PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Saturday would have been opening day for trout fishing season in southeastern Pennsylvania, but COVID-19 safety concerns have once again put the brakes on this year’s schedule.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission decided to make one statewide opening day for trout season — Saturday, April 3.
Mike Parker, communications director for the commission, said Philadelphia and neighboring counties traditionally open earlier than the rest of the state. But last year, more people sought outdoor refuge from COVID-19 and flocked from other parts of the state to popular fishing spots in our region.
“Especially on the border counties,” Parker said. “We would typically with the split openers have sort of clumps of people where places got a little bit more populated than they probably should be for this time during a pandemic to be safe.”
So this year, “by consolidating into a single, statewide opening date, that encourages people not to have so much unnecessary travel and fish locally and keep the crowds down and to scale on those local waterways.”
And don’t worry, Parker said — there are plenty of fish waiting for anglers.
“We’re stocking 3.2 million trout,” he said. “The majority of those are being stocked in the pre-season. But we’ll also return back to these waters throughout the season — basically throughout the months of April and May, when the water is still cool — and we’ll put more trout in there for people to enjoy.”
The commission stocks trout in places like Pennypack Creek in Montgomery County and Philadelphia so it can provide fishing opportunities in urban areas. Particularly within the past year, Parker said the pandemic sparked a lot of renewed interest in outdoor activity, like fishing.
“We were very close to hitting the million license sale mark last year in Pennsylvania for the first time since 1996,” he added.
Fishers can make instant license purchases online. Licenses are required to fish in Pennsylvania for people 16 and older.
At the pace license sales are going this year, Parker predicts they’ll match or possibly exceed the number of licenses sold.