Casper Lake is the water most people picture at Edmund Orgill Park. At 67 acres it's the centerpiece. It has the fishing pier and the boat ramp, and its usual catch is largemouth bass, bream, sunfish and catfish. The trout that show up every winter go somewhere much smaller. According to the Rural Heritage Trust of Southwest Tennessee's write-up on the park, a separate pond of about 2.84 acres is stocked with trout during the winter months.
That pond is roughly one twenty-fourth the size of the lake beside it, and the fish arrive on a schedule. A good trout trip to Orgill depends on fishing that pond during a stocking week while carrying a license that covers trout, which many Tennessee licenses do not.
The calendar is shorter than most people expect
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency's 2026-27 Trout Stocking Schedule lists Edmund-Orgill Park for two winter stockings, on December 8, 2026 and January 12, 2027. A third entry reads "TBD 12/2027," which points to next winter rather than a third visit this season. If you're reading this on publish day, the first one is less than three weeks out.
TWRA attaches a caveat to every date on that page. Any stocking can be postponed or canceled for unforeseen problems such as bad weather or warm water. The agency also keeps a separate report of stockings that have actually happened, and as of November 6, 2026 that report showed it had been updated. That same page is where any postponement of the December 8 stocking would show up.
Orgill doesn't get its fish on a day of its own. The same truck schedule covers several Shelby and Tipton County waters within the same three days:
| Water | County | First stocking | Second stocking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edmund-Orgill Park | Shelby | Dec. 8, 2026 | Jan. 12, 2027 |
| Shelby Farms | Shelby | Dec. 8, 2026 | Jan. 12, 2027 |
| Cameron Brown Lake | Shelby | Dec. 8, 2026 | Jan. 12, 2027 |
| Johnson Park Lake | Shelby | Dec. 10, 2026 | Jan. 14, 2027 |
| Yale Road Park | Shelby | Dec. 10, 2026 | Jan. 14, 2027 |
| Fairway Estates Pond, Covington | Tipton | Dec. 10, 2026 | Jan. 14, 2027 |
| Valentine Park | Tipton | Dec. 10, 2026 | Jan. 14, 2027 |
For a Millington household, Orgill isn't the only stocked water in either week. If the 8th gets pushed back, or the pond is crowded, Fairway Estates Pond in Covington and Valentine Park are both scheduled two days later, on Thursday the 10th.
The license line that catches people
A small pond and two dates make the trip easy to plan. The paperwork is where people slip. Tennessee treats trout as a separate privilege, and the most common resident license doesn't include it.
The figures below come from TWRA's 2026–2027 Tennessee Hunting, Fishing & Trapping Guide, effective August 1, 2026 through July 31, 2027.
For residents:
- Combo Hunt/Fish, ages 16–64, $33. The guide calls it the minimum license to fish or hunt small game. It does not cover trout on its own.
- Annual Trout Supplemental, $21. It must be paired with the combo, the County of Residence license or the one-day no-trout license. Combo plus supplement comes to $54 for the season.
- 1-Day Fishing All Species, ages 16–64, $11. It includes trout.
- County of Residence Fishing No Trout, $10. It's limited to natural bait in your home county with no minnows and no artificial lures, and it still needs the supplement for trout.
- Junior Hunt/Fish/Trap, ages 13–15, $9. No supplemental licenses are required.
Children 12 and under don't need a fishing license, though the guide notes that some permits may still apply.
For holiday guests from out of state, the trout-inclusive options are a 3-Day Fishing All Species license at $40 and a 10-Day version at $61. The annual nonresident license that includes trout is $98. The January 12 stocking falls after most holiday visits end, so for a visiting relative the December 8 date is usually the one that matters.
Once the fish are in, the statewide trout rule applies. Under TWRA's trout regulations, the daily limit is seven trout of any combination of species, with no minimum length.
These prices hold for this winter. At its August 21, 2026 meeting, the Fish and Wildlife Commission approved a new license structure that would raise the resident combo from $33 to $42, pending review by the Joint Government Operations Committee. The state rule filing sets the new fee schedule to take effect July 1, 2027, after both of this season's Orgill stockings.
This is general information, not legal or financial advice. Confirm the license that fits your situation with TWRA before you fish. The guide lists GoOutdoorsTennessee.com for buying licenses online.
Planning the rest of a stocking-day visit
Because the trout water is small and the window is narrow, a stocking day at Orgill is often a few hours at the pond rather than a full day. The rest of the park can fill out the visit.
The park covers about 440 acres. A 1.2-mile road runs through the middle and around the east side of Casper Lake, connecting Mudville Road on the north with Kerrville-Rosemark Road on the south. You can enter from whichever side is closer to home. Along the way are an 18-hole disc golf course, a 5K trail, open meadow and three covered pavilions with picnic tables that can be rented. Those give the non-anglers in the family something to do while someone works the pond.
Casper Lake allows kayaks, canoes and fishing boats. Motors aren't allowed except trolling motors, and the same TWRA rules apply there.
Orgill Park Golf Course sits on the same grounds. It's a 6,436-yard, par-72 public course established in 1972, the same year the park opened. Its clubhouse sells hot and cold food, snacks and drinks and has a banquet room for events. The course doesn't allow outside food or drinks, so the thermos stays in the car.
The City of Millington's books show the park still gets attention. The city's Parks and Recreation budget includes an Orgill Park line, and Ordinance 2026-7, given final reading on April 13, 2026, converted a part-time Golf Service Lead position into a full-time Golf Services Coordinator. It's a small staffing change, and the kind a city makes when it expects steady year-round use.
Putting the season together
Here's how this winter's Orgill trout season falls on the calendar:
- Before December 8: TWRA's guide lists two resident routes to trout coverage, the combo plus the $21 supplement or a one-day all-species license.
- December 8: First scheduled Orgill stocking, with any postponement posted on TWRA's stocking page.
- Where: The 2.84-acre winter pond, not Casper Lake.
- Limit: Seven trout per person per day under the statewide rule.
- December 10 and January 12: The Tipton County stockings, then the second Orgill stocking.
If a trout morning at Orgill turns into a conversation about how much more yard, or how much less drive time to the park, your family would like, I'm glad to talk it over. I'm Teresa with Teresa Ervin Realty, and I know the roads between Mudville and Kerrville-Rosemark pretty well. Let's get a coffee after you've warmed up.
