Spring returns to Niagara County - and so does trout season

The Niagara County Public Works Department and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation stocked several popular fishing holes in Niagara County late last week, and a pair of local elected officials were there to usher in trout-fishing season in Niagara County.

As a DEC truck bearing rainbow and brown trout from the New York State Fish Hatchery in Caledonia arrived at MacDougall Lake in Wheatfield's Oppenheim Park, Niagara County Legislature Chairman William L. Ross, C-Wheatfield, and Legislator Russ Rizzo, I-North Tonawanda, were on hand to help transfer bucketfuls of trout into the manmade fishing hole.

Trout season officially opened in New York state on April 1 with anglers hitting local trout streams. The DEC's re-stocking of Niagara County's fishing waters usually significantly increases the number of fishing rods evident along local shorelines.

Seasons for various fish, including trout and salmon, as well as minimum weight other regulations in force in New York state can be accessed at this link. Special regulations affecting Lake Ontario and its tributaries, including Eighteenmile Creek, can be found at this link (the Niagara River is exempted from Great Lakes Tributary regulations).