ZIONSVILLE — For the fourth year, Eagle Creek has been stocked with about 1,400 rainbow trout to enhance fishing in the Zionsville area.
Mike Exl, co-owner of Moving Waters Outfitters, said the stocking tradition was initiated by former Zionsville Mayor Tim Haak. When Zionsville could not fund the initiative, Exl went seeking the $5,500 to keep the tradition alive.
Moving Waters Outfitters is a fly fishing shop. The group offers free clinics on fly fishing several times a year and also offers guide service for the area. Exl said he has helped with the stocking every year and wanted to make sure it got done again this year.
Word got around to the Boone County Convention and Visitors Bureau, and its board agreed to pay for the stocking.
“We’ve seen not just how much it benefits the town but the local community,” Exl said. “There are a number of groups here, like Project Healing Waters, that have disabled vets that fly fish for therapy.”
The CVB said the fishing brings visitors to the area, which is good for businesses.
The creek was stocked at Turkey Foot Nature Park and at Elm Street on the Green.
Tom Santelli, vice president of the CVB, said the stocking makes Zionsville and the creek a fly fishing destination.
“The other part of this is what it brings to the environment,” Santelli said “The eagles feed on them, as well as other animals, over at the Eagle Creek reservoir. It really does help the whole ecosystem as well, as it provides a lot of joy for people and kids.”
In order to arrange the fish dump, Exl had to get a permit from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The fish were purchased from Crystal Lakes trout farm in Missouri and added to the waters in early November. Trout are very sensitive to water temperature, Exl said. Waiting for the water temperature to drop in November gives the trout a better chance to survive.
Exl reminds fishing enthusiasts to practice catch and release through the end of this year. State regulations require catch and release from January until April 22, which is opening day for fishing in Indiana.
“The whole idea of the program was to create a fall-winter fishery for Central Indiana and the community to last around six months,” Exl explained. “The cool educational aspect for kids here — especially in science and stuff — is we have this environment here at Eagle Creek that goes right through the heart of the community.”
Trout are not common in Indiana, but Exl said it helps the entire fish population even if he can’t explain why.
“We’ve actually seen our population of small mouth bass, which are native here, actually, the fishing has improved since we started stocking,” he said. “This is drawing attention to the resource that we have here running through the town of Zionsville.”
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