Trout season opens in western New York

JASON COX/THE LEADER Chris Cole of Vestal fishes in Catharin Creek on the opening day of trout season.

MONTOUR FALLS Rain and cold didn't stop fishermen from heading to Catharine Creek early Sunday morning for the first day of trout season.

In fact, for many the day yielded plenty of big catches.

Mike Mayhood, of Lawrenceville, Pa., arrived at the creek around 7:30 a.m. and saw a number of fishermen already lining the water.

"I go out the first day every year," Mayhood said. "Just

trying to catch some trout. There have been some pretty good bites so far today. Hopefully, there will be some more before it's time to go home."

Ian Smith, of Branchport, said rain couldn't dampen the first day of trout season.

"I look forward to it," Smith said. "It's a lot of fun. It would be more fun if I started catching a few more fish."

Smith and dozens of other fishermen lined Catharine Creek on the outskirts of Montour Falls, looking for a big catch.

"This is a good spot," said Dan Kellen, of Ithaca. "A lot of people like it, that's for sure. Sometimes that makes it a little bit harder to catch a lot of fish. But it's the first day."

This year, the state D e p a r t m e n t o f Environmental Conservation stocked 2.38 million catchable-size brook, brown and rainbow trout in almost 300 lakes and ponds and roughly 3,000 miles of streams across the state.

The stockings include 1.8 million brown trout, 426,000 rainbow trout and 155,000 brook trout.

The DEC will again include 2-year-old brown trout in the spring stocking program. These fish average 12-13 inches in length, with some as large as 15 inches. About 91,000 of these larger fish will be stocked into lakes and streams statewide.