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Pennsylvania trout fishing season opens Saturday: Here’s everything you need to know

Trout fishing season opens at 8 a.m. Saturday.

  • Marcus Schneck/PennLive
Aiden Snyder, 9, fishes during the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s Mentored Youth Trout Day at Marquette Lake in Fort Indiantown Gap, Saturday, March 26, 2022.

 Vicki Vellios Briner / PennLive

Aiden Snyder, 9, fishes during the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s Mentored Youth Trout Day at Marquette Lake in Fort Indiantown Gap, Saturday, March 26, 2022.

Trout fishing season opens at 8 a.m. Saturday.

It’s the first single statewide opening day since the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission last October approved an end to dual opening days.

From 2007 through 2020, there was a statewide opening Saturday preceded by an earlier regional opening in 18 southeastern counties.

When the commission adopted that schedule in 2007, it was presented as a means to promote survival for stocked trout in the southeastern part of the state, where the water in streams heats to threat levels for the fish earlier in the spring than elsewhere in the state.

But, under pandemic restrictions and concerns, the opening days in 2020 and 2021 were consolidated into just one statewide opening day each year.

Angler response to that schedule appears to have been the final bit of evidence the commission needed to switch back to the historic single opening day plan after 25 years of the twin-opening schedule.

“The past two seasons, more anglers enjoyed trout fishing than we have seen in decades,” explained Tim Schaeffer, executive director of the commission. “Out of necessity because of public safety concerns, we consolidated into a single, statewide opening day.

“While challenging for Pennsylvania anglers and the commission, the last 2 years provided an unprecedented opportunity to examine the best way to deliver the opening day experience. Through a wealth of public input, including angler surveys presenting opening day options, it became clear that our agency and most Pennsylvania anglers value and prefer a single opening day of trout season moving forward.”

According to Kris Kuhn, director of the Bureau of Fisheries, an email survey found more than 65 percent of responding anglers in favor of the single opening day.

Streamside surveys by commission staff of anglers on the opening day last year found 201 of 311 also favoring the single opening day.

And waterways conservation officers reported similar sentiments among anglers they encountered in the field supported the other two measures.

Unchanged for the upcoming season are the limits on trout that each angler may keep: Five trout of at least 7 inches each.

Also unchanged this year are the fees for fishing licenses. Each angler 16 years and older must have a $22.97 license and a $9.97 trout permit, or a multi-year version of each.

The commission plans to stock 3.2 million trout in 696 streams and 128 lakes this year.

Details of those waters and when are stocked into them can be found using the FishBoatPA mobile app or the commission’s website.
It is searchable by county, and it lists waterways alphabetically, with stocking dates, meeting locations for volunteers and species of trout that will be stocked.

The total stocking plan includes 2.2 million rainbow trout, 686,000 brown trout and 293,000 brook trout.

The average size of the trout produced for stocking will again average 11 inches in length with an average weight of .58 pounds.

The stocking schedule also includes about 70,000 trophy-sized brood fish, which are 2.5- to 3.5-year-old trout measuring 14-20 inches. About 70 percent of those fish will be stocked during the preseason prior to opening day of trout season, with the remaining 30 percent stocked during in-season replenishment stockings.
Also included in the 2022 stocking plan are 13,000 golden rainbow trout weighing an average of 1.5 pounds. About 80 percent will be stocked during the preseason.
In addition to trout raised in commission fish hatcheries, cooperative nurseries operated by sportsmen’s clubs and other groups across the state will add another 1 million trout to waters open to public angling throughout the year.

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