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Last updated on Monday, April 20, 2015
(CALUMET RIVER) - The annual closed fishing season on sections of Trail Creek and the East Branch of the Little Calumet River has been lifted under an emergency rule.
Portions of each stream were previously closed each year from April 1-June 15 to protect recently stocked trout and salmon.
Lifting the closure will allow more fishing opportunities for Hoosiers to pursue steelhead, bass, walleye and panfish, without harming the stocking program on Lake Michigan and its Indiana tributaries, according to DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife.
When the closed season was enacted decades ago, it protected spring yearlings stocked at 7 inches in length, which also was the minimum size limit for inland trout at the time.
The state's trout and salmon stocking program on Lake Michigan and its tributaries was newly developed back then. Some anglers were unaware that the size limit for trout caught on inland streams and trout caught in Lake Michigan or its tributaries was different. The closure prevented any confusion from resulting in illegal harvesting of recently stocked fish.
The minimum size limit for trout and salmon in Lake Michigan and its Indiana tributaries is now 14 inches.
With the Lake Michigan stocking program well developed, most anglers in the area know the special trout regulations for those streams. Additionally, stocking locations have been moved farther upstream to spread out fish and avoid concentrating stocked fish in areas where they are vulnerable to anglers.
Relaxing the regulation puts those streams in line with other Lake Michigan fisheries agencies and Indiana's St. Joseph River trout and salmon stocking program, which has no spring closure.
Tributary restrictions to fishing above and below dams will, however, remain in effect for public safety reasons.
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