Gawn Fishin, listen to what Mike G is saying, he is right on with his statements.
I realize that you are passionate of opening day like I am. My Father and use to go out every year but for numerous reasons that others such of yourself have described, we no longer go out opening day.
It is not good for the fishery in the least bit.
Who is being selfish here? You for wanting to keep a tradition that involves numerous fish being freezer burned (not referring to you) or those of us who are looking towards bettering the fisheries statewide?
Keep an open mind, you can still get together every year with your kids and friends without having a date from the state of CT saying its ok to fish now.

Because of the idiots, drunks, and generally obnoxious people that crawl out of the wood work on opening day, I usally do not fish it. I would love to see opening day abolished but would the trout be better off with no closed season as opposed to the stampede of opening day? I do not know the answer.

Also, how about a public awareness/public education effort (maybe as simple as posters for Bait and Tackle Shops) that promote solid ethics (obey the regs), haul out your trash, catch & release, fishing etiquette, etc.

How about a corporate sponsor for catch and release on opening day... McDonalds-show us the fish you released and get a free frechfry

Opening day really is not the problem. Stupid, crude, obnoxious people are...

What say the rest of you...

MikeV

Unfortunately Opening Day brings them out all at once, thus making the litter more in quantity and in plain to view areas. It is a lot harder to clean up after people when the drop trash bags worth of litter all in one day.

Whoa, Take it easy Mike G.....Unless you consider yourself a selfish eletist fisherman or one of the drunken morons, you should not have felt "called out" by my post.....There's a lot to be said for tradition.....You seem to have a problem w/ trying to preserve tradition...At what point did people actually start to feel this way? Did I actually read the whole post, you say? Did you actually read my whole post? You're not the only one who is "smart enough to know I can fish year round"..."The trout fishery is being sold out" you say? Are you aware that more than half of the people who fish on opening day weekend may not go fishing again the rest of the year? This means that the fees collected for the licenses sold to people who will fish only opening day weekend will do more to help the fisheries than the amount of damage they can do in 1 weekend.....That's my rationale....Opening day doesn't designate when you're allowed to go fishing, it's just the beginning of the stocking season, therefore, the kids , the inexperienced, and people w/ limited access alike have a much better chance of catching fish....Have you ever tried to keep a kid under 10 years old who wasn't catching any fish interested? To be honest, I only fish trophy trout designated waters and am not in the hunt for stockies, so what happens in the more heavily stocked areas is not really of major concern.....If you're willing to do a little hiking, there are miles upon miles of streams & rivers that are not affected in the least bit by the heavy pressure of opening day weekend...I understand that there are other people who must be accommodated who may not necessarily be die hard fishermen and may not be completely in touch w/ their environmental stewardship....I see nothing wrong w/ giving them heavily stocked designated areas and a particular weekend in which to fish them....As I said, I think the damage they do in a weekend, does not equate to the revenues generated from the license fees.....I myself would prefer to educate someone than alienate them by berating them for lack of knowledge.....I think taking opening day away would amount to the same....It seems that nowadays fisherman are more interested in keeping the water to themselves than generating more interest in order to pass down the fishing "tradition".....Not calling you out....Just expressing my point of view......

GAWN FISHIN'

Mike G Brings up a good point on bass ie. out of state-rs flocking to Ct. for bass in April and May. I often wounder if this is how the zebra mussels got in E Twin. When I was a kid I couldn't wait for the open day of bass season which was July 1st.