Starting this year, Pennsylvania anglers will be back on a simple trout fishing schedule. Mark an X on April 2 for the return of the single statewide trout opener at 8 a.m.
Mark another X on March 26, the only Mentored Youth Trout Day of 2022, when anglers less than 16 years old with an adult mentor can target trout before the arrival of the opening day crowds.
OK, and Feb. 21, the start of the Stocked Trout Waters Open to Year-Round Fishing program, when pre-season catch-and-release trout fishing is legal on 73 Pennsylvania lakes and stream or river sections including North Park Lake (Allegheny County), Raccoon and Brady's Run lakes (Beaver), Canonsburg Lake (Washington) and Twin Lakes, Keystone Lake and Northmoreland Lake (Westmoreland).
There are more significant dates for trout anglers, but the point is that the state Fish and Boat Commission has learned from the COVID-19 closures and is adapting to changing angler needs and preferences.
The dual trout opener was thought to permit anglers in southeastern counties to capitalize on the earlier arrival of spring. That schedule was abruptly discarded in 2020 when COVID-19 made it socially and politically awkward for a semi-autonomous outdoors agency of the executive branch to invite a half million strangers to stand together, even while outdoors, for tranquil family-friendly cool-water recreation. This year it is believed that despite COVID-related hospital bed counts, anglers will have a little breathing space at the water's edge.
To accommodate the earlier statewide trout season, preseason trout stocking will begin the week of Feb. 21. Anglers and their familiares, who were asked to stay away from stocking operations because of Covid risks are invited back to help hatchery staff at stocking locations. Adult trout stocking schedules are posted at www.fishandboat.com.
"The release of our trout stocking schedule is always a welcome reminder that spring is just around the corner," said Brian Wisner, director of the Bureau of Hatcheries. "This schedule is our roadmap for stocking millions of trout into hundreds of waterways across the state before and during the trout season, which is no small task. Anglers can review the schedule to learn which local waters will be ready for some great fishing in just a few weeks. So, buy your fishing license, get your gear ready, and start planning your opening day adventure and fishing trips throughout the season."
With few exceptions, fishing is not open during the pre-season stockings. But several southwestern Pennsylvania trout stockings are notable.
The first-ever stocking of Peters Creek in Allegheny County in 2021 was considered a biological and social success. The first of three state stockings is scheduled for March 26.
Bull Creek and its Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only area in Allegheny County, and the Delayed Harvest stretch of Loyalhanna Creek in Westmoreland County, will be among the first waters in the state to be visited by the Fish and Boat stocking trucks Feb. 22.
The upper beats of Dunbar Creek in Fayette County remain Catch and Release Fly-Fishing-Only waters. But due to improved access, the general regulations portion of the lower stream was extended 0.6-mile upstream. The revised stocking limits will extend 2.3 miles from 1.7 mile upstream of the Furnace Hill Road bridge downstream to the Sheepskin Trail crossing downstream of the ballfield.
Pennsylvania's user-pay program of trout husbandry and the annual stocking of 3.2 million adult trout is funded through the sale of 912,00 general fishing licenses, 502,000 trout permits, 26,000 Lake Erie permits and nearly 85,000 trout-Lake Erie combo licenses. Another million trout are reared by independent volunteer co-ops and stocked by Fish and Boat.
For the 2022 season, the price of a resident annual fishing license will remain $22.97, including $1.97 in outside vendor fees. The price of a trout stamp will remain $9.97. Vendor fees change, but the price of a Pennsylvania fishing license has remained the same since 2005.
