Hinckley area fisheries

With winter trout season opening on Saturday, Jan. 14, the 4,000 yearling rainbow trout and 47 adult brood stock stocked in November are ready to be caught.

When stocked, the yearling trout weighed about ½ pound and brood stock aboud 5 pounds. The lake also has brown trout and lake trout that were stocked in spring of 2022.

The rainbow trout bite is usually the best for the first couple of weeks following the opener. Anglers usually have success staying fairly close to shore on Grindstone Lake, which has a maximum depth of 153 feet and an average depth of 60 feet. Small jigs and wax worms tend to work well for winter trout fishing.

Anglers are advised to be aware of ice conditions. Grindstone usually freezes over later than other lakes in the area and with recent heavy snowfalls, ice thickness and stability can be highly variable. Large vehicles are not recommended. When in doubt, check ice thicknesses frequently.

While Grindstone is not a designated trout lake, if you plan to keep any trout, you must have a valid trout stamp in addition to a current fishing license. The bag limit is five trout (combined species) with no more than three longer than 16 inches.

If you are one of the lucky anglers to get one of the 47 five pound rainbows that were stocked, you may notice that the fins are eroded and the fish may have an overall ragged appearance. This is because these fish are "retired" hatchery brood stock fish. They have spent their lives in raceways to meet hatchery spawning needs, and living in a hatchery environment instead of lakes wears a fish down.

Hatchery fish are continually monitored for disease. At the time they were released, these fish were disease free. There should be no concerns with eating these fish.