During its quarterly business meeting on January 25, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission announced several important changes to the upcoming 2021 trout season. These changes involve opening day dates as well as changes to trout stocking operations. By the way, if you already purchased your 2021 license and got the Pennsylvania Fishing Summary/Boating Handbook, the dates printed on the cover are no longer valid so read on to see what’s coming.

The changes in dates, effective immediately, include consolidating the 2021 season into a single statewide schedule for all Pennsylvania counties; in other words, there will no longer be two different starting dates for the opening day of trout season. Under this revised plan, a single statewide Mentored Youth Trout Day will take place on Saturday, March 27, and a single statewide Opening Day of Trout Season will take place on Saturday, April 3. Previously the Mentored Youth Trout Days were March 27 (regional) and April 10 (statewide), and the regular trout openers were April 3 (18 southeastern counties) and April 17 (statewide).

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has announced that the changes were made to address the ongoing public health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic while preserving the opportunity to enjoy the fun and recreational health benefits of fishing. Apparently, it’s assumed that the date changes will cut down on travel. Personally, I’m fine with the changes, but I’m at a loss as to why these date changes would actually make a difference in what’s going on with COVID-19. To be honest, I’m a little baffled and annoyed by a lot of what’s going on with the “COVID thing,” but I am straying from my original subject.

Back to the changes. There are also changes coming to the trout stocking schedules and changes to how the trout will be stocked. This year the commission will begin pre-season trout stocking operations on February 15, about two weeks sooner than in previous years. Due to this change, all streams that are designated as “Stocked Trout Waters” will be closed to fishing when stocking begins on February 15.

Last year, due to COVID, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission would not allow any volunteer help with stocking trout-an activity that a lot of avid trout fishermen enjoyed taking part in — only commission personnel participated in the stocking activity. This year, however, those outside the commission may take part, but these “volunteers” will be recruited from an existing pool of individuals who have traditionally assisted with float stocking and bucket carrying; such individuals were organized through local conservation organizations, schools, and other groups.

Last year, no doubt, due to a lack of volunteer help, trout stocking on many of our smaller streams resulted in a poor-quality fishing experience, the reason being that fish were not float stocked over greater lengths of the stream. Trout were basically dumped in holes where there was relatively easy accessibility, and if you happen to be at that spot, you had plenty of trout to fish over, but other long stretches had few or no trout at all. Hopefully, that problem will be eliminated in the coming trout stocking operations.

Believe it or not, it won’t be that long until we begin gearing up for the upcoming trout season. With that being said, I’m off to tie some trout flies.