KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has begun its 2024-2025 winter rainbow trout stocking program, providing numerous close-to-home trout fishing opportunities for anglers during the winter months.
Many of these restocking locations are in urban areas and include walking trails, playgrounds and pavilions making them the perfect place for the family or first-time fishermen, TWRA said. Trout will also be released in selected tailwaters and reservoirs.
According to TWRA, these fisheries provide a great opportunity to introduce children or first-time anglers to fishing. There are more than 40 locations for the restocking program, the agency said.
"A new location this year is Grundy Lake No. 4 in South Cumberland State Park," said TWRA.
The full list of restocking locations can be found on this website.
According to the agency, the trout will average around 10 inches in length. The daily creel limit, or amount that can be caught, will be set at seven fish. The exception to this rule is in locations in the Community Lakes Fishing Program where the limit is five.
Those locations include:
- Cameron Brown Lake in Germantown
- Cedar Hill Park Pond in Madison
- Camp Jordan in East Ridge
- Pistol Creek/Green Belt Lake in Maryville
- Fountain City Lake in Knoxville
TWRA said there is no size limit and anglers are reminded that a trout license is needed in addition to the fishing license.
There are four different species of trout, including the brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout and cutthroat trout.
Brook trout
The brook trout is the only species native to Tennessee, with around 150 streams currently supporting the wild fish. This fish often has yellow or reddish-orange spots on its belly with light "wormlike" markings on the upper body, according to TWRA.
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is native to the Pacific drainages of the western U.S. but quickly became the most widely distributed and abundant trout species in the state after extensive management during much of the 20th century.
This trout was originally introduced in the late 1880s and can be found in about 300 streams across East Tennessee. The body of a rainbow trout is often olive to silver in color with small black spots throughout the body that extend into the bottom of the tail, TWRA said. It also has a defining pink streak along the middle of the body.
Brown trout
The brown trout is native to Europe and Asia, but similar to the rainbow trout became naturalized in Tennessee due to stocking, according to the wildlife agency. They can only be found in around 25 wild streams in Tennessee and can often be bigger than brooks and rainbows. They are brown to yellow in body color with large dark spots and reddish dots, according to TWRA.
Cutthroat trout
The final species of trout is known as the cutthroat trout and is the most aggressive of the four. They are native to the western United States but TWRA has recently partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to begin stocking this species in Tennessee.
Cutthroats are similar in appearance to rainbow trout, but instead have a bright orange or red coloration that appears as slashes or cuts on the underside of the jaw, according to TWA.
More information on each species of trout and the full restocking schedule can be found on TWRA's website.
