Rough weather leads to decrease in Pa. fishing license sales down ~10%

[Bamboozle]

Did ANYBODY truly understand Roller Derby are we all guilty of lusting for chicks on roller skates...

 

[steliejim]

A little bit of both!
I remember there was a lead jammer with the helmet.
Match races were fun in person!

 

[Bamboozle]

BTW - Is Sally Starr an athlete because she still "pops up" (among other things) in my dreams...

 

[Bamboozle]

A little bit of both!
I remember there was a lead jammer with the helmet.
Match races were fun in person!

"Jammer," now there's a word that immediately comes to mind when thinking about women's roller derby...

 

[dudemanspecial]

Bam I think you need a cold shower🤣

 

[JSky]

In my view, the Commissioners made a financial error when they recombined the regional opening days. This is not to say that I didn’t think there was a need for a slight program modification. Specifically, after a few yrs of regional opening day observations, plus the addition of the Mentored Youth Day (MYD), it seemed more practical from a water and air temp perspective to move the SE/SC regional opener and MYD each back a week, which is what has now occurred, but with the rest of the state opening a week later. What was lost by combining the opening days into one was the second benefit of the regional opening day scenario, which was also emphasized in-house when it was originally proposed. Specifically, the Commission could hedge its financial bets by taking two shots at having good weather and/or flows on an opening weekend and with angler mobility being what it is, a portion of the anglers who passed on fishing the first opener for whatever reason could take advantage of the second one, thus preserving some license sales that might have been lost. Likewise, there were substantial numbers of complaints received over the years when opening day fell on Easter weekend creating family gathering conflicts. Again, with two opening days that concern was potentially addressed. Finally, the regional concept addressed the potential issue of preseason stocking schedule completion problems by allowing an additional week or two to complete statewide stockings, particularly if there was bad weather (freezing rain, sleet, snow) or particularly high flows during portions of the preseason stocking period. Some sections of very popular Kettle Ck felt that pinch this year.

This. The fact is most trout fishermen in PA go away to camp or fish locally for opening weekend, and that’s about all the fishing they do for the year. When they moved opening weekend up two weeks, the chance creeks were flooded greatly increased. The whole “mentored youth day” fiasco further disenfranchised fishermen. Massive crowds of adults fishing out holes before you get a chance to hit the water is ridiculous.

 

[tomgamber]

When they moved opening weekend up two weeks, the chance creeks were flooded greatly increased.

False. There is no greater chance of rain the week before or after or during the current opener. There are other reasons not to recombine them but the weather is what it is. sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you.

 

[JSky]

False. There is no greater chance of rain the week before or after or during the current opener. There are other reasons not to recombine them but the weather is what it is. sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you.

False. I watch the USGS levels of my favorite stream every week. April1 it’s consistently 200 CFS higher than April 15th. That makes the difference between high fishable and unfishable.

 

[Bamboozle]

New York State has Opening Day on April 1st going back as far as I recall. I can remember freezing my a$$ off many times when I lived in the city and felt compelled to go fishing on the opener. However I don't remember a whole lot of issues and most folks I know just waited a week or two if it was cold or the water was high.

When I was kid the PA Opener was always the 2nd Saturday in April, but in the last 20 years it seems like the PFBC is looking like they are trying to schedule a wedding for a large family with a lot of far flung members.

IMHO - Just pick a day like NY, let it stick forever and folks will work around the issues. If it's too cold or the water is too high, you can stay home or deal with it like you might have to do anytime in April or even early May.

 

[DomR]

I'd be interested to know what the individual % of decline is for resident and non-resident license sales and if they are in-line with each other. Reason being since PA went to the singular opening day it's coincided with NJ's opening day (not that you all care for us "out of staters"). A sharper decline in NR license sales would have a deeper impact on revenues since the NR license is more expensive. Plus a fair amount of out of staters fish the opener and maybe a handful of other days through the year in PA, it's a win-win, more $ into the system and limited angler use/crowding.

 

[Tull66]

Dear falcon,

I guess I'm a little like you. I grew up in Saint Clair PA living in a house with a stoker stove in the basement until I was 5 years old. My maternal grandfather who was a coal miner died when I like 8 years old. I don't think he was 50 years old when he passed, but he looked like he was 90. My mom has always told stories of buying things on "tick". It was the way back then.

My parents moved to the splendor of Lower Bucks County in 1965 after a brief stop in Somerton PA by the SEPTA tracks. They lived in an apartment until 2004 when my father retired and they finally bought a house of their own. They managed to raise three sons that have all flown the coop, except for yours truly. My parents actually bought a house to be closer to me in the Harrisburg suburbs!

I guess the moral of the story is that if you want something else you have to find it. Staying put and wishing for the best is totally a non-starter anymore. I grew up when the saying, "Wish in one hand and **** in the other and see which one fills up first" was common knowledge.

On the point of fishing license sales, I've bought multi-year licenses since they became available so I sure hope they count them as sales. I'll buy a lifetime license in December of this year, I hope I get at least a year out of it!

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Reminds me of Archie and Edith.
“Didn't need no welfare state.
Everybody pulled his weight”
Those were the days!

 

[Tull66]

There will still be places with formal access, i.e. publicly owned land and land with access easements.

But, informal access, i.e. private land that is just left open to the public, will disappear.

In some areas of PA, informal access is almost entirely gone already.

And if all littering ended, it wouldn't change the outcome. Because the cause isn't littering. The cause is changes in land ownership patterns.

The upshot is that formal access must be secured for the places we wish to fish in the future.

I believe most landowners post their property due to lawsuits.