Trout fishermen in the Marshall area will no longer have to travel to enjoy the sport.

Earlier this year, the Marshall City Council approved an ordinance to stock the Indian Foothills Park Lake (Lake Minessa) with the cold-water fish.

On Monday, November 1, representatives with the Missouri Department of Conservation flung- netful-by-netful- 800 rainbow trout- including a few lunkers- into the lake.

Anyone with a fishing permit can fish at the lake, but it’s only catch-and-release season for trout right now. If you catch the trout- regardless of its size- you must release it back into the lake. By law, persons aged 16 to 64 are required to have a fishing permit.

Catch-and-keep season in Missouri begins on February 1 every year. And fishermen not only have to have a regular fishing license, they also will need a trout tag if they wish to keep the trout.

During the catch-and-release season, no trout may be possessed; and artificial lures and flies only may be used. No natural or prepared baits may be utilized.

Once it is catch-and-keep season, there are no regulations as to the lures, flies or bait that is allowable. Pole-and-line fishing only is allowed, with a limit of three poles per person. The daily limit of trout one person can posses is four.

The catch-and-keep season normally runs February 1 through October 31. But one of the conservation representatives said the trout are likely to die when the water temperature reaches about 70 degrees. So the idea is for fishermen to catch and keep the fish prior to the water getting too warm for them, which he said is usually sometime in June.