Two Montgomery Parks lakes are being stocked with Rainbow Trout in advance of Youth-Only Trout Fishing Day on Saturday, March 23, 2024. Pine Lake at Wheaton Regional Park and the pond at Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreational Park will host anglers under the age of 16, as part of the statewide Youth Trout Fishing Day.
The inaugural Maryland Youth Trout Fishing Day offers young people under 16 the chance to fish in certain areas a full week before the official opening of trout season. About 400 fish are expected to be released into each lake prior to the event. Young anglers will be allowed to catch and keep up to two rainbow trout each. After Youth Only Day, these areas will be off-limits to fishing until the official start of trout fishing season on March 30, 2024.
Anglers must supply their own fishing gear and bait and follow Maryland State fishing regulations and other considerations for fishing in Montgomery Parks. Children under 16 do not need a fishing license to fish recreationally in Maryland.
The fish being released into the lakes come from coldwater hatcheries operated by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Each year that agency produces about 290,000 adult trout to meet recreational fishing demand in Maryland. More information on the fish stocking program and schedule is available on the DNR trout stocking webpage.
Youth-Only Trout Fishing is also available on the Northwest Branch Watershed–upstream of MD Route 410 to Norwood Road in Montgomery Parks. That location will not be stocked immediately before Youth-Only Trout Fishing Day, but it is stocked at other times of the year.
What: Youth-Only Trout Fishing Day
When: Saturday, March 23, 2024
6:30 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
Where: Pine Lake, Wheaton Regional Park | 2000 Shorefield Road, Wheaton, Maryland
and the pond at
Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreational Park | 1120 Jackson Road, Silver Spring, Maryland
(No fee or registration required)