Illustration of brown trout, by NOAA. Published on Wikimedia Commons.
Every two years, the state Department of Environmental Conservation tinkers with fishing regulations. This year, the DEC is recommending several changes that could affect fishing in local streams, including the Esopus and Catskill Creeks.
Among the proposed changes announced by the agency today: A ban on fishing in Catskill Creek from the Route 9W bridge upstream to the dam in Leeds from March 16 through the first Saturday in May, to protect spawning walleye.
Walleye poaching before the season opens in May has been a problem in Catskill Creek, and local anglers have called on officials to close the creek to fishing entirely in early spring. From an April 2011 story in the Daily Mail:
The spawning ground in the Catskill Creek serves walleye that inhabit the Hudson River, though how they came to live in the Catskill Creek is unknown. Supposition suggests a stocking operation put them there, or perhaps the adventurous fish migrated from colder waters north of Albany some time ago.
Whatever their origin, [Walter] Bennett and [The Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs of Greene County] believe in order to keep the walleye spawning here and returning to the Hudson River, poachers cannot be given the opportunity to illegally catch them during this critical time of the year.
“This is a unique fishery that we have developed,” Bennett said.
The DEC is also proposing a change in the limit on trout caught in a stretch of the Esopus, from the Shandaken Tunnel to the Ashokan Reservoir, to to a daily limit of five fish, with no more than two trout longer than 12 inches, to increase catch rates of larger trout.
A press release issued today by the agency lists these among dozens of proposed changes to existing fishing regulations statewide. To see the entire list, click here.
The agency is accepting comments on the proposed regulations until April 2. From the press release:
Comments on the proposals can be sent via e-mail to fishregs@gw.dec.state.ny.us, or mailed to Shaun Keeler, New York State DEC, Bureau of Fisheries, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-4753. Hard copies of the full text can be requested from Shaun Keeler at the same addresses listed above. Final regulations, following full review of public comments, will take effect October 1, 2012.
Correction, 5:15pm: An earlier draft of this post referred to the "lower Esopus." The stretch of the creek that may have its limits revised is in fact a part of the upper Esopus Creek. Apologies for the error.
