Wednesday marks the beginning of the fish stocking season in Reno. That included the delivery of the first batch of 3,000 trout from the Mason Valley Hatchery that were, in part, put into the Sparks Marina.
There are 20 other community ponds and streams that will be stocked once they are all completely thawed.
The Nevada Department of Wildlife is in charge of the fish stocking and they will be delivering about 88,000 trout throughout the season.
“It’s an exciting day, we’re stocking 3,000 brown trout in the Sparks Marina here,” said Sam Sedillo, the regional fisheries biologist for Washoe and Storey County. “It’s part of an ongoing effort that we have throughout the year to stock fish in the Sparks Marina for people to come and catch.
“Sparks Marina is a great place to both have accessibility for people in Reno and Washoe County and they really provide a great place for anyone to get out and fish.”
Fishing licenses are required anywhere that people catch fish, and the sale of these licenses is what funds these types of programs around the state. The fishing licenses cost $40 for residents 18 and up and are free for children up to 12 years old.
“For a place like Sparks Marina that gets a lot of angling pressure throughout the year, it’s extremely important for us to continue to stock fish throughout the year to provide opportunities for anglers,” said Sedillo. “And anglers for one that help us continue to do our job with buying fishing licenses.”
There are fish stocking programs similar to this one around the country where 45 different states stock brown trout specifically.
“With Sparks Marina, because it’s so deep, it provides that cold water layer throughout the year for fish to survive, and based on the surveys that we do here in Sparks Marina, we see some of these fish that we stocked survive throughout the year and then continue to provide opportunities to fish even when we’re not stocking, Sedillo added.” 
