Not looking to start an argument but maybe the reason the kids are not catching them is that people are catching and releasing eighty fish. They are not going to bite again anytime soon. Just a thought.
#667923 - 04/18/0605:00 PM
Re: Abolish Opening day of Trout season
MikeG
Member
Registered: 01/20/02
Posts: 13088
Loc: NW CT
Kids and opening day :
It is just as easy to have a young kid learn to hate fishing or fish in an un sportsmanlike manner as it is to have them fall in love with the sport.
Think about all the acts of poor sportsmanship these same kids get to witness first hand on opening day : Drunks,fights,litter,snagging,releasing dead trout so they can keep a bigger one, ect...............its not a good example for these kids to follow but they see the "other guys" doing it ,so it must be okay.Right ???
opening day needs to be a tradition of the past.
and for what it is worth the DEP did a great job stocking this year ,some great trout have been caught already this week.
FWIW If I were taking my son fishing before he was6 years old or so it would likely be for Sunnies rather than trout unless he proved able and interested. Sunnies are always cooperative and receive little fishing pressure. They also tend to be in areas that have other things to do if boredom sets in like playgrounds or fields. No need for any fancy tackle either. Hook, some worms and a bobber and your good to go. No being shoulder to shoulder either. It is how I started and caught the fishing fever. Fishing was always encouraged and supported to me by my Grandfather, Opening Day was more a date on a calender and an excuse for a good breakfast at the fire department than anything overly special. I am truly perplexed at why people need a set date in April to get together and fish. Have we really become so busy as a society that we cannot allot any day we choose (I'm not saying ditch work) to get together and relax and share the outdoors? If you want to get together for an "opening day" on the third Saturday in April go right ahead. If you can't make it or someone else can't, schedule a new date.
To each his own, good luck getting it abolished. I still think its a nice family tradition, sunnies at a pond can be done anytime and its a good idea but as kids get a little older they gravitate to trout in streams. I still can't understand the problem with opening day other than people being selfish and thinking it will provide them with more trout to catch. If it so annoying then go flounder fishing.
The reason we need a opening day. It gives everybody an equal chance of catching a trout. If there was no opening day, just like rest of the stocking this year. The ones that follow the stocking trucks and there buddies who they call on there cell phones will wipe out the entire stream or catch all the bigger fish and leave the little ones for the people who have only one day to fish. I didn't see anybody asking to do away with opening day of hunting season. That even worse than a trout stocking. They post themselves at the state leased land and when the truck pulls up their hunting buddies are just a phone call away. Talk about trash we fished alittle stream near my house in Oxford that has one or two good size hole. When one of the kids cast across the stream to the other side and got caugth on some branches, my son crossed over and what did you think he found, bait containers and we were there from 530 and there was nobody fishing on that side, the containers were in good shape where they didnot spend the winter there. To me this year the state did a damn good job of stocking. The fish were a lot bigger and the ones we caugth were all above the legal sizes to keep. Please do not say they are all senior. Just go to the farmington's church pool on any given day of the week an see the age of the people fishing there. Thats all I'm going to say about this.(Forest Gump)
opening day...the only day of the year that surfcasters, 8/0 striper hooks and bobbers the size of softballs are utilized for 8 inch trout...gotta love it!!!
Team Daiwaimano Team too many broken rods to count Team bluefish lawn ornament Team "oh shiit we are out of gas"
To each his own, good luck getting it abolished. I still think its a nice family tradition, sunnies at a pond can be done anytime and its a good idea but as kids get a little older they gravitate to trout in streams. I still can't understand the problem with opening day other than people being selfish and thinking it will provide them with more trout to catch. If it so annoying then go flounder fishing.
Fish are fish and I think you are a bit presumptious to assume somene would gravitate towards trout. Why not pike or stripers? If you think the issue is because of selfishness you need to reread the thread from the first post. Selfish is whining about how the state stocked because someone didn't limit out on trout in 2 hours. Takes a lot of skill to catch fish that are still geared to hatchery life and will strike darn near anything shiny or smelling like a feed pellet. There are plenty of fish around throughout the season, it just takes some skill and patience to catch them after they settle in and take on more native behavior.
I've always been confused about the term "Opening Day" in Connecticut. I consider the term a joke, at least here in CT. Growing up in NY, trout season opened in April and closed in October. From Mid-October to April there was no fishing for trout (except for catch and release in designated areas). Generally a small stocking takes place after the season closes. I've only starting fishing again for trout after a 20-year hibernation (also known as now retired from the Navy and have time to pursue my interests) and can't understand why the state for the most parts keeps the waters open except for a couple of week just to restock. It's not sufficient time for trout to acclimate to their new environment nor does it lead to a successful holdover of fish. It leads to over half the fish being caught on opening day. Some people may well be happy with this and that's by all means their right. Me personally, I'd rather see that trout caught by my kids later in the year. I usually wait a week or two after "opening day" to even wet my line. Even then I prefer to catch and release.
The only reason to fish opening day is to watch the idiots do stupid things.... The guy with so much equipment he looks like a bad LL bean catalog who trips and falls in 6 inches at 6:02 after his second cast and leaves to go change, the drunk guy who slides down the hill swearing as his beers all fall in the river and this years best, the the guy in the truck that ended up parked in the river!! It probably ruined the traditional fishing hole for more than a few people but seeing a truck in the river made my opening day just like the drunk slidding down the hill bouncing off trees did the year before and just like the guy with all the brand new shinny stuff that couldn't walk in ankle deep water! How can you not love opening day....
I am all for year round seasons... I prefer the rivers in the fall when there is you and a buddy and no one else for miles!
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