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By Walt Young
sports@altoonamirror.com
In an effort to help introduce more folks to the sport of fishing here in our state, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission introduced an annual Fish-For-Free Day in 1984.
On Fish-For-Free Day, no license is required to fish anywhere in Pennsylvania. A few years later, that program was expanded to two Fish-For-Free Days a year. The specific dates of the Fish-For-Free Days have moved around somewhat since their inception but, in recent years, have settled into one on Memorial Day weekend and the other on the Fourth of July. That means the first Fish-For-Free Day of 2023 is scheduled for Sunday, May 28.
Memorial Day weekend holds lots of great fishing opportunities for anglers of any skill level or experience. Most lakes and ponds around our region hold good populations of panfish such as sunfish, crappies or perch. Not only are these species relatively easy and lots of fun to catch, but they are also great eating. Although many trout streams are beginning to transition into the reduced flows and clear water more characteristic of summertime, plenty of worthwhile trout fishing is available.
Early morning will generally be most productive, along with a good degree of stealth to avoid spooking the trout under those conditions. For everyone who will be taking advantage of the Fish-For-Free Day, remember that only the license requirement is waived.
All other fishing laws and regulations are still in effect and must be complied with. This is important if you plan on keeping some of our catch. Bass season doesn't open until June 10, so any largemouth or smallmouth bass landed must be immediately released unharmed. All other species of gamefish are currently in season, however, but make sure you know the size and creel limits that apply to the water you are fishing.
Those regulations can be found online at fishandboat.com or in the "2023 Pennsylvania Fishing Summary" booklet of the fishing laws and regulations that can be obtained at any fishing license issuing agent.
So if your holiday weekend plans include being around a lake, stream or other waterway, taking along a rod and reel and some tackle could be worthwhile. And if possible, bring an extra rod and invite a friend, relative or coworker to join you on the water. Even better, if you know someone who used to fish but has drifted away from it, Fish-For-Free Day is a great way to help them reconnect with the sport.
A few years ago when discussing with some staff members of the PFBC the overall trend of declining sales of fishing licenses, I learned that a significant percentage of anglers don't buy a fishing license every year but rather do so intermittently or every other year or so.
Being an avid angler myself, I found this somewhat surprising because I have bought a fishing license every year since I turned 16 (until I reached 65 and purchased a lifetime license), and so have most of my friends who fish. Because fishing was always such an important part of my personal lifestyle, and later a big part of my professional life, it never occurred to me that some folks who fish don't fish every year.
When people who have quit fishing or fish intermittently are surveyed regarding their lack of participation, the most common reason given is almost always not having enough free time. The cost of a fishing license is probably not a major dealbreaker but could likely be of some concern for a casual angler.
For someone like me, who has often been on the water a hundred times or more a year, the price of the fishing license is mostly incidental compared to all the tackle I enjoy owning or even the cost of the gas to get to many favorite fishing spots. For the casual angler, however, weighing the cost of a license with the possibility of fishing only once or twice a year might be of some concern.
License price increases do seem to have an effect on license sales. Since 1956, the price of a Pennsylvania resident fishing license has been raised seven times. For the year of each of those increases, license sales took a significant drop from the previous year. This was the case even when the overall sales trend was increasing during a given period.
Looking over the fishing license sales records from the past few decades also revealed another interesting anomaly: anglers are apparently unimpressed by small decreases in the cost of a fishing license. In 2015, then PFBC executive director John Arway reduced the price of a resident fishing license a whole dollar from $21 to $20 as a gimmick to increase license sales. That meager price break actually resulted in a decrease in sales of more than 8,000 resident licenses that year. Go figure.
Finally, as another school year comes to an end, remember that every day is a free fishing day for kids under 16 years old. So help ensure the future of our sport --take a kid fishing as often as you can.