This story appears in the April 2021 issue of Town&Gown.
On Saturday, many anglers will ready their fishing rods for the start of Pennsylvania’s trout season – a season largely made possible through the work of state fish hatcheries.
State College’s Benner Spring Fish Hatchery Manager Doug Hess is hoping this trout season will offer a little bit of normalcy for anglers, despite the ongoing pandemic that posed challenges in scheduling events and hatchery operation last season.
“We just started [our work] earlier to make sure that we had the time-frame needed to get all fish in prior to April 3, so that we can have a traditional opening day even though it’s a little different than what it’s been for decades,” he says of the earlier-than-usual, single statewide opening.