(ABC 6 News) – Trout fishing, one of Minnesota’s favorite times of the year, is right around the creek bend and anglers in Austin celebrated with the annual restocking of Wolf Creek.

Among those helping with the restocking were Holly Van Pelt and family, long time trout fishers and Austin natives.

“It just gives us something to talk about and compete over sometimes,” Van Pelt said. “Who catches the biggest one or how many.”

For the last six years, Wolf Creek has received a stock of trout, providing an opportunity relatively uncommon in southern Minnesota.

“Most of our streams are warm water,” said DNR Regional Fisheries Manager Craig Soupir. “(Wolf Creek) is a cold water because of that groundwater, and that’s pretty critical for the trout.”

The trout come from the Lanesboro state fish hatchery.

In total, the tiny creek that runs through Todd Park will see about 600 fish added specifically for the inland stream fishing season that starts Saturday.

“This is geared towards ‘put and take’ fishery, just meaning the trout are stocked with the purpose of being caught,” said Cedar River Watershed District technician James Fett. “So we do encourage anglers to get out here.”

The Minnesota fishing season, which properly opens up for all bodies of water in May, is a major source of revenue for the state.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in 2022, Minnesota anglers spent $5.9 billion on angling on everything from licenses to bait to fishing trips.

On average, that equals about $3,600 per angler.

Runnings in Austin is the only store that sells fishing supplies to the city, and sees an uptick in sales every year because of the season.

“We sell a lot of the trout worms this time of year and a lot of the nightcrawlers for that particular reason,” said assistant manager Dottie Anderley. “Then of course we sell a lot of the trout lures and stuff like that.”

More than the business side though, the availability of trout in the Austin area brings in more people to the sport without requiring any more investment than picking up a rod and going to the park.

“I think it gives opportunity to many people to just be able to try to trout fish because it’s right here,” said Van Pelt. “We’re just grateful that we have this here in our community.”

A license is required to participate in the trout fishing season.

Details on catch limits and locations can be found here.