MADISON (WSAU)  Wisconsin’s early trout fishing season begins on Saturday – and the D-N-R wants to know if anglers are seeing lice on the trouts’ gills. The lice is a parasitic crustacean that can land on the gills of a brookie. It makes it difficult for the fish to breathe, and it slows the brook trouts’ growth and development. The parasite has traditionally been in streams, and it has never caused a concern for human health.

The D-N-R does not know how widespread the lice is. They say more anglers have been finding it over the past three years. Officials are asking trout anglers to go to the Trout Unlimited Web site after they go out fishing each time – and to fill out a report which lists the species of the fish they caught, and whether they had gill-lice or not.