Chaska's Courthouse Lake is continuing to draw trout anglers more than a week after the 10-acre fishing hole drew a crowd on the opening day of winter trout season.
Conservation officers for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reported a brisk opener despite subzero temperatures. On Tuesday, a clerk at Cabin Fever Sporting Goods in Victoria said anglers still are flocking to the converted clay pit to catch rainbow trout and brown trout stocked by the DNR.
The winter trout season opened Jan. 16 and runs until March 31. Daryl Ellison, area fisheries supervisor for the DNR office in Shakopee, said the supply of more than 2,000 stocked fish in Courthouse Lake can sometimes last through the winter season. On opening day, he counted 238 fish houses on the tiny lake.
But Ellison said the fishing pressure usually drops off after an early run and ice fishermen in recent years have been doing well, even in late March.
Ellison said there's a plan to start a new fishing hole in Shakopee at a former gravel pit. When that happens in a couple of years, it will take pressure off Courthouse Lake, he said.
Pheasant Fest on horizon
The National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic will take place Feb. 19-21 in Kansas City, Mo. This year's event at the Kansas City Convention Center is being billed as the nation's largest trade show and convention for upland hunters, farmers, sport dog owners and wildlife habitat conservationists.
The event will also highlight Pheasants Forever's accomplishments in Missouri and Kansas, home to 39 Pheasants Forever and 30 Quail Forever chapters.
Tony Kennedy • 612-673-4213
