Rainbow Trout come to town tempting anglers

In early November, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources released an exotic species inside Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and several other Iowa towns.

Within a few minutes, thousands of rainbow trout were transferred from a tank truck to Prairie Park Fishery to tempt anglers throughout the winter. Few fish are as fun to catch or tasty on the table as this commonly stocked animal.

Rainbow trout are native to the Pacific slope of North America from Alaska to California. Brook trout are Iowa's only native trout species, although they are technically char and not trout. Brookies live in a few small cold streams in the northeast corner of the state. The DNR also cultivates them and has stocked them in Prairie Park and McLoud Run.

Rainbows are so esteemed for recreation and food that they've been introduced to nearly everywhere in the world where they can live. Many wild strains exist, including the steelhead that spends much of its life in the ocean and returns to rivers to spawn like salmon. Scientists have domesticated the species, and those stocked in Prairie Park and sold in grocery stores are strains that are easy to raise in hatcheries.

Prairie Park's trout are doomed. If they aren't caught, they'll succumb to rising water temperature next spring. Trout prefer well oxygenated water at about 55 degrees. They die when the temperature climbs to the mid-70s. By summer, Prairie Park's water often reaches 80 degrees or higher. The rainbows stocked in Prairie Park Fishery are incapable of reproducing, so periodic stocking is needed to sustain fishing.

However, during the cold months, many Iowans enjoy fishing for this tasty and beautiful fish. Stocking has made it possible inside city limits.

l Marion Patterson is an instructor at Kirkwood Community College. Rich Patterson is the former executive director of Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids. They blog at Windingpathways.com.