Pre-season Trout

[acabtp]

the locations included for pre-season stream closures for trout stocking are part of the fish and game code. the stocking quantities and schedule were updated for the furunculosis outbreak, but the fish and game code wasn't.

now, will there be any COs on non-stocked waters during the closure? probably not.

[bigboy5522]

I know you can fish TCAs but can i still fish wild trout streams during the preseason stocking?

[UglyStick]

Originally Posted by bigboy5522

I know you can fish TCAs but can i still fish wild trout streams during the preseason stocking?

F&W has answered this fairly easily - From a regulations standpoint, nothing has changed - whatever the 2014 digest says with regard to a particular stream is still what goes and if it says a waterway isn't closed, all trout caught during this period must be released unharmed immediately.

[Billfish715]

Ugly Stick is correct.

This is the response that I received from Paul Tarlowe at the Div. of Fish and Wildlife about pre-season trout fishing and fishing on in season stocking days with closed waters. If regulations indicate that a body of water is closed on a certain day, that is the way it is for the entire season regardless of whether the water is being stocked or not. Mr. Tarlowe wrote the following:

My understanding is that all pre-season and in-season closures still apply since
the regulations within the state Fish Code still apply and have not been
changed. So if a water is normally stocked, even if not this year, it is still
closed. If it is a water that isn't normally stocked but is this year, it
remains open but any trout caught must be re released immediately unharmed.

If you have questions please contact our law office at 908-735-8240. Thanks.