| Clarity on most streams is good. Stream flows up with recent rain. Rain over weekend may cause streams clarity to decline. |
| Brook Trout - Slow: Use midge, minnow, or leach patterns for fish looking to get more bang for their effort. Midge hatches on sunny afternoons. |
| Brown Trout - Good: Brown trout activity improves when water gets cloudy. Float a line past an undercut bank or current seam for luck. |
| Rainbow Trout - Good: Hatchery holdovers remain in the stream teasing anglers. Use a small spinner bait or hair jig floated past undercut bank or through a deep hole. |
Paint is stocked weekly from April through October with catchable 10-12 inch Rainbow Trout and also provides opportunities for wild Brown Trout. Sampling data from 2009 indicated 136 French Creek strain Brown Trout per mile with fish up to 19 inches collected. This is an estimated population and actual trout numbers will be higher. Bank access is easy and universally accessible at Kolsrud Park on the west edge of Waterville. Farm 55 south of Waterville provides easy bank access with scenic limestone ledges and a shelter for picnicking. A portion of Paint is located in the Yellow River State Forest where there are non-electric campsites, restrooms and miles of trails of all levels of difficulty located within the park.(2022)
In nearly all cases, Iowa fish are safe to eat. Cleaning and/or preparing the meal causes most of the problems regarding taste or color of fish. Like all living creatures, fish are susceptible to diseases, parasites, and other naturally occurring conditions in the water. If you suspect your fish is affected by any of these conditions, do not eat it. Consider eating smaller and younger fish which usually have lower levels of contaminants than larger ones. Most contaminants accumulate in larger, older fish. For additional information, check out our resources for eating and cooking Iowa caught fish.
To learn more about fish tissue monitoring, visit our Fish Tissue Monitoring page .