By Tom Seymour
The April 1 Opening Day of fishing on brooks and streams has no scientific basis. April 1 was always the opening day for lakes and ponds as well as streams. Now that lakes and ponds in the southern half of Maine are open year-round, brooks, streams and rivers, with a few months in fall set aside for spawning season, should remain open year-round as well.
Fisheries biologists share my thoughts on this and when querying a biologist about the possibility of an early season opener on rivers and streams, the stock answer is always, “It’s tradition.” The rest of the answer tells the rest of the story. As per fisheries management, making anglers wait until April 1 is not necessary.
There was a time. Loving trout fishing since I was old enough to crank a fly reel, opening day was always my favorite, “holiday.” Like a child on Christmas Eve, I would go to bed on the last night of March, my head filled with visions of bespeckled brook trout grabbing my angleworm.
Most years I caught fish, too. It all depended upon stream conditions. Too-high water usually meant no fish. But when water height and temperature reached the, “Goldilocks zone,” trout would go on the feed.
Reasons For Change
The frustrating aspect of all this is that March often sees prime conditions. Later on, as in early April, melting snow and ice would super-chill the water and raise water levels.
So many times on my pre-season scouting trips, I would watch, helplessly, as trout gently finned near bottom in gin-clear water. The desire to cast a line was so strong I could taste it. But come April 1, the same stream would run high, too high for fishing.
Just as frustrating, not as many people live for opening day as was the case years ago. That has several causes. First, most people make more money now and are able to afford boats and motors. When I was a young man, 12-foot boats and canoes were the norm. That is for those who could afford them. So what did we do come fishing season? We went fishing on brooks and streams.
But the days of hard-beaten paths along streamsides have long since passed. Walking up and down uneven terrain and following brooks for miles has fallen into disfavor. Most people aren’t willing to expend that much energy for two or three, 7-inch brook trout.
Finally, whereas once, every brook crossing saw children fishing the roadside pools, bicycles leaned up against guard rails, the bicycles are gone, as are the children who rode them. Youngsters have other things in their lives now. Computer games and organized sports have taken the majority of youngsters away from fishing, away from the natural world.
So where does that leave us? The crowds of opening day have vanished into the mists of opening days past. In no way would allowing us to hit the streams earlier have any impact upon fish populations. None. Zero. Zilch.
Here’s another thing to consider. Rivers and streams that the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries And Wildlife (DIF&W) stock with trout stay open year-round. It is only rivers and streams with self-perpetuating trout populations that remain closed until April. And again, even the biologists say there is no need for it, except to honor tradition. But since so few care about tradition nowadays, why not allow us to fish year-round?
Change comes hard, especially within DIF&W. But the department is very sensitive to public input and if enough people voice their opinions, then we very likely could have a more sensible and reasonable opening day.
By the way, as always, I am gearing up for April 1. I’ll still have a tough time sleeping the night before. Old habits die hard.
