There’s nothing wrong with killing a few trout every now and then.

They’re delicious — and taking out a few smaller trout might actually help the stream.

As of Saturday, April 16, keeping trout is legal in Minnesota trout streams; Wisconsin’s inland harvest season starts May 7. (Lake trout remain closed in Minnesota until May 14.)

Anglers already have been fishing stream trout in both states for months during lengthy catch-and-release seasons. From my own time on the water to posts on message boards to reports from biologists, anglers in both southeast Minnesota and southwest Wisconsin will enjoy trickles, streams and rivers with ample fish populations this year.

In many, if not most, designated trout streams, the populations are healthy enough to handle some harvest. That’s why regulations allow it.

In fact, trout populations in some streams might be more balanced with some human predatory influence. In streams with high densities of trout under 12 inches, those growing throngs can limit the food needed for a trout to grow large. And many of the small trout will die anyway.

Rule of thumb: About half of each generation of young fish die each year from natural causes.

“If somebody’s thinking about harvesting fish from these high-density streams, harvest,” said Brian Nerbonne, stream habitat consultant for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “We can have them taken home by anglers, or a portion of the fish will die anyway from natural mortality on the highest density streams.”

Two things need to be said here:

First, catch-and-release must remain the default. That ethic, along with conservation land-use programs, are to thank for the streams and fish we have.

Second, some will regard this whole topic as blasphemy. “I could never kill a trout,” a friend of mine once told me once after releasing a rainbow trout from a western stream. Regulations actually demanded the rainbow be killed because they threaten native cutthroat populations. The catch-and-release mindset can be taken too far. I know plenty of conservation-minded anglers who occasionally take a few trout home for dinner, although they know it can be touchy to talk about in some circles.

Whether to kill a driftless-area stream trout is a personal decision, Here’s how I make mine.

Trout I keep are generally:

Small. 6 to 10 inches. They have small bones, supple flesh and are a beauty to serve skin-on, especially poached.

Only when they’re abundant. I know this either from DNR data or because I’ve already caught a bunch.

Generally from larger streams, or at least big holes. I want to leave plenty for the next angler.

Generally browns or stocked rainbows. Brook trout are usually less common.

Trout I throw back are generally:

Most trout I catch. Two to three is plenty. These are fresh delicacies, not for the freezer or a big fish fry.

From streams I can jump across. It’s just hard to imagine that those little spring creeks can handle much harvest.

Those handsome 14 to 16 inchers that everyone loves to catch — unless there’s a ton of them.

Lunkers. I’ll never say never. And I know that the big ones are often past their reproductive peak. But I want to know they’re still there when I leave.

Know the regulations of the stream you’re fishing. They sometimes change to reflect a change in the fish population.

Savor every bite.