“A consensus among fishermen is that spreading out the angling pressure through the fall and winter months will create more opportunities for successful spawning on wild trout waters like Elton Creek, McKinstry Creek and Lime Lake Outlet.”
Of course, while fishing any trout water during the winter months, you should always be aware of where you’re walking, especially on wild trout streams.
“If you are looking to explore, be aware many of our wild trout waters are on private lands,” Sagnibene said. “The region’s hunting seasons are now overlapping the winter fishing season, so asking permission to enter some waters is more important than ever.”
It’s also important to keep safety in mind and wear fluorescent orange or pink when walking the streams.
This new season will be studied by anglers and biologists to see the impact the regulations will bring in the future. DEC will continue to do summer shocking surveys to track growth, populations and habitat changes in 2022.
“As an angler and conservationist, it will be exciting to see the results of these new regulation changes and expect it to be beneficial on many fronts,” Sagnibene said.
Scott Cornett, Region 9 Fisheries Biologist for DEC, agreed: “There really is no downside to this, nor is this groundbreaking fisheries management. Many other states have had no closed trout seasons for decades and no negative effects on their trout populations have been observed. This regulation has been in effect for over 15 years on many of our best wild trout streams in DEC Regions 8 and 9, with no negative effects observed in our extensive monitoring.
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