Spring Trout Closure

[Billfish715]

We’re back to the old system of closed trout waters during preseason stocking. It’s disappointing after a tremendously satisfying preseason during the Covid crisis. We could fish ( Catch & Release ) for trout prior to the opener and it was GREAT! In fact, the unannounced stockings were great all year long. Many of us enjoyed it a lot. We are back to closed fishing days and 5:00 elbow to elbow creel stuffing. Go back to “ no notice stocking “ or open up at 5:00 A.M. the next morning on a closed stream after an announced stocking.

[bigfishy]

Deff disappointing news!!Their new way of doing things during covid was a real improvement imo...

[RWole]

I prefer "the old" or traditional stocking. Glad to see it return mostly for the reason of I prefer AN7/8 week stocking season. Hope all enjoy this years Trout season.

[AndyS]

I'm glad to be back to the old schedule. The Pre-opener C&R was infested with guys using Power Cheese and treble hooks and ripping those out of deeply hooked fish, it was a blood bath on most streams. Add into that all the people not practicing C&R during the opener when 600,000 trout were dumped into streams in 2 weeks, read reports of guys catching 100 plus trout in a day.
If they really wanted to help the sport they should follow Pa. and have a 3 week C&R for children accompanied by an adult. In Pa. the kids can fish and not be bothered by drunks and surf rods throwing 2 ounce sinkers in densely populated holes. Also N.J. should not go by calendar year license but do what N.Y. does, your license is good for 365 days from the day of purchase.
Where are our Brown Trout, don't even get me started !!

[bigfishy]

The browns are in rome ny...they raise some of the hardiest browns of all the ny hatcheries....they should be hardy, their descendants of wild beaverkill browns...we should make a deal with that hatchery...get it goin andy!! We can trade em hybrids fer brownies

[Billfish715]

So much of the success by many fishermen is measured by the numbers of fish they catch. It’s a logical and realistic measure. However, so much of the success depends on fishing where or near where the trout were stocked. During Covid, the majority of trout were stocked in a very short time span in only a few locations. Because of a tight time schedule, a truckload of fish might have been stocked in only a few places so the drivers could get back out for another delivery. If you fished where they were stocked, you were usually very successful. By the end of April, all of the season’s quota of trout was stocked. It was to avoid as much Covid related interaction as possible if a normal stocking schedule was followed.

Some of those trout did spread out but with the more traditional stocking schedule, the fish will be stocked, this year, in more locations allowing for better distribution. One other plus will be that the trout, when allowed to stay in the raceways longer, will grow more by the May stockings. Do you remember that most of the rainbows last year, were cookie cutter trout that could have grown bigger if they were left at the hatchery and fed for a few more weeks.

One concession for this season might have been to allow catch and release fishing during the preseason stocking. It was a great concept that allowed many more fishing hours for all of us. Hey Fish and Game Council! Are you listening?

[Fred E. Goose]

Also N.J. should not go by calendar year license but do what N.Y. does, your license is good for 365 days from the day of purchase.

I lived in Charlotte, NC for 6 months and they did this too. 365 days from the day of purchase and it was a little card you kept in your wallet, didn't have to be on display. I've lived in NJ the rest of my entire life, so I was shocked that other states work it this way!

That being said, I think I am like most anglers on here and buy it every year anyway so I don't see how that would affect us or save us any $$$

[Fred E. Goose]

I like the old system. I've seen far too many dead trout floating and sideways on the bottom of the streams over the past 2 years of this.

I did however like the unannounced stocking schedule that wasn't updated until after the body of water had been stocked, but I remember that some people complained because this made it tricky to schedule a trip around Stokes and another at Stephens SP's and not knowing if they'd be stocked before, during, or after their trip. I understand that can be a downside especially if you are traveling from afar for a getaway revolving around fishing.

All in all, there are poachers that don't care about the closed season, and they were still there poaching when it was catch-and-release only. The rule changes only affect those that abide by the rules, and there is a VERY limited resource of rule enforcement.

[thmyorke1]

+1 for PA's system, kids can fish early.
Last year at Eddie's opening day party was great, plenty of fish there + a breeder. That was during the covid schedule. Idk if there was much impact compared to if anglers were to CnR for weeks prior.
Although i do understand it's a hassle to try and enforce from a CO perspective. Plus i dont mind streams having time of no pressure before a fun opening day.
Cant say i side with either schedule, both had pros n cons

[hammer4reel]

I liked the massive input of fish .
Fish forced each other to spread out for much greater distances as did the early CR period .
The catch and release period should have been no bait and barbless hooks to promote as healthy a release as possible .

I saw way less guys fishing than when they do the put and take stockings. Many days having the river to myself .
.
Fish were around all summer .

Normal stockings in years past there are bigger crowds at the drop points and it’s no where near as peaceful .

.

[Drossi]

I liked the "covid trout stocking/management plan" that said I think the management part became the issue. Having limited resources to police the preseason C&R I think became a challenge (again the a subset of selfish people unwilling to abide by the game laws ruin it for the rest of us).

In a perfect world I'd go to the 3 week preseason C&R and 4 unannounced stockings rotating over the 7 weeks, plus the fall stocking. Similar to PA.

[Adrenalinerush]

I fished the early season Covid opener two years in a row. Had the stream I generally fish almost to myself at time, early on and caught countless trout. Pinched my barb and never lifted a fish out of the water, releasing them with a pair of Hemostats. That said, as the pressure built and fish were caught and released repeatedly, I saw many dead fish. Once it became legal to keep them the majority of the fish were gone in the first few days and the fishing became so bad a week or so later it wasn't even worth fishing.

While selfishly I don't mind the "Covid rules", I think the old stocking rules are far better for the masses who can't necessarily take advantage of the early open catch and release period before the massacre starts.

[Billfish715]

As for the dead trout……..given the number of trout that were stocked, unless there was a massive fish kill, dead fish are not an uncommon occurrence. The fact that people see some dead ones should not be too shocking. There are many, many more that are still swimming.

I did have an issue with using bait for catch and release as opposed to using lures or flies. As for those who caught and kept fish prior to the season, there will be no changing them unless they are caught and fined. Still, they don’t take them all. It’s a matter of fairness. There are greedy people and that will never change. If they need to satisfy their egos and greed so badly and have to do it by breaking the rules, then they have real problems.

I still like the idea of preseason catch and release with flies and lures. It was permitted ( flies only ) years ago on the old “no kill” stretch and still is on some select stretches of streams. I’d just like to see more stretches on more streams opened up for C&R for preseason.

I was okay with the traditional stocking schedule, so going back to how it was is no big deal. The fish will grow bigger over their weeks in the hatchery and the fishermen will be thinning out as the weeks go by.

[baetis]

They should have kept the in-season closed streams open for C&R for the 2-3 weeks before opening day for artificials only and the standard week 1 allocation of fish. This would limit the area F&G had to monitor. The last two years the fish spread out nicely, streams were relatively empty and the C&R led to some "smarter" fish having a chance to avoid a stringer immediately. I had great fly fishing for those few weeks the last 2 years.

Will they allow TU and other volunteers help spread the fish out? Or are we looking at another "bridge hole" opening day?

[Billfish715]

[QUOTE=baetis;566773]

Will they allow TU and other volunteers help spread the fish out? Or are we looking at another "bridge hole" opening day?

F&W is a state agency. Unless and until Murphy decides to eliminate Covid restrictions, expect the status quo. There will be mostly bridge stocking or stocking at normally accessible, traditional spots. Accessible is the key word. Don't expect a driver to run a netful of trout back into the woods a couple of hundred yards from the truck.

[Drossi]

[QUOTE=baetis;566773]

Will they allow TU and other volunteers help spread the fish out? Or are we looking at another "bridge hole" opening day?

F&W is a state agency. Unless and until Murphy decides to eliminate Covid restrictions, expect the status quo. There will be mostly bridge stocking or stocking at normally accessible, traditional spots. Accessible is the key word. Don't expect a driver to run a netful of trout back into the woods a couple of hundred yards from the truck.

1) Murphy will never eliminate his restrictions cause it makes him Gauleiter of the state with recourse to no one
2) Pray for heavy rains immediately during and after stocking so that the fish spread around

[Capt. Lou]

Trout stocking procedures was fine , just make C-R no bait !! This cuts down on crowds and fishing much more pleasurable !

[Joeblowv1]

Got into fishing during covid - but try not to be too much of a googan! I can't speak too much on how it used to be as the only time I went trout fishing prior was once with my old man when I was like 8

I found that, hilariously enough, where I fish the D&R canal a bunch of fogies (some younger and yes some old farts too) were all setup in lawn chairs by the parking lot fishing powerbait. If you walked...not even 50 yards up or down the canal you had it pretty much entirely to yourself. It could have been covid, could just be where I live, but I found it peaceful and never had to deal with anyone in my way.

Was catching trout until June.. so the "covid way" worked fine for me, and the fish seemed pretty well dispersed, I had to "find them" not just fish the bridges/overpasses.