State anglers followed rules
Trout season, stocking plan changes less dramatic than 2020 restrictions
A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, new understanding of the virus and how it spreads have led to changes in the ways Pennsylvanians fish for trout.
Plans for stocking and the trout season schedule were set at the Fish and Boat Commission’s quarterly business meeting Monday.
The season will start with a single consolidated statewide opening day in all counties on April 3, a Saturday. Applicable laws and regulations will apply. The opener will be preceded by a mentored youth day a week earlier, March 27, when anglers age 16 and under accompanied by licensed anglers can participate in Mentored Youth Trout Day. Some 5,000 voluntary youth fishing licenses purchased in 2020 will be valid. Stocking will begin two weeks earlier than usual on Feb. 15.
Last spring, as scientists’ understanding of the coronavirus was still evolving, the Fish and Boat Commission considered mandates from Harrisburg and Washington D.C., and sought guidance from the Centers for Disease Control to find the safest ways to conduct the 2020 trout season. To maximize distance between anglers and protect staff, PFBC hatchery workers secretly delivered fish without the help of volunteers. The eastern season opener and mentored youth days were canceled and the statewide season was sprung on anglers without prior announcement.
“Last year, COVID was hitting in real time. It was all new to us, social distancing and masking,” said Tim Schaeffer, executive director of the Fish and Boat Commission, in a media briefing Tuesday. “We really felt [the changes] were the best way to avoid the crowding that comes with opening day.
“We were pleased with how it worked last year, but we feel we can deliver an opening day and mentored youth experience this year. Now we feel anglers are used to following best practices, and we hope optimistically they’ll … use the same distancing practices they use every day.”
Mr. Schaeffer said distances between anglers make the sport inherently COVID-safe, which explains the unprecedented 20% increase in fishing license sales over the previous year. A repeat of that participation level is expected in 2021. Already this year, license sales are up 15% — 5,700 more than at this time last year.
The statewide opening day will be held on the date the regional trout season would have opened. Mr. Schaeffer said that will reduce angler travel while giving most of Pennsylvania a longer season. The earlier stocking schedule supports Mentored Youth Day and the season opener.
“This [schedule] will provide predictability and allow anglers to plan ahead. We feel anglers have become accustomed to spacing and masking,” said Mr. Schaeffer. “Our advice about staying a rod’s length apart caught on nationally last year. It’s a good visual graphic.”
Fish and Boat will stock its typical 3.1 million adult trout, with another 1.2 million provided by cooperative nurseries. Stocking operations will be published in advance and begin two weeks earlier than usual on Feb. 15. Schedules are to be provided on www.fishandboat.com and the FishBoatPA mobile app at pfbc.pa.gov beginning Feb. 1. Hatchery schedules were moved up to accommodate stocking plans. Replacement stockings will continue into summer.
“Last year we had all hands on deck to get fish in the water as quickly as possible,” said Mr. Schaeffer. “[In 2021] we will post the stocking schedule online … and hope to complete preseason stocking by opening day, weather permitting. We’ll use volunteers, but only [invited] predetermined volunteers. No walk-up volunteers.”
Due to changes in the stocking schedule, all streams that are designated as Stocked Trout Waters will be closed to fishing when stocking begins on Feb. 15. To provide for additional angling opportunities during this time, trout stocked in lakes, reservoirs and ponds during the pre-season will be open to catch-and-release angling, but may not be harvested until the Mentored Youth Day and statewide opening day.
Regulations designed to prevent the overharvest of steelhead in Lake Erie tributaries and Presque Isle Bay will continue. All angling on those waters will be prohibited at 12:01 a.m. April 2. When fishing resumes at 8 a.m. April 3, the trout season, size and creel limits will change to permit the harvest of trout that are not steelhead.
Also at the Fish and Boat commissioners’ meeting, an amendment was adopted pertaining to trout stocking in Class A Wild Trout Streams. While stocking is not permitted or advisable in most Class A waters, 13 stream sections statewide are currently stocked by the PFBC.
“These stream sections are in proximity to high-density human population centers and are heavily fished streams of a size and character that can support a fishery featuring both stocked and wild trout,” according to a statement. “Additional criteria will allow for consideration of continued stocking of stream sections that have historically played host to special activities, such as youth fishing derbies that benefit communities socially and economically, prior to being designated as Class A Wild Trout Streams.”
Under the amendment, the executive director must consult the PFBC’s decisionmaking criteria before requesting board approval for any exemptions that would allow for continued stocking of newly designated Class A Wild Trout Streams. Stream sections with self-sustaining wild brook trout populations that have not previously been granted an exemption will not be considered.