Changes to Fishing Regulations?

October 22, 2020

Question: There is a lot of talk about making fishing regulations less complicated and word is that CDFW has made some changes. What was changed and what is the status? (Pete W.)

Answer: To answer the status part of the question first, yes, there has been recent progress with changes going into effect on March 1, 2021, assuming the changes are approved by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL). It is both the California Fish and Game Commission (FGC) and CDFW that have spearheaded those changes, with input from anglers across the state. For many years, anglers have expressed frustration with the complexity of freshwater sport fishing regulations. Some people say they are dissuaded from fishing due to actual or perceived difficulty in complying with the regulations. To address the concerns FGC and CDFW have heard over the years, CDFW held a series of community meetings in 2018 and 2019 at locations across the state to publicly introduce and discuss proposed changes to simplify statewide inland sport fishing regulations.

CDFW proposals and recommendations from the public were then vetted at this year’s January and March Wildlife Resources Committee meetings, and FGC adopted the changes just last week.

The goals of the proposed changes are to increase regulatory consistency statewide, reduce the complexity of inland sport fishing regulations and remove regulations that are no longer biologically justifiable. The major proposed regulatory changes:

1.  Separate the regulations for inland trout (non-anadromous waters) from those for steelhead and salmon (anadromous waters) to help provide greater clarity for anglers;

2.  Replace the district regulations with statewide regulations separated for trout; and

3.  Standardize and consolidate the “special fishing” regulations.

Technically, there are hundreds of small changes and adjustments, far too many to list here. However, if you are interested in the gritty detail, please see the regulations as they were submitted to OAL here:
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=183512&inline

October 22, 2020

Question: There is a lot of talk about making fishing regulations less complicated and word is that CDFW has made some changes. What was changed and what is the status? (Pete W.)

Answer: To answer the status part of the question first, yes, there has been recent progress with changes going into effect on March 1, 2021, assuming the changes are approved by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL). It is both the California Fish and Game Commission (FGC) and CDFW that have spearheaded those changes, with input from anglers across the state. For many years, anglers have expressed frustration with the complexity of freshwater sport fishing regulations. Some people say they are dissuaded from fishing due to actual or perceived difficulty in complying with the regulations. To address the concerns FGC and CDFW have heard over the years, CDFW held a series of community meetings in 2018 and 2019 at locations across the state to publicly introduce and discuss proposed changes to simplify statewide inland sport fishing regulations.

CDFW proposals and recommendations from the public were then vetted at this year’s January and March Wildlife Resources Committee meetings, and FGC adopted the changes just last week.

The goals of the proposed changes are to increase regulatory consistency statewide, reduce the complexity of inland sport fishing regulations and remove regulations that are no longer biologically justifiable. The major proposed regulatory changes:

1.  Separate the regulations for inland trout (non-anadromous waters) from those for steelhead and salmon (anadromous waters) to help provide greater clarity for anglers;

2.  Replace the district regulations with statewide regulations separated for trout; and

3.  Standardize and consolidate the “special fishing” regulations.

Technically, there are hundreds of small changes and adjustments, far too many to list here. However, if you are interested in the gritty detail, please see the regulations as they were submitted to OAL here:
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=183512&inline

2.  Replace the district regulations with statewide regulations separated for trout;

This im excited for!! I like stability and consistency

I get totally screwed in this “regulation simplification” deal. For the central coast rivers, trout season is always the last Sat in April thru Nov 15. But these new regs say trout season is the fourth Sat in May thru Oct 31. Thats like 45 less days in trout season. Fuck that!