MILFORD – April may be the cruelest month, but for those who relish the challenges of trout fishing, the month of April brings joy. Fishing in New Hampshire’s designated trout ponds opens on the fourth Saturday in April.

At the Milford Fish Hatchery they’ve been getting ready. Early on a chilly morning, Theresa Michaels-Ward and her crew dip nets into the hatchery’s 60 dome-protected outdoor pools to retrieve fish, 28-30 pounds with each scoopful, and dump them into special trucks bound for rivers, ponds and streams in southwestern New Hampshire.

Michaels-Ward manages the Milford hatchery, which is one of six state hatcheries in New Hampshire, and altogether they stock more than a million of the little fish in 260 lakes and ponds and nearly 1,500 miles of rivers and streams each year.

The hatchery grows brown and brook trout in the domed pools and rainbow trout, in a large, deep unprotected pond.

On that day, Lon Robinson and Kyle Glencross were driving a truckload of brown trout to the Contoocook River in Henniker, where they were to meet a Fish and Game conservation officer who oversees the fish dispersal.

The fish hatchery has been in Milford since 1972 and Michaels-Ward, a graduate of the College of the Atlantic in Maine and a lifelong lover of fish and fishing, has been here for 15 years.

During the April morning fish-transfer operation, a great blue heron glided in the skies above the hatchery, and Michaels-Ward was unimpressed.

“Not our friend,” she said.

Neither are the osprey, otherwise known as fish hawk, and the American bald eagles that sometimes visit here in search of a meal,

Trout are prized by anglers because they can be a challenge to catch, said Fish and Game Department fisheries biologist Don Miller in a Fish and Game newsletter.

“Fishing for them is one of the traditional rites of spring,” he said. “Whether your passion is a multi-colored brook trout, a leaping rainbow or the determined fight of a brown, there’s a New Hampshire trout pond within reasonable driving distance for you.”

Ponds managed for trout may be stocked with one or more species, including brook, rainbow and/or brown trout, with age classes ranging from yearlings (8-12 inches), 2-year-olds (12-15 inches), and 3-plus-year-olds (measured in pounds).

Anglers looking for a wilderness experience also have nearly 50 remote trout ponds that Fish and Game annually stocks with fingerling brook trout via helicopter.

Archery Pond in Allenstown (with a wheelchair-accessible casting platform) and Stonehouse Pond in Barrington are two fly-fishing-only ponds that will be ice-free and well stocked for the opener. Closer to home is Antrim’s Willard Pond, which has forested, undeveloped shorelines and brook, rainbow and tiger trout.

Fishing in designated trout ponds and fly-fishing-only ponds is allowed through Oct. 15.

For a list of trout ponds and fly-fishing-only ponds in New Hampshire, as well as a description of special rules that apply to certain ponds, consult the 2013 New Hampshire Freshwater Fishing Digest, available online at www.fishnh.com/pubs/fishing.html or from any Fish and Game license agent.

Workshop in May

An upcoming workshop offers a chance to learn about fly-fishing. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s “Let’s Go Fishing” Program is teaming up with the Harris Center for Conservation Education to host a course called “Fly-Fishing A-Z.” The two-day class will be held from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday, May 18; and from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Sunday, May 19, at the Harris Center in Hancock. There is no charge for the class.

Registration opened April 15. To sign up, you must print out and return a registration form, which is available on the Fish and Game website at www.fishnh.com/Fishing/lets_go_fishing_class_schedule.htm. Registration forms can also be obtained by calling Lisa Collins at 271-3212 or emailing aquatic-ed@wildlife.nh.gov.

Registration forms must be received by May 3.