Trout season in Pennsylvania opens statewide April 1, following a Mentored Youth Trout Day March 25.
As it has done through the past decade, the state Fish and Boat Commission plans to stock approximately 3.2 million adult trout in 697 streams and rivers and 126 lakes and ponds open to public angling. Cooperative nurseries operated by sportsmen's clubs and other groups, which raise trout from roe provided by Fish and Boat, are expected to add another 1 million stocked trout to Pennsylvania waters in 2023.
Fish and Boat says it will stock about 2.3 million rainbow trout, 707,000 browns and 168,000 brook trout. The average size of the fish at the time of stocking will be 11 inches with an average weight of 0.58 pounds.
About 14,000 of the rainbows will be golden rainbow trout. Prized by anglers because they are grown larger and usually visible in the water, the vibrant golden-orange trophies are bred at Fish and Boat hatcheries and stocked at an average weight of 1 1/2 pounds. Approximately 80% of golden rainbows will be stocked during the preseason with the rest reserved for in-season replacement stockings.
Some 10,000 former breeders, 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 years old and retired from state hatcheries, are earmarked for stocking in the popular Keystone Select Stocked Trout Waters program. Measuring 14 to over 20 inches, the trout are stocked at a rate of 175 to 225 per mile in 24 streams managed under Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only or Miscellaneous Special regulations. .
Stocking begins this month with the first hatchery trout going in the water Feb. 21.
The Fish and Boat Commission welcomes volunteers when the stocking trucks arrive. Dates, meeting times and meeting locations are posted at the interactive Adult Trout Stocking By County page on the agency's website, www.fishandboat.com.
Bull Creek (Allegheny County), Loyalhanna Creek (Westmoreland) and Washington Pike Run (Washington) are scheduled to get deliveries of fish on the first day of stocking. Catch and immediate release fishing before opening day is permitted on waters managed under Stocked Trout Waters Open for Year-Round Fishing regulations.
New this year: A section of Neshannock Creek in Lawrence and Mercer counties has been removed from the stocking program because of a decrease in stream access. It is not the 2.67-mile Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only stretch from the dam at Volant to the covered bridge. This year, Fish and Boat won't stock a 3.6-mile section from the I-80 bridge downstream to the Cannery Road bridge. The rest of the creek will receive preseason and in-season trout stockings.
Fishing licenses and permits cost the same as they did last year at license distribution locations and online at www.fishandboat.com. The fee for an adult resident license is $25.47. Add $14.47 for a trout stamp or $18.47 for a combo trout and Lake Erie permit. Senior residents pay $13.22 for a general fishing license and nonresidents are charged $56.97.
Get details in the 2023 Pennsylvania Fishing Summary book distributed with license sales or at www.fishandboat.com.
Commission reorganized
Kristen Schnepp-Giger, a biologist from Warren, Pa., was appointed president of the Board of Game Commissioners during last week's quarterly meeting. Schnepp-Giger was a specialist with the National Wild Turkey Federation when she was confirmed a board member by former Gov. Tom Wolf in 2019. She is the second woman to lead the commission. In an interview shortly after joining the board, she told the Post-Gazette that her children and her family's experiences were likely to influence her views on some Game Commission issues.
"The truth of the matter is nobody on the board is living a life of trying to keep their kids engaged in hunting in today's very active lifestyle," she said. "They have grandkids — taking them out is a great thing to do — but the perspective of a person who's working with kids day in and day out is lacking on the board, and all [board members] agree that [agency] funding requires license sales and bringing new people into the sport has got to be a priority."
Additional changes at the board: Dennis R. Fredericks of the southwestern Pennsylvania district will serve as secretary, and Scott H. Foradora of the state's northcentral region was promoted to vice president.
