Iowa's urban trout fisheries are considered "three-season fisheries" because warm summer water cannot support trout. Stockings throughout the rest of the year ensure a healthy winter fishery. Photo courtesy of Michael Skinner

Dale Gooding of West Des Moines thinks urban when he thinks trout fishing in Iowa.

"I only have a few hours in any given day to fish," he said. "With urban trout fishing, I can get up in the morning, go fishing and be back at home before anyone knows I'm gone."

Gooding, a member of Central Iowa Anglers, likes the fight trout put up, and he likes the taste of what he calls a "mild" fish. Gooding usually heads to the pond on the campus at Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny or Banner Lakes at Summerset State Park between Des Moines and Indianola. This year, he's had to make a slight change to his plans, however, because of a lake improvement project that started at the DMACC pond late last fall when the water level was lowered.

Last fall and this winter, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has been stocking trout at Lake Petoka, along U.S. Highway 65 in Bondurant. There will be one more stocking at Lake Petoka this spring. This fall, in October, the trout stocking and fishing will return to the DMACC pond.

Gooding fishes most of the three-season urban trout fishery from the first stocking in October to the last of two or three stockings done anywhere from February through May. He quits fishing for trout when the water warms up as late spring temperatures rise. By that time, most of the trout have been caught anyway, he said.

The fisheries are called "three-season" because the water warms up too much to support trout during the summer, so no stockings are done in the urban ponds and lakes at that time. In northeast Iowa, there are some trout that reproduce naturally, but the fishery is maintained by stockings done by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources year 'round in spring-fed coldwater streams that can sustain trout throughout the summer.

This time of year, Gooding is out on the two water bodies fishing for trout through the ice — if it's thick enough — and waiting for the final trout stocking in the spring.

This time of year, Gooding is fishing for trout through the ice, if it's thick enough, and waiting for the final trout stocking in the spring.

So is David Merical of Ankeny, also a member of Central Iowa Anglers and a friend of Gooding's.

"These urban trout fisheries add a species to my fishing that I would otherwise have to go to northeast Iowa or out of state to fish," Merical said. "It's nice to have that option."

He believes anyone who likes to ice-fish or trout fish should give the urban trout fisheries a try. And while the ice isn't always cooperative in Iowa, there's always the spring stocking, and the fishing can be pretty good right after ice-out, he added.

He has noticed trout like to run along the shore. He'll use a Reef Runner Cicada, which is a blade lure. He just drops it down through the ice hole and shakes the rod a little. Other baits he uses include a jigging lure called the Swedish Pimple, ice jigs and spoons for flash and movement.

"Berkley PowerBait is good to use. You just put it on your hook, drop it in and move it up and down in the water," he said. "In-line spinners, like a Mepps, are good."

The fishing is pretty busy on stocking day, then tapers down as the days and weeks go on. However, Gooding said, trout can be caught throughout the fall, winter and spring. The difference in fishing more than a week after the stocking is that he'll catch perhaps one or two trout in an hour, as opposed to 23. He uses some of the same bait and lures as Merical, including wax worms and minnows.

Usually, Gooding fishes early in the morning or in the evening during cooler or cold weather. As the temperatures begin to warm up in the spring and the trout move deeper in the water, he does well fishing Banner Lake in the early afternoon.