Why do we even still have an "Opening Day"?

[Zanotti]

Seems almost all waters are open year round, why the traditional Opening Day and why does it still matter?

Isn't it just some throwback to an earlier time?

(I am heading out now!)

Z

 

[Mike]

Because every large scale poll of trout anglers that has ever been done in Pa says the same thing...opening day is important to a large majority of trout anglers.

 

[jifigz]

I think that "opening day" helps to build anticipation and excitement in those that don't fish a lot. It is the trill of watching everyone around you including yourself enjoying the generally easy pickings. Just a guess, but I bet without an "opening day" that even less licenses would be sold.

With that said, I didn't go out today for stocked trout. I'm glad that the season has reopened so to speak because some of my favorite wild trout waters are also stocked waters so they were off limits for a month and a half.

 

[afishinado]

Tradition for some...

 

[rrt]

As Afish said, it is tradition for some. Mainly, the day is fun for families. Today's opening bell at the Sportsmen's pond where I went, I watched nearly a hundred lines hit the water. A few got tangled. However, a good many resulted in hooked trout. The excited laughing from the kids and the nice smiles from the dads and moms as the kids played the fish will help to make nice family memories for these folks. Trout were still biting when I left at about 10:00 to come home for a different kind of family gathering, a young guy's birthday party.

At one time, I was awfully sanctimonious and looked down on the opening day riot. However, I now think it is one of the best days of the year for families to spend in the outdoors: kids and their parents and grandparents enjoying an outdoor outing.

So, my answer for why we have it is that it is fun for families.

 

[TJones]

I loved opening day as a kid... lost interest in it as a young adult, until having kids of my own. Its a great tradition, and imo the youth day adds even more to it.

I do understand the frustration with some good wild trout waters being closed though, b/c they are also stocked. Some nice spots I’d like to fish for wild migratory brown, can’t be hit... haha oh well.

 

[CRB]

I would think perhaps the FBC could/would have a Saturday in May when the weather is good and Stock some areas a family fishing areas. Open the body of water up for the day perhaps with out a license requirements and recruit new adults(over 16 years of age),young families, single parent families to the merits of fishing. Perhaps State Parks would be the place. Loan rods reels and bait.

 

[Solitariolupo]

They have an opening day because the fish commission closes creeks to stock the fish. Then they give it some time so the fish can move around. It's how they make their money.

 

[tomgamber]

There are two days every year to fish for free

 

[tomgamber]

Solitariolupo wrote:
They have an opening day because the fish commission closes creeks to stock the fish. Then they give it some time so the fish can move around. It's how they make their money.

Except they don't make money. They use license sales to pay for fish. Then they.operate under a deficit.

 

[Solitariolupo]

Care to elaborate. So they don't make money but the sales (money) goes to the fish. Sounds to me they gotta make money somewhere.

 

[jifigz]

Solitariolupo wrote:
Care to elaborate. So they don't make money but the sales (money) goes to the fish. Sounds to me they gotta make money somewhere.

Tom is correct. Sure they "make" lots of money. License sales are currently at 800,000 or so I believe. Multiply that by $23 for a basic license and then whoever in that amount buys a trout stamp and add that into the numbers as well but that still doesn't cover all of the costs of their operations. They need additional funding (like most everything else in the country) and operate on a deficit. They certainly don't have a surplus.

I've seen lots of complaining about the PFBC but I feel that they do a great job and I am beyond thrilled with the waters available to me as a resident of the Commonwealth.

 

[SmoothOperator]

Usually around this time of year we're busy at work and working weekends...This weekend NOBODY WORKS , the guys take their kids and head north to fish with their families/extended families for the weekend.( usually start cutting out early Friday).......... I was actually going to make it a" paid weekend holiday " , till the head bean counter gave me the number!!!!!!!!

 

[PATroutMan]

Tradition and Money money money!!

 

[FarmerDave]

PATroutMan wrote:
Tradition and Money money money!!

We have a bingo.

Mostly it is tradition, but it would also be hard to ignore the likelihood that fewer licenses (or at least fewer trout stamps) would be sold if it went away.

Opening day is still a major event for some anglers.

 

[Solitariolupo]

jifigz wrote:

Solitariolupo wrote:
Care to elaborate. So they don't make money but the sales (money) goes to the fish. Sounds to me they gotta make money somewhere.

Tom is correct. Sure they "make" lots of money. License sales are currently at 800,000 or so I believe. Multiply that by $23 for a basic license and then whoever in that amount buys a trout stamp and add that into the numbers as well but that still doesn't cover all of the costs of their operations. They need additional funding (like most everything else in the country) and operate on a deficit. They certainly don't have a surplus.

I've seen lots of complaining about the PFBC but I feel that they do a great job and I am beyond thrilled with the waters available to me as a resident of the Commonwealth.

I never said he was incorrect. Even your post states they make money somewhere.

 

[FarmerDave]

Solitariolupo wrote:

jifigz wrote:

Solitariolupo wrote:
Care to elaborate. So they don't make money but the sales (money) goes to the fish. Sounds to me they gotta make money somewhere.

Tom is correct. Sure they "make" lots of money. License sales are currently at 800,000 or so I believe. Multiply that by $23 for a basic license and then whoever in that amount buys a trout stamp and add that into the numbers as well but that still doesn't cover all of the costs of their operations. They need additional funding (like most everything else in the country) and operate on a deficit. They certainly don't have a surplus.

I've seen lots of complaining about the PFBC but I feel that they do a great job and I am beyond thrilled with the waters available to me as a resident of the Commonwealth.

I never said he was incorrect. Even your post states they make money somewhere.

I suppose it depends on ones definition of "making money"...

If you are collecting a pay check, then you are "making money" in a micro sense.

However, looking at the big picture ... if I am spending more than I make and am not building any equity, then am I really "making money?"

I'd argue no, but I suppose the correct term would be I'm making a profit. ;-)

 

[Solitariolupo]

Who said anything about making a profit. They still make money off of our licenses to stock fish. It even says so on the fish commission website. Are biggest stocking and opener is trout. How come we don't have a big Muskie opener they stock them like crazy now. I know they don't even close the season. How about walleye they close them and open but no big deal. They stock them, also I know some places are wall to wall with people for walleye. If they didn't get money for trout then no trout opener.

 

[PennKev]

Solitariolupo wrote:
Who said anything about making a profit. They still make money off of our licenses to stock fish. It even says so on the fish commission website. Are biggest stocking and opener is trout. How come we don't have a big Muskie opener they stock them like crazy now. I know they don't even close the season. How about walleye they close them and open but no big deal. They stock them, also I know some places are wall to wall with people for walleye. If they didn't get money for trout then no trout opener.

"Making money" without making a profit is not long-term sustainable. You can "make" a million bucks in revenue but if you are at a $100k deficit for the year you've achieved nothing and in fact, have made your situation worse. However, the trout program is a major draw in terms of license purchases so the PAFBC is in a tough spot. They need the trout program to bolster license sales, and they need license sales to preserve a major source of revenue, but they have a difficult time generating enough revenue to keep everything going because expenses have outpaced their ability to implement license increases.

Also, you need to realize that the trout stocking program is not comparable to the stocking of walleye and muskie. They are stocked exclusively as juveniles and require a significant amount of time in the wild to grow to legal size. The walleye opener is not a guarantee that there will be loads of dumb, easily caught, legal size walleye at many very specific spots. If it were, I'm sure everyone would forget about trout in about 5 minutes flat. Sure there are some very popular locations, but it s nothing like the state-wide mayhem of the trout opener.

 

[FarmerDave]

Solitariolupo wrote:
Who said anything about making a profit.

Nobody. That was kind of my point.

It was pretty clear to me what Tom meant.

Here is an example. When I say that I sell beef, but I don't make any money at it, it is pretty clear what I mean.

It means my expenses exceed the revenue. In other words, I am not making a profit.

There is no money in small scale bee keeping, either.

As far as your other questions, They don't stock adult (legal size) walleye of musky.