HANSEN • In May, while other streams still run high and murky, upper Rock Creek offers something uncommon in south-central Idaho: an early opportunity for chasing trout in a mountain stream.
 
“Rock Creek, you’ll notice the water is clearing up,” fish culturist Dan Anta said May 12, driving an Idaho Department of Fish and Game truck toward his first Rock Creek stocking run of the year. “The water is ready sooner.”
 
It doesn’t hurt that tree-lined Rock Creek Road is peppered with campsites, picnic tables and vault toilets as it rises into the South Hills south of Hansen. The spring landscape is still lush and green. And the whole thing is close to home for valley dwellers.
 
Why haven’t you packed your pole and your picnic cooler already?
 
Growing up in Gooding, Anta spent days at a time camping along Rock Creek and fishing with his dad. Now he drives the truck that delivers the summer’s monthly loads of triploid rainbow trout from the state’s Hagerman Fish Hatchery to campsites along Rock Creek, which is open for fishing year-round.
 
On May 12, he drove “the little guy” — the smallest truck in the Hagerman hatchery’s lineup — carrying 475 rainbow trout for Rock Creek. Given the fish-per-pound data of his load, he figured, these trout were just over 10 inches long.
 
At Schipper Campground, the day’s first stop, Anta dropped a thermometer on a string into the creek: 45 degrees, within the proper range for trout release.
 
“I’m not going to cause any shock or anything like that,” Anta said.
 
He climbed onto the back of the truck, dipped his net into the tank and lifted out about 30 trout at a time. He climbed down to dump each scoop — wriggling wildly and dripping foam — into the creek. Soon some of the trout reappeared, facing upstream and resting together in a pool of slower current beside the bank.
 
This creek, Anta pointed out, has a lot of natural holes for fish — and, therefore, for anglers. Schipper Campground is a green and shady spot, and it’s just above a beaver dam where you’re likely to find some of these trout.
 
“This is just the start,” Anta said. “As we go up it, it gets prettier.”
 
Whenever Anta unloads fish, he also checks that the tank’s water-cycling system is still running and that the fish have sufficient oxygen supply. Too much oxygen is a danger too; it could blow out their gills.
 
“They wouldn’t last too long in the stream,” he said. “They’d be raccoon bait.”
 
At Anta’s second stop, an unnamed dispersed campsite, he pointed out ripples and submerged fallen trees that create natural resting areas for trout.
 
“There’s a lot of habitat for them,” he said. Aquatic insects flying near the water’s surface suggested they’d be feeding here, too — good conditions for fly fishers.
 
Farther upstream at Steer Basin Campground, David and Rosie Torrez of Rupert emerged from a camp trailer displaying a big American flag out front, followed by at least three little dogs. Anta asked permission to pass between the other camp trailers in the Torrezes’ party, and David readily agreed.
 
“Then I’ll just come right behind you,” David said, and both men laughed. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
 
Anta lingered for a minute to chat about fishing spots in the creek, then headed back to the truck to unload Steer Basin’s allotment.
 
“Don’t hold back, buddy, don’t hold back. Put them all in there,” David said, slapping Anta’s shoulder. “I’m going to get my fishing pole ready.”
 
As Anta carried each net full of fish to the creek — at a run now, because he had farther to go — Rosie watched from the bank.
 
“Now we got some fish for dinner,” she said. Rosie and her husband have fished Rock Creek for about 40 years. “We’ve been to every one of these campsites.”
 
His work there finished, Anta lingered again to talk about fishing destinations, other recent stocking and the state’s new record book for catch-and-release anglers.
 
“I’m always the good guy, so it’s pretty neat,” Anta said, back behind the wheel.
 
On his June stocking run, Anta will go upstream to the Fourth Fork. But on the May run, he turned around at Steer Basin and headed down to Harrington Fork Campground, his last stop.
 
When Anta, now 29, was growing up in Gooding, the trails linking the Harrington Fork campsites were freshly paved, and he’d bring his in-line skates on family camping trips here. And his fishing pole, of course.
 
“We’d have a hoot of a time,” he said, showing off a campsite and its picnic table among the trees.
 
The asphalt is cracked now — too rough for skating — but a welcoming stack of firewood waited beside the fire pit.
 
On a bridge over the creek, Anta attached a metal pipe to the bottom of his tank, backed his truck to the edge and pulled a lever to release his load. As trout and about 400 gallons of water poured into the creek, he used a soft-bristled broom to ensure the last few fish made it out of the tank with the last of the water.
 
At the state’s Hagerman Fish Hatchery, Anta rears sturgeon, rainbow trout and tiger muskie and monitors fish health. But in spring, he begins to log the 12,000 miles he drives each year on stocking runs around south-central Idaho and beyond.
 
“March through October,” he said, “I’m pretty busy just stocking.”