Times Observer file photo The Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission has agreed to implement a single, statewide opening day for trout season. Here, trout were stocked in the West Branch of the Tionesta Creek, just down from the Chapman Dam, in advance of a previous opening day.

COVID-19 forced the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission to make some changes to the opening day of trout season.

The Commission recently agreed to establish a single, statewide opener — the first Saturday in April — starting in 2022.

The move makes trout season longer for most anglers and strikes the regional opening day that had been in place in the southeast corner of the state.

A single statewide Mentored Youth Trout Day is now scheduled for March 26, 2022 while the opener will be April 2.

“Thank you to the anglers of Pennsylvania for making their voices heard about trout season and being a partner in this decision,” Richard Kauffman, the commission’s board president said in a statement. “While necessary changes to the last two seasons because of the pandemic were inconvenient for many people, we used the unprecedented opportunity to ask a lot of questions about how we’ve been doing things for the last 15 years.

“Through a wealth of public input, including angler surveys presenting opening day options, it became clear that our agency and most Pennsylvania anglers value and prefer a single opening day of trout season moving forward.”

The commission considered factors including weather, water temperature, stocking, enforcement logistics and social impacts in making the decision.

A series of regulatory changes to finalize the date were authorized and that included creel size and minimum length alterations for Lake Erie and its tributaries for both lake trout and steelhead aimed at providing “greater simplicity” and “optimize the trophy component of the steelhead fishery.” Those changes, according to the commission, go into effect on Jan. 1.

Commission Executive Director Tim Schaeffer highlighted that life jackets are required from Nov. 1 through April 30 on all boats under 16 feet in length.

“To date in 2021, we have had nine boating fatalities in Pennsylvania,” he said. “Statistically, around 80 percent of victims of fatal boating accidents each year were not wearing life jackets, which means many of these tragedies could have been prevented. Whether you are fishing or hunting from a boat this fall, ice fishing this winter, or fishing early next spring, please always wear your life jacket.”