As anglers patiently await opening day of trout season, the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission is preparing to roll out its stocking trucks to place millions of fish into streams and lakes across the state.

Officials appearing at the February meeting of Susquehanna Chapter of Trout Unlimited noted some of the changes in stockings and regulations.

Approximately 3.2 million trout will be placed in approved trout waters this year – 697 streams and 126 lakes.

“We are stocking at the same numbers,” said Eric Hussar, president commissioner, who represents the state’s fifth district which includes Lycoming, Tioga, Union, Sullivan, and Bradford counties.

Stocking will begin March 15. Trout season opens at 8 a.m. Saturday, April 6.

Hunter Shoemaker, waterways conservation officer, noted changes to a pair of Clinton County trout streams.

No fish will be placed in the headwaters of Hyner Run this year due to the presence in the stream of Class A mixed wild brook and brown trout. The creek will be stocked along a three-mile section from the powerline crossing upstream of Hyner Run State Park downstream to the mouth.

A population of Class A mixed wild brook and brown trout in Baker Run prompted the decision to remove a 2.7-mile section of the stream from the stocking schedule.

The stream previously received pre-season and in-season stockings of trout.

Waters designated as Class A wild trout streams support a sufficient population of sizeable natural-producing trout to negate the need for stocking to maintain angling opportunities.

Shoemaker noted that a disabled and children’s fishing area along Muncy Creek in Picture Rocks is being proposed.

The Hughesville High School Fly Fishing Club will be doing a cleanup of various sections of Muncy Creek March 3.

Justin Boatwright, waterways conservation officer, noted that cleanup efforts are under way to restore Beech Creek, a Clinton County stream seriously impacted by mine acid drainage over the years.

“We are already seeing improvement,” he said. “It’s a beautiful stream. It’s just dead.”

Boatwright noted he has so far this year investigated more incidents than usual involving environmental impacts of streams.

Anyone with information regarding an issue such as pollution or poaching is urged to contact the Fish & Boat Commission.

The Commission has a fish kill hotline the public can call at 855-347-4545 or 855-FISHKIL.

The meeting included discussion involving angler etiquette and sudden posting of stream sections previously open to the public.

TU members noted a posted section of Little Pine Creek has raised questions among anglers regarding stream access.

“We get this (question) all the time,” Boatwright said.

Unfortunately, private landowners sometimes feel they have no choice but to put up no trespassing signs when anglers and others abuse their access privileges, he noted.

Anglers normally have every right to fish in posted sections of streams if they access them from public areas and remain in the water, according to officials.

However, they noted state laws are not completely clear on the issue.

As the Fish and Boat Commission website states: “Public rights to and on the water is a complex area of Pennsylvania law. In Pennsylvania, the public’s right to fish in a particular stream depends in large part on whether the stream is ‘navigable.’ In general, the public has the right to fish in a navigable waterway. The accepted test of navigability is whether the waters are used, or are susceptible to being used, in their ordinary condition, as highways for commerce. If the water met the navigability test at any point in its history, it remains a legally navigable waterway. There is no single published listing of all the navigable waters in Pennsylvania.”