus rainbow trout at Fort McCoy for 2023 fishing season, by Scott Sturkol, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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