Reminder: “regular” trout season closed now

[Nomad]

13 minutes ago, nb6624 said:

I dropped my daughter's buck off to be officially scored and caught a beautiful rainbow today in the conservation stretch. 

Nice fish!

[Nomad]

2 hours ago, Bucksnbows said:

There is at least a chance they will adopt that again. 

I sure hope not. 

[Bucksnbows]

14 minutes ago, Nomad said:

I sure hope not. 

You didn’t like when they put all the spring allotment in pre season and made it catch and release only until the opener?  

[Nomad]

2 minutes ago, Bucksnbows said:

You didn’t like when they put all the spring allotment in pre season and made it catch and release only until the opener?  

No I don’t like poachers out there before opening day.

[Nomad]

And I like the allotments spread out over the season.

[Bucksnbows]

Just now, Nomad said:

No I don’t like poachers out there before opening day.

Poachers gunna poach. Limits and seasons mean nothing to them. But it’s a valid concern. I hate fishing for stocked fish. I do it when I either can’t get out of state or when I don’t feel like fishing for our small water brookies. 

[Nomad]

Just now, Bucksnbows said:

Poachers gunna poach. Limits and seasons mean nothing to them. But it’s a valid concern. I hate fishing for stocked fish. I do it when I either can’t get out of state or when I don’t feel like fishing for our small water brookies. 

I just like the traditional opening day and waiting to fish until then. I also enjoy fishing in other states where there are more native trout and even the stocked trout are a better variety.  Although I think New Jersey does a heck of  job with the size of the rainbows they put in. 

[Nomad]

I was sad to see they didn’t stock any of the bonus Broodstock up north this year nothing in Sussex or Warren Counties usually they stock Mannys pond or mountain farm pond.

[JHbowhunter]

I would rather they stock all trout months before opener and THEN open the season. But they do not have enough enforcement to do it.  Too many poachers. 

do not allow C&R but give the fish at least a month to assimilate. Maybe stock them all first week December and have 3/15 opener. That’s the way to go. Game changer 

Edited March 21, 2023 by JHbowhunter

[Merkel]

3 hours ago, Bucksnbows said:

There is at least a chance they will adopt that again. It was entirely due to Covid, but it was wildly popular. I know they wanted to have at least a year or two where they went back to “normal stocking” which began last year and continues this year. I know there was talk about polling anglers that purchased a fishing license and a trout stamp about changes like that. But I haven’t seen them do it yet. 

F&W did a poll on the annual trout meeting call. I believe most people on the call weren’t thrilled with a C&R period. They also indicated they would do a larger poll at some point. 

[jumpthestring]

Most trout fisherman i know and talked too. did not like the Catch and release season. myself as well

[Bucksnbows]

3 minutes ago, jumpthestring said:

Most trout fisherman i know and talked too. did not like the Catch and release season. myself as well

I’m curious as to some of the reasons. Not being able to keep them is my guess. But there could be other reasons. 

[OMC]

I never keep trout so I thought the early C&R was great. By the time it regular season opens I am already heading to do some real trout fishing out of state. 
As long as the fish are handled properly and fished with artificials the morality is low. 

Edited March 21, 2023 by OMC

[hammer4reel]

IMO the fish being spread out before the season allowed more fish to make it past the normal stocking sequence .

when stocked weekly most never even make it past the hole they were thrown into .

turns it entirely Into a put and take fishery , instead of a some what sustained fishery 

[nmc02]

I liked the early C & R season, as you literally could catch 50 trout. I Never keep trout, simply because I don't like to eat them.  I would prefer random stocking.