Trout Being Stocked Now

[Billfish715]

This just came across my computer. Read the part about trout being stocked NOW! The season is still open........Right? I'm not sure how the regs shake out for this one.

WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREAS OPEN FOR RECREATION
ALL DIVISION OFFICES ARE CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC

Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine R. McCabe announced today that the public may still access the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Wildlife Management Areas, including roads, parking areas, trails, lakes and other open space areas for healthful recreation.

However, all offices, educational centers, restrooms and similar facilities within these areas are closed to the public until further notice in order to protect public health and safety as the state works to address COVID-19.

“Keeping state-owned open spaces available to the public is important so people can continue to enjoy the healthful benefits of recreation and being outdoors,” Commissioner McCabe said. “We advise the public to practice social distancing while enjoying our open spaces.”

Conservation Police Officers will continue to conduct routine patrols of WMAs to ensure public safety and general wellbeing of the visiting public.

All educational events and classes run by the Division of Fish and Wildlife including Hunter Education classes, Aquatic Education classes, R3 events and public educational events are also cancelled through April 30, 2020.

Pre-season trout stocking originally scheduled to begin on March 23 has been moved up and has already begun. The Division will be making every effort to distribute trout without interruption.

Licenses and permits will not be available for purchase at Division offices, however you may still purchase them online.

[calapp]

I received the e-mail too and found no further explanation on the DFW website. Without a change in the regulations it must still be open season until March 23!

[LanceinPA]

So let me see if I understand. The state is already stocking, but they have not closed the season until next Monday. That makes perfect sense. SMH at this state.

[Adrenalinerush]

"So let me see if I understand. The state is already stocking, but they have not closed the season until next Monday. That makes perfect sense. SMH at this state."

They are being proactive and stocking fish in the event they have a shut down and can't at a later date. The season will close temporarily in a few days. Should they close it now? How would they make that known to the people who are still fishing. If they close the season early should they give tickets to those people fishing who didn't know?

I think there are a lot more important things to worry about now.

[thmyorke1]

Looks like they havent announced anything on the updates page yet.

https://www.njfishandwildlife.com/trtstk20.htm#updates

Maybe they wont since they dont wanna say which stream got the head start, and attract a bunch of anglers that wanna fish em all out during the 6 days of open season left

Originally Posted by LanceinPA

So let me see if I understand. The state is already stocking, but they have not closed the season until next Monday. That makes perfect sense. SMH at this state.

im not sure it'll make much of a difference, since no one knows what's currently stocked yet.

[NJSquatch]

Regulations Unchanged, Trout Waters Closure Begins March 23

Pre-season trout stocking originally scheduled to begin on March 23 has already begun.

Waters being stocked this week are open to angling; for waters under General Trout Regulation anglers can harvest up to 4 trout each day (minimum size 9”). Within designated Trout Conservation Areas anglers can harvest only one trout at least 15” in length.

These regulations are in effect until Monday, March 23, the official start of the three week pre-season closure, when most trout stocked waters close to angling.

Lakes Hopatcong, Mountain, Prospertown, Shenandoah, Swartswood, and the section of Lawrence Brook (Davidsons Mill Rd.) as well as Trout Conservation Areas, and Catch & Release Areas are open to fishing during the pre-season closure (March 23-April 10), however, all trout caught must be immediately released. Trophy and Holdover Trout Lakes are open to fishing year round with special regulations on trout.

Please refer to the Freshwater Digest for additional regulations and delineated sections of special regulation areas.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Great move on there part. Get the fish in and now they have more time to move around. I think this is awesome. Now if we can get some rain to bring the rivers and creeks up that would be great. All the fish aren’t caught on opening day. Lol! There’s plenty out there now if you know where to look.

[Billfish715]

Originally Posted by LanceinPA

So let me see if I understand. The state is already stocking, but they have not closed the season until next Monday. That makes perfect sense. SMH at this state.

Face it. If you didn't read or lurk on this board, you never would have known about it. If we can get the word out about things, we do. The people I contacted at the Division were made aware and issued a clarification.

Things close in a few days anyhow and most people have no idea where some of the fish were stocked. Be happy the Division is proactive. How many miles of streams are there in NJ? How many acres of lakes and ponds? How few fishermen will know where to catch these pre-season stockers? My guess is they are going into C&R places.

There's more likelihood of an opening day massacre given the current water levels in the brooks and streams. Anglers will have their favorite holes surrounded by 5AM knowing that's where most of the trout will be. Some of you may want to cruise by your favorite spot before the opener to see how much water might or might not be there. What might have been a run might be a riffle today. The earlier the fish go in, the better. The more rain we get, better yet.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Originally Posted by LanceinPA

So let me see if I understand. The state is already stocking, but they have not closed the season until next Monday. That makes perfect sense. SMH at this state.

What are your concerns? Don’t you have 3-4 openers in north, south, central, eastern PA that you could be fishing? I need to know what your point is!
If our state gets shut down the runways will be full of fish that can’t be stocked. If this happens then NJF&G can’t start growing/ raising the Trout for next year. We do not have the room at our hatcheries to hold 1,000,000 Trout. I catch Trout 12 months a year. What’s the issue?

[thmyorke1]

LanceinPA has a point, although there's nothing to really be mad or disappointed at.
Lance, it's good to point out there's something wrong, but to be fair to NJ f&w, it's a good compromise.

State has three options;

• not stock early in the first place and risk being off scheduled come Opening Day.
  
• Stock early and not tell anyone what was actually stocked (what they are doing now)
  
• Stock early and tell what bodies have been stocked and mark them as closed

this last one would be hard to regulate, set up, etc. You're now adding closures a week early and have to potentially ruin some angler's trips since they wanted to fish a body of water before the last week before closures.

Rather with the 2nd option, it's a compromise between ensuring stocking is done by Opening Day, and not making things complicated.