Trout slot size limits, trophy rules changing
For many years, the state Fish and Boat Commission opposed slot limits, a management practice in which the harvest of midsize fish is permitted but smaller and larger fish must be immediately released.
Things have changed.
A new five-year strategic plan for trout was approved in October 2020 with hopes of protecting big and small wild trout while providing all-tackle access to trophy-size fish in 11 Trophy Trout regulation areas.
On Monday, the board approved new rules that establish slot limits in separate wild trout areas designated for all-tackle and artificial-lures-only fishing. The action complies with a new strategic plan that in part supports slot limits and makes more trophy-sized trout accessible to all-tackle anglers.
Fish management agencies have long struggled with a regulatory dilemma, how to protect fish of particular year classes without banning the harvest of fish born in other years. Fish and Boat avoided slot limit trout regulations embraced by other states, citing in particular a failed experiment conducted in Wisconsin.
“The results of this study concluded that the slot limit regulations did not improve numbers of larger trout (20-inch range), and essentially the same results could have been accomplished with the use of a 14-inch minimum length limit,” said a Fish and Boat post that was recently removed from the website.
“Therefore, at the completion of the study, it was recommended that the slot limit regulations should be replaced with a simpler 14-inch minimum length limit. Other studies using slot limit regulations for wild trout fisheries have provided mixed reviews, at best. In most cases, the best management practice for these special regulations fisheries would be to manage them with the use of an elevated minimum length limit such as 14 inches.”
The website supported Pennsylvania’s diversified programs for managing wild trout, adding that voluntary catch-and-release fishing sufficiently shielded many fish from harvest.
In 2014, Fish and Boat initiated experimental slot limits for wild trout on 7 miles of Penn’s Creek in Centre and Mifflin counties. The regulations permit year-round fishing, use of all tackle and the harvest of two trout per day within a slot from 7 inches to less than 12 inches in length. The restrictions are in place from the opening day of the regular trout
season through Labor Day, with no harvest allowed the rest of the year.
Results of stream monitoring and angler surveys on that section of Penn’s Creek noted a substantial increase in the electrofishing catch rates of brown trout greater than or equal to 16 inches in length during the regulation period of 2014-2019. Fish and Boat said the results suggested the slot limits increased the number of large brown trout.
“Results documented low harvest of trout during the survey and high angler support for continuance of the slot limit regulation,” states the rule-change proposal. “Despite low angler harvest under the current slot limit regulation, this regulation provides the opportunity for anglers to harvest intermediate-sized trout if desired, which was an important social consideration when the regulation was originally implemented.”
The rule change establishes a new special regulation known as Trout Slot Limit, divided into two subprograms for all-tackle fishing and artificial lures only. The subprograms will allow the commission to “select the most appropriate tackle option to achieve biological and social objectives for each water considered for inclusion in the program and provide an opportunity to evaluate the effects of different terminal tackle types,” according to Fish and Boat.
All-tackle trout slot limit waters would be open to all-tackle fishing year-round, From the regular trout opening day through Labor Day, harvest of trout from 7 inches to less than 12 inches would be legal with a daily creel limit of two combined species. Catch-and-release fishing would be permitted through the rest of the year. The same rules would apply in artificial lures only areas, but no natural baits could be used. Both subprograms would ban the harvest of trout smaller than 7 inches and 12 inches or larger.
If approved at a future meeting, the new regulations will go into effect upon publication of a second notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
Another rule change approved Monday revises portions of the Trophy Trout regulations, which include two categories. In all-tackle areas, natural baits are permitted with a harvest minimum of 14 inches. In artificial lures only areas, natural baits are banned and the same minimum size of 14 inches applies. In both categories, the daily limit is two per day of mixed species from the trout opener through Labor Day with catch-and-release angling through the remainder of the year.
“Given that a 14- inch trout no longer constitutes a ‘trophy’ fish for most anglers, commission staff propose an adjustment to the minimum size and daily creel limit that will still allow anglers to harvest a large trout if they so choose, but also provides increased protection to a majority of the larger trout in streams managed with Trophy Trout regulations,” states the proposal.
From the opening day of the regular trout season through Labor Day, Trophy Trout regulations would be amended to allow for the harvest of no more than one trout per day greater than or equal to 18 inches long, with catch-and-release angling for the remainder of the year.
These amendments will go into effect Jan. 1, 2022.