The DNREC Freshwater Trout Program is supported by funds derived from the state’s trout stamp program. Anglers fishing for trout have been required to purchase a Delaware Trout Stamp since 1955. Today, fees paid by anglers for trout stamps provide DNREC with an average of $50,000 annually to purchase trout from commercial hatcheries. Stamp revenues also leverage funding through the federal Sport Fish Restoration Program to support Delaware’s trout fishery.
Entries are now being accepted for the 2025 Trout Stamp Contest. Artwork entries must depict one or more species of trout (brown, brook or rainbow trout) in a setting or environment typical of Delaware. The trout subject must be the focal point of the artwork.
Entries must be postmarked on or before 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. Judging will take place during the week of Aug. 18, 2025.
The artwork selected as “Best in Show” during the 2025 contest will be featured on the Delaware Trout Stamp issued for the Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2026 fishing year.
The 2025 Delaware Trout Stamp will feature a painting of a brook trout by Dennis Arp of Edison, Nebraska. Mr. Arp received $250 for Best in Show and retains artist’s rights for reproduction and sales of prints of the stamp.
The annual stamp art competition drew 16 entries for the 2024 Trout Stamp competition. Trout Stamp artwork entries could depict a rainbow, brown or brook trout. A panel of judges selected the winning artwork that will become Delaware’s Trout Stamp for 2025.
DNREC retains rights to use the original artwork. In addition to the stamp, DNREC also produces prints available for purchase.
Anglers who fish for trout in Delaware are required to have a Delaware Trout Stamp. The cost of a Delaware Trout Stamp is $4.20 for residents ages 16 to 64, the cost is $2.10 for residents ages 12 to 15, and $6.20 for non-residents ages 12 and older. Delaware residents ages 65 and older are exempt from purchasing a Delaware Trout Stamp.
Delaware Trout Stamps can be purchased online, in-person at an authorized license agent, or at the licensing desk inside DNREC’s Richardson and Robbins Building, at 89 Kings Highway, in Dover.
Anglers who want a physical copy of their expired Trout Stamp can request one online.
For stamp collectors, past Delaware Trout Stamps and prints are available for purchase using the Trout Stamp Order Form.
Every year in April, the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife stocks rainbow, brown and occasionally brook, tiger and golden rainbow trout in selected New Castle County streams and in one pond each in Kent and Sussex counties. A limited stocking also occurs in the fall at White Clay Creek.
Because Delaware stream temperatures are marginal at best for trout survival in the summer, and no reproduction has been noted, stocked fish are meant to be taken, not caught and re-released.
For more information on Delaware Trout Stamps, contact the Division’s Licensing Recreational Program, at 302-739-9918 or by email, at DFWRecLic@delaware.gov.
Did you know there’s also a Delaware Waterfowl (Duck) Stamp Contest?
Related Topics: art, contest, education, fish and wildlife, fishing, outreach, stamp, trout, trout stamp
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