I am in East Central Ia.,15 minutes from several state stocked trout streams- (brookies,rainbows,browns,shastas). I regularly have fished these streams for 12 years. I now have an established farm pond, typical Lmb, gills,bass,grass carp and pet 10lb snapping turtle. One warmer watered steam is stocked with browns, which I regularly catch. I would like to bring several, a few, some, a couple home and throw in my pond. What is the best way to transport these? Line my pickup bed with 500 gallons of water, a cooler with ice, a cooler with beer, a 5 gallon buket with stream water and run home fast? If I get em' home alive, how well they do in the pond is another question. Time will tell. Thanks-Postbeetle

I think the cooler of beer is a good start.

Brown trout prefer dark German beers.

Cool! One for them, two for me.

As long as I have enough for my beer batter to cook em'

While tghe weather is cold oxygen is probably not gonna be a problem if you have a decent sized container. I would think a 55 gal drum on your pickup bed would hold 4-5 brown trout minimum, unless very large, and most likely twice that, for a 15 min drive in the winter time. That having been said, you have the question of adapting the fish to the new water temperature of your pond as well as the pH and electrolyte changes. You can change the water with an inexpensive bilge pump from Walmart. Just run the lake water in over 15-20 minutes and let the barrel overflow. You can empty and net out the fish. There are rubber webbed nets you can use which are much less likely to damage the protective slime coat on the fish. They sell those too at Walmart, or you can lower the water level in the drum and pour them into the pond if you have lots of muscle or help. A fifteen minute transport time would not warrant concern about nitrogen wastes or, I opine, necessitate aeration. You will have to figure out a safe receptacle to hold the fish in the water you catch them in though. I saw some webbed plastic bins at Lowe's that are maybe 4'x2'x18" that would work and they are pretty cheap.

I would guess that this is illegal, and you may want to find a hatchery to buy some from instead. At the very least if the DNR finds that you have browns in your pond you would have a recite to explain where "all of them" came from.

If you happened to find a brown trout hitch hiking his way across Iowa I would get a cooler, bigger is better, and maybe a little ice, You don't want to temp shock them. I have heard that ice oxygenates water as it melts. Also you could get some "stress reliever" or decholorinator at a pet shop. They generaly help fish stay healthy, absorb ammonia, and remove toxins from the water.

Make sure you slowly acclimate the fish to the pond water. It will most likely have different PH, harness, temp and every thing else.

Laws governing the transport of fish caught in public and/or private waters to other waters vary greatly from one state to another. Minnesota might be one of the most restrictive.

I look at some of the posts by Greg Grimmes. He states that many of the lakes made in Georgia are made illegially, meaning without permits. Sometimes, we have to take certain steps but I suggest that these steps should always be done discretly and never bragged about.

Norm's right about the laws varying from state to state as I have researched them for the fish I raise to be sold frozen to other taxidermists all over the country. You would not believe the differences!

However usually, although I don't know about live fish in Iowa, if you transport live fish legally taken, and to a private body of water you're O.K. At least in my state planting my private pond with fish caught legally from a local public lake is not a problem. But not sure I would want to do that is they are inferior to fish that I purchase from private sources, and the wild fish are more disease prone. In fact, my state prohibits salmonids to be imported from private sources that test positive for particular diseases, but has planted fish in the public waters that have tested positive for these diseases. Don't you love double standards?

I've done it in my small pond. I used a large cooler with a bilge pump for an aerator.

Unless you're using multiple hook rig & are lucky enough to catch multiple fish several will be in the tank longer than the 15 min ride.

Efforts should be made to prepare them for a longer stay in the tank.

If you're serious about traporting some fish safely get youself a regulator that fits on an oxygen tank you can rent cheaply from a welding supply store. I get mine from a plumbing supply that supplies welders. Then purchase yourself a fine point diffuer (4 point is a good brand)available from any aquaculture supply catalog (see link below). Also order yourself a medical grade flow regulator between the regulator on the tank and your diffuser. A large cooler would work fine. Your oxygen line and connecters than can be purchased at a hardware store if not from the catalog. You can even attach two lines and use two coolers or more. Aquatic ecosystems has a tech line to walk you through it. Be sure to ask what to set the regulator at and ajust the flow meter at. Usually if you set the flow meter at a level just putting out some bubbles you're fine. As far as the regulator you don't want to exceed the recommended level for the flow meter. I believe it's 50 psi but I can't remember at this point. I have some reference on paper I dig out everytime I haul.

http://www.aquaticeco.com/

I say if legal give it a try as long as you have legal creel limit if they do not make it home alive just fry em up. They may not do as well if they have been in the stream for awhile since stocking. If recently stocked then they should respond to supplemental feeding, but make sure to use trout chow not cheap catfish food.

Norm, I think I need to watch what I say a little more closely. At least if someone build a pond illegally I'm not involved I just made the observation but who knows who could be reading this.

I'm in Iowa and already checked it out with IDNR. Any fish legally caught can then be used as you see fit...stock your freezer or your pond. As the local officer told me "...you caught it, and it's yours. Do anything you want with it, except release it into public waters other than where you caught it...that's a no-no." So stocking private ponds is legit.