Grab your fishing pole! The Indiana DNR is stocking urban lakes statewide with
hard-hitting, good-eating channel catfish. (public domain image, credit Laura Cobin)
Celebrating a Decade of Urban Catfishing
by Keith “Catfish” Sutton
Fun-to-catch channel cats are available at city lakes throughout Indiana.
This month, we want to say congratulations to the folks who work with the Indiana Urban Fishing Program. They are celebrating 10 years of annually stocking channel catfish in urban lakes in order to bring quality fishing opportunities closer to Hoosiers’ backyards.
The week of March 13, 2023, fisheries personnel with the state Department of Natural Resources stocked a total of 1,875 channel catfish ranging in size from 10 to 14 inches in the following locations:
- Meadowlark Park Pond (Carmel, Hamilton County): 100 catfish
- Krannert Lake (Indianapolis, Marion County): 225 catfish
- Washington Township Park Pond # 2 (Avon, Hendricks County): 100 catfish
- DuBarry Park Ponds (Indianapolis, Marion County): 200 catfish
- Garvin Park Lake (Evansville, Vanderburgh County): 200 catfish
- Diamond Valley Park Pond (Evansville, Vanderburgh County): 225 catfish
- Dobbs Park Pond (Terre Haute, Vigo County): 200 catfish
- Northeast Lakeside Pond (Fort Wayne, Allen County): 175 catfish
- Munger Park Pond (Lafayette, Tippecanoe County): 150 catfish
- Robinson Park Lake (Hobart, Lake County): 300 catfish
These lakes are stocked three times from mid-March to the first week of June with catchable-size channel cats.
DNR’s urban fishing program offers an exciting way for Hoosiers to experience the joys of fishing close to home. To find out more about the program, including tentative stocking dates and quantities, visit bit.ly/INUrbanFishing. View the most recent fish stockings on the DNR fish-stocking dashboard at bit.ly/StockingDatabase.
The catfish daily bag limit per angler is 10, and there are no size restrictions. Anglers age 18 and older must have a valid Indiana fishing license to fish at these locations. A license can be purchased at on.IN.gov/INhuntfish.
