Opening day: minor impact on wild trout fisheries

[Mike]

Taken from "deep" in another thread:

(Mike):This would be consistent with previous studies that have been done statewide that have flown in the face of what some anglers on this board have claimed...that the wild trout in freestone streams are exposed to substantial fishing pressure and harvest on opening day or weekend such that they don't recover for the rest of the season. This "truism" is not supported by not one, but two different studies looking at different aspects. First, electrofishing wild trout streams showed that adult trout biomass and abundance is much lower just before opening day than they are later in the summer of the same year. Second, the statewide creel survey documented low fishing pressure and harvest on wild trout streams, so even if opening weekend pressure and harvest were greater, the overall effect was negligible. Angler counts that I saw were not very high on opening day on wild trout streams and neither was the harvest, although there was some.

 

[NJAngler]

All these 'studies' are done under uncontrolled circumstances. IOW, a depletion in trout numbers from previous studies cannot be attributed to just one factor(i.e. angler pressure or angler harvest). Too many things can affect trout pops for any study to definitively say angler pressure does or doesn't affect trout pops. If you have a bad flood in january, many trout eggs will be wiped out which means yoy trout numbers will be very low come survey time in august. Not just on stocked streams but an unstocked ones as well. Droughts can seriously affect larger trout as well causing a reduction in their numbers too.

NJA

 

[RyanR]

I think the study referenced mentions specific survey's done just prior to opening day, sperate from the normal population sampling done in July/August. Overall, I think opening day/weekend harvest pressure on wild trout is not significant. However, I think on certain streams in some specific regions of the state it can have an impact on wild trout #s. I don't think it's a high percentage of streams at all but I do think that some probably suffer. One area that might see this happen is the North Central region of the state, where there are good wild trout populations on streams that still receive stockings and are popular on opening day. Again, I don't think it is a high # of streams and I think the impact is probably limited and not devastating.

 

[odtfish]

I agree, I don't think meat hunters are going to hit small streams that aren't stocked when they can sit at the "old bridge hole" with a can of corn and clean up on a stocked stream.

 

[troutbert]

Edited. See new post

 

[troutbert]

Going out and seeing what occurs on unstocked streams on opening day is pretty interesting. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this topic.

 

[wildtrout2]

What have been your observations on unstocked streams on opening day TB? I've never been on a remote wild stream on opening day for fear of what I might see.

 

[pcray1231]

Also interested in Troutbert's experiences.

Personally:

Among stocked streams: Bigger waters and stocked streams where you have to walk, there's some guys around but plenty of room for all. Most of the fishermen are the "better half" of spinning rod guys. I'd venture to say harvest is 5-10%. But that situation changes as you get to smaller stocked waters. Nothing like the "fish in a bucket" situation to bring in the creeps. Unfortunately, its these smaller waters which are more likely to contain wild trout.

Among unstocked streams: Pressure is low, but its still probably one of the highest pressure days of the year for these streams. The worst ones are the ones where a portion of the stream is stocked, or at least it shares an access point with stocked water. Late in the morning, I think some get bored with stockers, or just look for some solitude, and hike to where its primarily wild trout. If the stream doesn't share an access point with stocked water, I can usually find a stream where noone else has been all day. But if plan A has a car, I try somewhere else, and very frequently end up on plan B or C, when thats pretty rare at other times.

Harvest rates tend to be extremely low on the unstocked streams or unstocked portions of streams. The exception is if someone camps way back in. They almost always keep a few. Of course, I've done the same, so I can't really hold it against them.

 

[troutbert]

I've been going to unstocked, general regs streams every opening day for roughly 10 or 12 years now.

There's a lot more people out there fishing unstocked streams on opening day than you might expect.

But just check it out for yourself and see.