Saturday is for Mentored Youth

Saturday (March 25) is the day for young trout fishermen to get a jump on the regular trout season. It is the Mentored Youth Trout Fishing Day. This is a statewide one-day opportunity for young anglers to fish on stocked trout waters a week ahead of the regular opening day. This day, however, does not provide an opportunity for fishing on specially regulated waters.

Though I am not a fan of most mentored youth hunting days because they seem rife with abuse, I am enthusiastic about the mentored trout fishing day for youth. From my observations over the years, it is a day that most mentors do appear to have the interests of their young partners in mind.

To participate, a youth under the age of 15 must be accompanied by a licensed adult angler who is 16 or older. The licensed angler must also possess a trout/salmon stamp. The mentored youth must obtain a free Mentored Youth Permit or a Voluntary Youth Fishing license from the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission. The license costs $2.97 and is encouraged by the PFBC, since for each voluntary license it sells, it receives $5 back in federal funds that are used for youth outreach and education programs. That's a pretty good deal. Instructions for obtaining a permit or license can be found on the PFBC's website.

Each mentored youth may possess two trout seven inches or longer on this day. The mentors, who are allowed to fish, may not keep any of the trout that they catch. From my observations over the years, I have noticed that many, if not most, mentors do not bother to fish. Instead, they concentrate on helping the kids they are mentoring with basic tackle-handling techniques and finding locations where they can catch fish. I think this is the intention of the day and believe the PFBC could do away with allowing the mentors to fish and still provide a wonderful day for the mentored youth.

The PFBC does provide some guidelines for the day. One is that the mentored youth "should be capable of fishing on their own with limited assistance from the mentor." If fishing, "the mentor should be at a reasonable distance of actively fishing youth." Also, the PFBC discourages youth organizations from taking large groups of youth fishing with "minimal adult supervision." These seem to be pretty reasonable guidelines to me.

The Mentored Youth Trout Fishing Day provides a wonderful opportunity for experienced anglers to help young fishermen get a start on the season.