jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
Josh Keefer (top) and Frank Nyiri of Altoona fish at a Canoe Creek State Park dam on Wednesday afternoon.
/ Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
Last spring, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic played havoc with the start of Pennsylvania’s trout season.
In order to prevent the traditional congregation of huge opening-day crowds in 2020, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission announced an impromptu start of the season for the entire state for April 7, early in the morning that the first lines were permitted to be cast into the water.
The 2020 statewide season trout opener also replaced the format of a separate, earlier opening day that had been implemented for 18 of the state’s southeastern counties that had been in place for the past several years, a move designed to cut down on extensive intra-state travel by fishermen during the COVID-19 crisis.