The weather warmed up enough to melt much of the snow in the coming weeks, however, temporarily eliminating the concern that runoff from the storm would render the water levels in area trout streams much higher than optimal for stocking and, ultimately, for fishing.

Recent heavy rains, however, coupled with a forecast for more precipitation this week, could negatively affect the official start of the 2026 trout season, which begins in Blair County and all across the state at 8 a.m. Saturday.

“The water levels in the streams came down after the snowstorm because we had some pretty nice days,” Blair County Waterways Conservation Officer Brock Benson said. “However, the streams are very high now because of all the recent rainfall that we’ve gotten, and with rain in the weather forecast all this week, fishing the lakes instead of the streams on the first day will probably be a good choice.”

The first day of trout season in Pennsylvania is a tradition that brings thousands of outdoor enthusiasts streamside each spring to try their luck, regardless of the weather conditions.

Dan Pielmeier of Altoona shops for fishing hooks at Unkel Joe’s Woodshed in Altoona for Saturday’s trout season opener. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

“I would say that it’s going to be busy, but it’s going to be weather-dependent, too,” Benson said of Saturday’s trout opener. “Last year on the first day, I had to come home and change my clothes at lunchtime because I got so wet. I’ve never had to do that before.

“But people are going to go out regardless of the weather, because the first day of trout season is just kind of a tradition,” said Benson, who is a fisherman himself. “Before I became an officer, I remember going out fishing on the first day even if it was snowing a bit, and cold. I still went out and caught fish because it was opening day.”

The first day of trout season is a busy day for waterways patrolmen, who must check for hundreds of licenses that day to make sure that everybody is playing by the rules. This preseason, however, Benson encountered an extraordinary number of rule-breakers after the stockings first began during the third week of February.

Area streams — with the exception of wild brown trout streams like the Little Juniata River in Blair and Huntingdon counties — are closed to fishing from that week in mid-February until the trout opener on the first Saturday in April.

But that doesn’t stop some individuals from running afoul of the law, either by fishing without a license, fishing in waters that are closed to fishing until opening day, or both.

Unkel Joe’s Woodshed in Altoona offers live earthworms, a trout fishing favorite. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

“The stockings in this county went well this year, and I got my stockings done much earlier than the stockings that were done in surrounding counties,” Benson said. “But what happens then is that I’ve had to babysit the streams and make sure that there was nobody fishing illegally before opening day.

“We’ve had a lot of violations this year,” Benson added, noting that the ratio of people fishing without licenses or fishing in streams that were closed for preseason stocking was about “50-50.”

Benson said that the violators ignored signs prohibiting fishing that are clearly visible.

“Making sure that I’m catching the bad guys provides me with job security,” Benson said. “You’ve got to teach them a lesson with some kind of citation, and the public appreciates it when they hear of (violators being cited) because the water is being watched over and the fish are still there on opening day.”

Bait shop sales doing well

Sales of everything from fishing rods and reels to other gear for the trout season have been going well in recent weeks at area sporting goods outlets.

“It’s been very busy in general,” said Tim Baker, the general manager at Unkel Joe’s Woodshed in the Pleasant Valley shopping center. “For the past five months, we’ve been up in sales compared to last year, and we are definitely expecting heavier than normal (business) this week (leading up to Saturday’s opener).

“People are excited about the trout season,” Baker added. “For the past couple of years, people had not really been buying rods, reels, line and combos, but now people are buying all that stuff and telling themselves that they can’t wait any longer to replace their old gear.”

Jeremy Knapp, the owner and proprietor of the Aquatic Imitations fly and tackle shop off Route 22, two miles east of Hollidaysburg, also said that sales have been good at his business all winter and expects that trend to continue throughout the fishing season.

“God was definitely good to us for sending the ice this past winter, because there are fishermen who only fish in the wintertime and who look forward to ice fishing,” Knapp said. “The snowstorm didn’t do any damage to our sales at all — in fact, it picked up business for us.”

With trout season about to begin, Knapp has been selling fly imitations to fly fishermen, as well as various popular live bait like night crawlers and wax worms, along with salmon eggs, spinning lures and PowerBait.

Knapp said that the sale of green night crawlers has gone particularly well at his business this year.

“The green night crawlers have probably been my top sellers,” Knapp said. “They are worms that are green, and whenever they hit the water, they have kind of a glow or color to them, and people who fish with them, swear by them.”

Trout season facts

When: The 2026 Pennsylvania trout season begins Saturday at 8 a.m. on all of the state’s approved trout streams, lakes and ponds, and extends through December 31.

Creel limit: A limit of five trout, minimum length of seven inches, can be kept per day until Sept. 8, when the daily creel limit drops to three per day.

License costs: All people ages 16 and over must possess a valid Pennsylvania fishing license when fishing any of the state’s waters. Resident licenses cost $27.97 for anglers ages 16-64, plus $14.97 for the required trout/salmon permit. Cost of a senior lifetime resident license for anglers ages 65 and older is $86.97, plus the cost of the trout/salmon permit. Licenses can be purchased at any issuing agent — including Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Unkel Joe’s Woodshed in Altoona and Campbell’s Sporting Goods in Hollidaysburg — or online on the HuntFishPA website or via the FishBoatPA App.