More waters open before opening day

Trout fishing is banned until 8 a.m. April 13. Except where it isn’t.

With the right gear and a trout stamp, anglers in Pennsylvania can fish many miles of public trout-stocked waters when the general season is closed. In addition to those managed for Trout Stocked Waters Open to Year-Round Fishing, other programs include:

• Anglers in 18 eastern counties where spring conditions arrive earlier celebrate their Regional Opening Day of Trout Season at 8 a.m. March 30.

• On Mentored Youth Fishing

Days, March 23 in eastern counties and April 6 statewide, anglers younger than 16 with a free Mentored Youth Fishing Permit or Voluntary Youth Fishing License ($2.90) and who are accompanied by a licensed adult, can keep two trout 7 inches or larger. Details at www.fishandboat.com.

• Fish for trout 24/7, 365 days a year, but throw them back when you’re done, on parts of 26 north central and eastern waters managed under Catch and Release All Tackle or Catch and Release Artificial Lures Only regulations. Same rules apply

on Catch and Release Fly Fishing

Only waters including parts of Dunbar Creek (Fayette County), Little Mahoning Creek (Indiana), Slippery Rock Creek (Lawrence), Clear Shade Creek (Somerset) and Little Sandy Creek (Venango).

• On the Youghiogheny River on the Fayette and Somerset counties’ border, more than 9 miles of All

Tackle Trophy Trout waters are always open to trout fishing. Harvest is restricted to two fish daily 14 inches or larger from the statewide trout opener through Labor Day, with no harvest permitted from the day after Labor Day to the morning of opening day. Regulations are the same on nine central Pennsylvania streams in the Trophy Trout Artificial Lures Only program.

• Fly and spinner anglers can always fish for trout on Delayed Harvest

Artificial Lures Only waters with a reasonable year-round expectation of finding fish because more anglers on those streams catch and release. For those who harvest, three trout 9 inches or larger can be kept June 15 through Labor Day. From the day after Labor Day until June 15, the daily creel limit is zero. In Western Pennsylvania, parts of 13 streams have DHALO sections, including good fishing waters as near as Allegheny, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

Some DHALO waters are also enrolled in the Keystone Select Stocked Trout Waters program, in which thousands of 2- to 3-year-old lunkers ranging from 14 to more than 20 inches are added to the regular stockings. Those waters include the DHALO stretches of Buffalo Creek (Butler, Armstrong), Meadow Run (Fayette), Neshannock Creek (Lawrence), Laurel Hill Creek (Somerset) and Loyalhanna Creek (Westmoreland).