Opening Day Plans

Bamboozle said:
I remember how excited I was to go trout fishing my very first time on Opening Day at Ridley Creek...

Was it a zoo, yep! Did I catch any fish, nope! Did I care, nope, well maybe. 😉 Did I do again for a few years after that, yep...

For these reasons, I totally get Opening Day and I respect folks who fish the ways I don't...
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I agree, except it was Mill Creek that initially lit my trout fishing fire. I have fond memories of those "good ole days."
 
Bamboozle said:
I remember that first trout outing like it was yesterday...

I'd give a billion dollars for that same level of excitement & anticipation today...
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Yep, the anticipation was a BIG part of the experience. Me and my buds would ride our bikes down to the "crick" prior to OD to feed the the trout dough balls, as sort of a pre-season scouting mission to find where the most/biggest fish were holding.
 
Went with my dad. Fished through the rain. It was fun to be out. Not a lot happened for us today. We went to the nearest creek to my pop’s house for a little catch and release. I walked to fish this creek growing up. Just for fun. It isn’t good, or stocked, or natural reproduction or class A. It’s unlisted. But it’s fun. On small streamers. We had 7 bites and landed 2, each landing one. Mine was bigger 😉
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~5footfenwick
 
Bamboozle said:
I remember that first trout outing like it was yesterday...

I'd give a billion dollars for that same level of excitement & anticipation today...
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Dear Bamboozle,

It wasn't trout fishing, but my father had a work colleague who had a small pond on her property with bass and bluegills the size of which I've never seen.

As kids there was nothing more that excited the Murphy boys than a Wednesday or Thursday night summer thunderstorm with the promise that if we caught the nightcrawlers we'd go to Mrs. Coles that Saturday morning.

I'd love a 50-year wayback machine too!

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂
 
TimMurphy said:
Dear Bamboozle,

It wasn't trout fishing, but my father had a work colleague who had a small pond on her property with bass and bluegills the size of which I've never seen.

As kids there was nothing more that excited the Murphy boys than a Wednesday or Thursday night summer thunderstorm with the promise that if we caught the nightcrawlers we'd go to Mrs. Coles that Saturday morning.

I'd love a 50-year wayback machine too!

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂
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Nobody in my family fished so it was all on me to figure things out on my own...

A couple of neighbor kids (I lived in a block of twin houses with a common driveway) had dad's who took them fishing. One particular day they brought back fish from a local pond in a bucket.

I remember being in a trance staring at those sunnies swimming around in that little bucket, hoping against hope I'd get the chance one day to go fishing...

Luckily for me, I had friends in school who fished. A few years later they invited me along and ignited the passion I still have today. However, it saddens me to think that somewhere out there, there is a kid like me who wants to, but doesn't have anyone to expose them to fishing.

That's why against what I practice, I get a particularly big smile on my face watching some kid, or even an uninitiated adult experience what I did on my first outing or my first Opening Day...

Even though it ain't for me, I hope the tradition never goes away...
 
5footfenwick said:
Went with my dad. Fished through the rain. It was fun to be out. Not a lot happened for us today. We went to the nearest creek to my pop’s house for a little catch and release. I walked to fish this creek growing up. Just for fun. It isn’t good, or stocked, or natural reproduction or class A. It’s unlisted. But it’s fun. On small streamers. We had 7 bites and landed 2, each landing one. Mine was bigger 😉 View attachment 1641241172
View attachment 1641241174

~5footfenwick
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This is totally your opinion, but I would bring this stream to the PFBC's attention. I come to this conclusion by talking to Mike about a similar such situation of a stream that I know of. Well, actually I am talking about a stream section. It is unlisted, but I guarantee it is Class A many times over. I think it affords the stream some level of protection being listed, but it is also might add increased pressure. I really don't think it does, though. Our natural repro list is huge, and I don't think being on that list really brings too much attention to the water.

I did not bring my stream section to the attention of the PFBC, but I plan to soon.
 
jifigz said:
This is totally your opinion, but I would bring this stream to the PFBC's attention. I come to this conclusion by talking to Mike about a similar such situation of a stream that I know of. Well, actually I am talking about a stream section. It is unlisted, but I guarantee it is Class A many times over. I think it affords the stream some level of protection being listed, but it is also might add increased pressure. I really don't think it does, though. Our natural repro list is huge, and I don't think being on that list really brings too much attention to the water.

I did not bring my stream section to the attention of the PFBC, but I plan to soon.
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idk. perhaps true of a small isolated stream. A large stream (my favorite, maybe soon to no longer be) formerly known as only a stocker stream was listed as class A (note: they did not stop stocking just made harvest browns only and I have yet to see any additional protection). The amount of traffic of people and guides skyrocketed. This was especially noticeable among FF and guides. It now receives regular float fisherman in rafts (seems guided) when before you'd only see kayakers floating. The number of big fish caught also went down. I am not trying to convince you to not notify PFBC, just telling my story
 
nymphingmaniac said:
idk. perhaps true of a small isolated stream. A large stream (my favorite, maybe soon to no longer be) formerly known as only a stocker stream was listed as class A (note: they did not stop stocking just made harvest browns only and I have yet to see any additional protection). The amount of traffic of people and guides skyrocketed. This was especially noticeable among FF and guides. It now receives regular float fisherman in rafts (seems guided) when before you'd only see kayakers floating. The number of big fish caught also went down. I am not trying to convince you to not notify PFBC, just telling my story
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Fair enough. In most cases, I don't think being Class A affects a stream's pressure. In most cases....not all.....
 
jifigz said:
Fair enough. In most cases, I don't think being Class A affects a stream's pressure. In most cases....not all.....
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I respectfully and wholeheartedly definitely disagree...

Anytime you provide a list with coordinates that is repackaged, remapped and resold, you are increasing pressure.

I'll never forget a conversation I had with an AFM about a particular stream. During the conversation he told me the PFBC was considering adding an adjacent section to the Class A list.

This adjacent section sees little pressure compared to the lower sections. I begged him to leave things well enough alone and so far close to 20 years later the status quo has been maintained. I'm sure not because of me, but he did agree that the list adds pressure.

I'll add to this by saying, when the Class A list consisted of a handful of streams, only a handful of anglers knew about the other places...
 
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Bamboozle said:
I respectfully and wholeheartedly definitely disagree...

Anytime you provide a list with coordinates that is repackaged, remapped and resold, you are increasing pressure.

I'll never forget a conversation I had with an AFM about a particular stream. During the conversation he told me the PFBC was considering adding an adjacent section to the Class A list.

This adjacent section sees little pressure compared to the lower sections. I begged him to leave things well enough alone and so far close to 20 years later the status quo has been maintained. I'm sure not because of me, but he did agree that the list adds pressure.

I all to this that when the Class A list consisted of a handful of streams, only a handful of anglers knew about the other places...
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Meh, I still disagree. In most cases, being on the list does little to increase pressure. I have strong anecdotal evidence for this, but no scientific evidence. Reputations and sharing of stream reputations does far more damage than being on the list.

With that said, I know at least a dozen streams that I'd wager are Class A that aren't listed. I'm fine with them being unlisted..
 
Bamboozle said:
I respectfully and wholeheartedly definitely disagree...

Anytime you provide a list with coordinates that is repackaged, remapped and resold, you are increasing pressure.

I'll never forget a conversation I had with an AFM about a particular stream. During the conversation he told me the PFBC was considering adding an adjacent section to the Class A list.

This adjacent section sees little pressure compared to the lower sections. I begged him to leave things well enough alone and so far close to 20 years later the status quo has been maintained. I'm sure not because of me, but he did agree that the list adds pressure.

I all to this that when the Class A list consisted of a handful of streams, only a handful of anglers knew about the other places...
Click to expand...
Until the first Class A list came out in 1983, I believe it was, I had no idea that a lot of the streams I fish to this day ever even existed. So, there's that.

Build it and they will come. Publicize it and they will come more quickly.
 
jifigz said:
Meh, I still disagree. In most cases, being on the list does little to increase pressure. I have strong anecdotal evidence for this, but no scientific evidence. Reputations and sharing of stream reputations does far more damage than being on the list.

With that said, I know at least a dozen streams that I'd wager are Class A that aren't listed. I'm fine with them being unlisted..
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It would seem to me the more miles of listed class A the more people would be spread out.
 
wildtrout2 said:
Until the first Class A list came out in 1983, I believe it was, I had no idea that a lot of the streams I fish to this day ever even existed. So, there's that.

Build it and they will come. Publicize it and they will come more quickly.
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I have one of those old lists (typed on two sides of a sheet of paper) that was mailed to me by the PFBC...

It has 99 entries...

The map they rolled out in 1983 as the "Trout Fishing in Pennsylvania" guide (that was my Bible for a long time) maybe had more, but I never compared the two.

I have no clue how many are on the list in 2025.
 
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