Trout Season Opened TODAY!!!!!

[Fly-Swatter]

wbranch wrote:
Poopdeck wrote,

I really don't understand trout snobbery.

I don't consider myself, or any of my friends, to be snobs because we prefer not to fish for stocked trout. Wild fish are inherently prettier, and fish of equal size fight better, are often more difficult to catch, and from the few I have eaten taste much better than pellet fed trout.

wbranch: I agree! Beyond that, wild trout act like trout. For example, My son and I were checking out late day stocking holes near home. A pair of Palamino...* ACHEM!*..."Golden Rainbow Trout" were hanging out near a bridge under us and a "social distance (new unit of measurement) from a dude pitching salmon eggs. Now, I've see wild trout hang out next to someone wading if they are still long enough and there is a hatch on, but these two knuckleheads (the GRTs) had no idea about people or any other predators.

Given a few weeks in the stream, they would likely get wise or get eaten.

 

[salmonoid]

troutbert wrote:

salmonoid wrote:

An interesting aside to all of this is to see if there would be any way to quantify or qualify how this year's stocking protocol helped or hurt wild trout.

I doubt that slight shifts in when the trout were stocked will make any difference to wild trout populations.

Do you have a hypothesis of how it would make a difference?

Nothing specifically, other than it is a change from previous years. Most waters will receive one concentrated dose of stocked fish, not only in time (one stocking) but in location (maybe far fewer locations).

The stream I plan to fish tomorrow is stocked over a fairly long stretch in normal years. It has a good head of wild fish in the lower stretch and though it is listed as STW, it is roadless and no way to get fish to it. It is not float stocked. Stockers do make their way down eventually, but it's unlikely that the stocking point they come from (down a long woods road, from a paved road) saw stocking traffic this year. So there is a one mile stretch, at least, of stream with wild fish that will see less competition for food this year.

 

[Fredrick]

It’s time .

 

[rrt]

1. Tomg's photo with post 22 was funny. Well, at least I thought it was.

2. Wife, dog, and I drove around the local stocked waters after lunch when I found out about it. People were out, but not in the numbers that are traditionally out. There was actual social distancing. The local state park lake, Canoe Lake, which is usually mobbed and often has to have park employees direct traffic in and out of parking lots, had nearly no fishermen.

I agree with those who noted that this was a good PFBC decision. It ought to spread out the fishermen. And, it will have guys on the water to make use of the hatchery fish that have been placed in the streams. IMO, it would have been a terrible waste if these fish could not have been utilized. If the PFBC had waited till warm weather to open the season, many (most?) of the hatchery fish might have succumbed to water that got too warm for them.

 

[PennKev]

IMO, the alternatives were:

1) Keep trout season closed and also potentially close ALL fishing.

2) Hold the to the traditional opener and ensure that crowds of fisherman would be on the streams.

I think maybe the only thing that could have been done better was to open the season a week or two ago, but hindsight is 20/20. So really, even if there were some idiots disregarding the social distancing guidelines, opening the season today was probably the lesser evil, short of "cancelling" trout season.

Coronavirus aside, I think the opener should be this early every year...

 

[jifigz]

Coronavirus aside, I think the opener should be this early every year...

Or they should not post the stocking dates and times and just stock waters all spring until the current level of stocking has been achieved and never shut streams down at all.......I know that won't go over well but.......

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Or they should not post the stocking dates and times and just stock waters all spring until the current level of stocking has been achieved and never shut streams down at all.......I know that won't go over well but.......


That's what Georgia does, but they do post stocking dates. It works just fine!GG

 

[Fly-Swatter]

(from a PFBC email today)

"PFBC staff will continue to stock trout throughout the spring, but not all waters have been stocked at this time. To further discourage group gatherings, a stocking schedule and list of waters that have been stocked will not be provided to the public this season."

 

[Mike]

The original schedule had stockings in the SE ending around May 15-18 time period. I would expect that with the accelerated pace of the past month stocking in the SE would be completed by the end of April, if not a little sooner for a number of those counties. IMO that is a pretty good thing because after about the first 10 days in May or less interest in stockings and trout fishing really slacks off for the masses in the SE, but plenty of trout remain for the die-hards/serious anglers, even in urban/suburban park streams. In addition, temps are much less of a concern both while transporting large loads of larger fish and when the fish are being released in the lakes and streams at that time. Remember, the fish keep growing in the hatcheries all through the inseason stocking period and browns, in particular, start to catch up in their growth.

I would add that there were a number of years during which I didn’t seriously start trout fishing until the striped bass work was completed in late May. There were plenty of trout to be caught and it was “real” fishing. By seriously I mean spending longer hours per outing and going almost every other day.

 

[jifigz]

gulfgreyhound wrote:

That's what Georgia does, but they do post stocking dates. It works just fine!GG

By me saying that they shouldn't post the stocking dates then there could be no truck chasers. Then there could also be no opening day. And, admittedly, people would probably buy fewer licenses and PA residents would be ANGRY. p
People are already mad about what happened this year. People are also silly.

 

[gozu]

Mike, two years ago I was still catching stocked fish in the one section of Darby creek well into July. That section does have some spring water seeping into it along with good shade.

 

[Mike]

Darby is a fine example...one of the best examples in the “deep SE.” They are not all like that, but Darby carries its fish well into the summer and we have seen a few people fishing it then as well. Wet years are even better for Darby.

 

[Out4Trout]

Just an FYI, I drove around a little up here yesterday to see how everyone was doing and none of my local streams got stocked yet. Nothing in Mud Run, Hickory Run Lake or Sand Springs, so basically nothing in Hickory Run State Park. Still got to chase some trout in some of my favorite locations that shall remain unnamed : )

 

[MD_Gene]

I can imagine the people who were at work and found out about opening day and went ballistic! "I want my shot too! Why did they do this to me?" Opening day is like Christmas, it's for kids.

 

[Maurice]

From the Muddy Creek watershed in SoYoCo. The Muddy Creek Forks had over 40 cars at 5:00 PM. Typical opening day might double that. Couple spots on the South Branch had 8-10 cars, typical opening day crowds. I fished an unstocked section and shook off a couple dinks streamer fishing downstream in clear water. it was nice to be out.

Im told that before that 11-3pm the forks was kinda lean with anglers. so apparently peoples still working around here or it took come time to get their license.

Strange times for sure.

 

[byron]

I would think the most pain was felt by owners/operators of the few remaining bait & tackle shops. The Friday before opening day is normally the single busiest day of the year, by far.
Shops in the regional part of the State that had postponed bait orders under the belief that opening day was postponed until the 18th..And shops everywhere that were not stocked up, or even open yet...

 

[mattwolf]

I'm not sure why they have to wait every year until the streams are stocked to open the season. NY opens their trout season on April 1 state wide every year. Sometimes it's nice, sometime its raining, sometimes its snowing, and there are many times in upstate, NY there is still a foot plus of snow on the ground or the waters are extremely high due to snow melt run off. The DEC in NY stocks the fish when water temps and flows are conducive for stocking, not when the fisherman want to go fishing. However, opening day in central/upstate NY is not nearly as crowded as PA stocked streams are.

 

[CRB]

vastly fewer fish are stocked and what streams that are stocked is done in the fall during the closed season.
Few fish caught= fewer licenses sold=fewer fisherman on trout waters.

 

[wbranch]

CRB wrote;

astly fewer fish are stocked and what streams that are stocked is done in the fall during the closed season. Few fish caught= fewer licenses sold=fewer fisherman on trout waters.

To where are you referring? NY, NJ, PA all stock in the spring. I know NJ and PA also does some fall stocking. Not sure about NY.

I can attest to the statement that NY opens on April 01 and long before they stock most streams. I used to fish the Beaverkill on Opening Day and while it was cold I usually caught half a dozen holdover browns on nymphs. I've never seen any NY stockings of the Beaverkill or Willowemoc before mid to late April.

 

[mattwolf]

CRB wrote:
vastly fewer fish are stocked and what streams that are stocked is done in the fall during the closed season.
Few fish caught= fewer licenses sold=fewer fisherman on trout waters.

NY stocks around 2.3 million trout and PA is closer to 4.5 million trout, so there is a lot more fish stocked in PA, however, the amount of fish stocked is based on license sales in both states. NY also stocks most of their fish in the spring not fall. https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/30465.html