and is the idea to not stock the stream to allow the wild trout to flourish?
Well, that's what we, as the wild trout snobs, think should happen. Not what's being proposed by the PFBC. We aren't going to get what we want. Some of them are urban streams that are extremely popular with the stocky crowd. And ending the stocking would lead to political battle that frankly, we'd lose. Ending stocking is not a realistic option at this point, at least not in the short term.
Having class A biomass does not make it class A. It means it can be designated as class A by the PFBC, but the official designation is still necessary to make it happen. Class A designation carries increased watershed protections in regards to pollution, as well as regulatory restrictions on stocking.
If us snobs hold out for the end to stocking, we're gonna wind up with nothing. They won't be designated class A. They won't get the increased protections.
This is a compromise, plain and simple. They'll designate it class A, publish it in their lists, add the increased protections, etc. But keep stocking it. It's a compromise that we should take, because it's an improvement to the status quo and we're unlikely to even get that much if we fight.
And we can always take what we can get now and live to fight another day. A decade down the road when this thing is on the class A list, wild trout fishermen are visiting in greater numbers and the locals have more awareness that stocking isn't needed, we can lobby to scale back or eliminate the stocking. Baby steps. You gotta kill the stocky chaser mentality via a thousand paper cuts, cause we'd lose a full-on war.
