Trout season set to open
Anglers permitted to begin casting at 8 a.m. Saturday
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Last spring, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic played havoc with the start of Pennsylvania's trout season.
In order to prevent the traditional congregation of huge opening-day crowds in 2020, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission announced an impromptu start of the season for the entire state for April 7, early in the morning that the first lines were permitted to be cast into the water.
The 2020 statewide season trout opener also replaced the format of a separate, earlier opening day that had been implemented for 18 of the state's southeastern counties that had been in place for the past several years, a move designed to cut down on extensive intra-state travel by fishermen during the COVID-19 crisis.
This spring, with vaccines currently available but the pandemic far from under control, there will again be one statewide opening day -- at 8 a.m. Saturday.
Restrictions have been relaxed between last spring and now, but fishermen still will be asked to keep a distance of 6 feet -- roughly the length of a standard fishing rod -- between themselves.
After a long and arduous year, trout fishermen are eager to start the 2021 season.
Greg Saylor, 68, of Greenwood, who will head out to Canoe Creek on Saturday with one of his fishing buddies, is all too familiar with the ravages of COVID-19, having lost four people in his personal sphere to the virus.
"It feels like you have a target on your back," Saylor said while shopping for fishing supplies in the sporting goods department at Unkel Joe's Woodshed in the Pleasant Valley Shopping Center. "After this pandemic, it will be nice just to get out into the fresh air and nature again."
Other fishermen echoed that sentiment. Jacob Long, 26, of Hollidaysburg was interviewed during a recent trip to Campbell's Sporting Goods Store in Hollidaysburg to prepare for the trout opener.
Long will take his boat out on Raystown Lake in Huntingdon County this Saturday to fish for trout with spinning lures and grub worms.
"I definitely think that it's going to be better this year," Long said. "The restrictions are being relaxed. People have been cooped up in the house (all winter), and they're ready to get outside. It's going to be crazy busy."
Creg Strock, owner and proprietor of the Aquatic Imitations fishing supplies store located 2 miles east of Hollidaysburg, said that sales at his business have been very good recently, and he expects business to amp up to a fever pitch this evening.
"Friday will be an absolute zoo here," Strock said. "I'll have all types of bait and stocked minnows, and I've been getting 10 calls a day for butterworms, but there are no butterworms available anywhere this year."
The pandemic, in some ways, has helped the fishing businesses.
"I'll be open Friday night until 8, and I'll be re-opening at 6:30 Saturday morning so that people can get everything that they need," Strock said. "Last year, everybody was locked down (between March and May), and I had people who hadn't fished in 20 years coming in here and buying a fishing license, just to get out into the fresh air and do some fishing. I'm sure that it will be the same this year. The fresh air and sunshine makes everybody's day better."
John Dibert, an associate sales employee in the Unkel Joe's sporting goods department, said that demand for fishing licenses has been strong.
Part of the license sales stem from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's Mentored Youth Trout Day that was held statewide last Saturday, in which fishermen ages 16 and older with a valid Pennsylvania fishing license could guide an angle under the age of 16 and help indoctrinate the youngster into the pastime of fishing.
Anglers younger than 16 had the option of purchasing either a fishing license for a nominal charge of $2.97, or receiving a Mentored Youth Fishing Permit free of charge.
"The mentor license sales were strong, and it's carrying over," Dibert said. "It wasn't a great winter for ice fishing sales, but it was better than last year. I think people are just hungry to get outside (because of) this pandemic."
Heath Snyder, 42, a Bedford County resident who lives in Clearville, will fish either Yellow Creek or Cove Creek on the opening day this Saturday.
"It's a family thing," Snyder said of the trout opener while looking over supplies at Unkel Joe's. "I have a grandbaby who will be 2 years old, and she will be going with us -- my wife, daughter and some of our friends. We all go together."
Ron Schirato, 46, of Nanty Glo, who was also visiting Unkel Joe's for fishing supplies, will be returning to Marsh Creek in Clinton County near Howard, Pa., on opening day. His family has a camp there.
"I'm sure that COVID has increased people's desire to participate in all the outdoor sports -- whether it's fishing, boating, kayaking or hiking," Schirato said. "I've been fishing since I was a kid. I just like the tradition. Now I'm taking my kids fishing, and sharing the same experiences with them."