Each spring, MassWildlife stocks over 500,000 trout statewide, providing plenty of opportunities for residents and visitors to enjoy a day on the water.
Remember, you need a fishing license if you’re 15 or older. Buy your fishing license online.
Where to Go Trout Fishing
MassWildlife stocks trout in more than 220 cities and towns across Massachusetts, so great fishing is right around the corner! Use this map to explore the many lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams where you can enjoy trout fishing. Click the pins to find stocking dates and species stocked.
Trout Fishing Tips
MassWildlife grows and stocks four types of trout: brook, brown, rainbow, and tiger trout. Read on to learn how to identify the different types of trout and tips for catching them.
Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)
Brook trout, also known as eastern brook trout, brookies, square tails, and brook char, are Massachusetts’ only native trout. Mature, wild brook trout are often less than 8 inches, whereas brook trout from MassWildlife’s hatcheries are 9–18 inches.
Identifiers:
- Worm-like markings along their back and head
- Yellow and red spots (the latter surrounded by blue halos) along the sides.
- Spots lighter than body
- White leading edge, backed by black, on its lower fins
- During fall spawning, males often develop a deep reddish tint along the belly and darken to black on the chin and throat
Tips for catching brook trout
- Stocked brook trout are fairly easy to catch and will strike flies, streamers, small spoons and spinners, worms, grass-hoppers, and even tiny colored marshmallows.
- Wild brook trout can be found in shaded stream habitats and should be approached stealthily to avoid detection. Drifting a worm downstream beneath a tiny bobber is an effective technique; you may need to add a split-shot a few inches above the hook to get the bait into swift current areas.
Brown Trout (Salmo trutta)
Brown trout get their name from their golden-brown color. Also known as German brown trout and Loch Leven Trout, they are native to Europe and Asia and were introduced into Massachusetts in the late 1800s. They are 9–18 inches long when stocked.
Identifiers:
- Golden to brownish-yellow color, sometimes almost silvery
- Scattered spots with silver halos
- Spots are darker than the body
Tips for catching brown trout
- One of the most difficult trout to catch because they are easily spooked and difficult to fool.
- Brown trout tend to have nocturnal habits.
- Target them with minnow-imitating plugs, spoons, spinners and streamers, various moth imitations (especially at night) and with cast or trolled live shiners.
Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
Rainbow trout get their name from their multicolored pattern. Native to Pacific coastal areas from northern Mexico to Alaska, rainbow trout are now found on every continent except Antarctica. Rainbow trout account for more than 60% of MassWildlife’s hatchery production. Their popularity with anglers stems from their eagerness to bite, beautiful appearance, strong leaping ability, and large size when stocked. Most rainbow trout are more than 14 inches when stocked.
Identifiers:
- Pinkish to red longitudinal band
- Small black spots cover them from head to tail
- Wide, square tail
Tips for catching rainbow trout
- Rainbow trout strike a variety of baits and lures.
- In rivers, an effective technique is to drift half a night crawler or a salmon egg down into pools and holding areas behind boulders.
- Nymphs and small gold or silver spinners fished with ultra-light gear is another useful technique.
- In lakes and ponds, small spoons and minnow imitations, gaudy streamers, weighted nymphs, and live baits in the form of garden worms, meal worms and tiny shiners will all work well when catching rainbow trout.
- The most effective “stockie killer” of recent years is Berkley’s marshmallow-like powerbait. What color the fish will prefer on any given day remains one of the greatest mysteries in fishing.
Tiger Trout (Salmo trutta X Salvelinus fontinalis)
Tiger trout get their name from their distinctive striped color pattern. They are a sterile hybrid produced from a male brook trout and a female brown trout. MassWildlife raises tiger trout at its Sandwich Hatchery and stocks approximately 2,500 tiger trout annually. Due to the small number released each year, they are a unique trophy sought by anglers throughout the state. Tiger trout are 14 inches or longer when stocked.
Identifiers:
- Dramatic worm-like pattern across most of their body
- Thicker-built than other trout species and like to throw their weight around
Tips for catching tiger trout
- Be prepared; tigers strike more readily and fight harder than either of its parents.
- Target tiger trout the same way you would target a brown trout - with minnow-imitating plugs, spoons, spinners and streamers, various moth imitations (especially at night) and with cast or trolled live shiners.
Have a great fishing season!
Buy your fishing license online. 100% of proceeds from fishing license fees go toward fish and wildlife conservation, as well as fish stocking, land protection, and habitat management.