Should trout season's opening Saturday be "kids" only?

Just a thought:  Since so many people claim to be "in it for the children", wouldn't it make sense to allow kids the first crack at those stockies?  Make Saturday "harvest allowed only by persons under the age of 16".  There would be tons of fish left in the streams and lakes for Dad to get his limit on Sunday.  The big bonus is that anyone taking a child fishing would be forced to focus on the teaching part.  Another bonus would be that since a majority of the little ones only go out on Saturday, they would be spared the poor examples they sometimes see when adults get carried away.(or just show their true colors)

That's true but on small streams especially the fish become concentrated in certain holes and it never ceases to amaze me that adults will muscle out kids to get a crack at a 10" stockie. 
 
How about "Kids only" from 8 am.-10am and after 10 all the adults can fish.  This would give the kids first crack at all the best spots, they'd catch fish and pretty much be done by 10.  It will give all the adults time for the hangover to wear off or they can just show up on the stream and enjoy watching some kids pull in some fish, which is a true joy in itself. 
Great idea T.T.
 

Yes, that would be great. If only kids could fish on opening day, its usally such a zoo on openind day (depending on your location) the kids don't have a chance. I catch 98% of my fish after the "opening weekend only"
guys are long gone. May is the best month to be out, there are plenty of fish to be caught, you just might have to move 100 yards or so from that parking area to do it. Either make opening day for kids (under 16) only or have no closed season with more year around stocking. I'm not saying stock more fish, just spread them out more though spring/fall & winter. 

I like Bughawk's idea.  If the kid's hadn't come down with colds the day before, I would have taken them to 4-mile for the "kids only" area.  More of those areas would be nice.  We (adults)certainly have lots of choices.  Seeing some of the premo access areas set aside (roped-off?) for children and disabled persons would be great, too. 

I've got little ones, and in the past, it has been difficult taking them to my favorite areas.  I take them there because I know they will catch fish, while having fewer (relative) people to compete with.  The easiest holes and runs to access are usually taken up by masses of grown-ups.  Now that they are too big to just scoop up and carry across the stream, yet too small (duud) to wade themselves, I have a hard time finding them room to make their mistakes and still have good water to fish.  I see a reason to set aside access, at least for several hours, if not the whole weekend.  This will cheese-off many people, but would be great in the long run, though not likely to happen.  IMHO

Maybe I should just take them to the Penninsula.

To me, the issue boils down to instant gratification with little effort.  That seems to be the common plague regarding fishing.  Although I agree with the sentiments that it would be great to have the younger people have a "chance" without being pushed aside, there are methods to achieve this end rather than changing dates/times.
 
Part of the whole fishing experience is scouting and enjoying the chase.  I would rather see more people taking kids to spots not so crowded and teaching them a myriad of techniques to catch fish.  I know this may not be possible in many cases, but it might hold some promise. 
 
Sort of akin to steelheading.  We all know that the fish are not ALL in the popular holes.  Teaching another scouting and various tactics will ultimately produce a better generation of anglers. In turn, they can pass off these new skills to their friends. 
 
Do we wish to teach fishing or catching?  I think both can be achieved.  I love to see kids fishing the popular spots.  However, finding a youngster scouting a stream in search of fish is a whole different level.
 
Just an opinion.
 
Doc

Ok, lets say I take my three kids out for the kids only first two hours of fishing, then I get to fish at 10 o'clock. We are an hour from home and can't afford to drive the kids home then come back out myself to fish. But the thing is I went to be able to fish for a while before going home. So ten minutes after I start to fish the kids are starting to get bored and getting into mischief. Do I continue to fish and let the kids run wild or pack it up and go home? Believe you would see this happen to more than just a few dads.

T.T.,
      It's a good thought BUT: how many parents would refrain from fishing?   Personally I'd like to see more "children under 14" areas set aside.  And I'd like to see them on moving water.  Stream fishing would involve more of a learning experience.   Two years ago I almost drained a fishing vest re-rigging kids rods for them because the gear they had on was more like catfish rigs than trout rigs.  The usual culprits:  Bobbers the size of crabapples. #2 hooks, A wad of Power bait the size of the bobber and about an ounce of weight.  Like the man said they weren't catching anything.  I re-rigged the kids with #10-12 hooks, small bobbers, single eggs and 1 small shot.  They started catching fish like crazy.  I get a big thrill when I can  help a kid catch that 1st trout.
      What's even stranger is the kids were all boy scouts and they had their advisors with them.
      After about an hour one of the leaders took me aside and asked if I could help out a 34 year old kid.  He had never caught a trout.  I rigged a single egg pattern on my fly rod, told him to flip it under some laurel (not in the laurel, under, under) and watched as a 14" "bow" took the fly.  The fish was moving back upstream when I asked the guy "are you going to set the hook?"  He had never seen the strike.  But he was all smiles about a minute later when he took "his" trout down to show his son.   That was one of my best 1st days ever.  I think I caught 4 keepers all day.
      Would I do it again?  Absolutely ! ! !

I like the idea of "kids only" as well, on August 20th.

Once again, Loopy, you've lost me.  Not hard to do, but what's with 3 days after my birthday?

ORIGINAL: fearnofish

I think kids getting the first crack at the stockies is a great idea. The main goal is to get the youngsters interested and for them to want to come back and do it again. I think making it easier for the the kids to catch fish is the right thing to do. Get them interested first and really enjoying it, then they will appreciate the sport more and be more able and willing to learn how to read water and find the fish by themselves.

This reminds me of a mother cat bringing live mice back to her kittens to play with.  She lets them play with the mice to teach them to catch mice.  If kids have a good experience catching fish and are excited, they will want to fish again.  As they get older and more experienced, there is time to teach them the finer points.  The basic thing is to get them interested and wanting to fish.

ORIGINAL: T.T.

Once again, Loopy, you've lost me.  Not hard to do, but what's with 3 days after my birthday?

 
Just pulling a random day out of my a**.

Indsguiz I love your post here!  That's what fishing is all about! I love the responses to this thread!  I hope this debate continues and maybe we can make something happen!  I'm in!!!!!!

I can't wait to take my little one fishing.  What we won't be doing is fishing the creeks or lakes on opening day.  That to me really isn't the best enviornment to take a little one out in.  Lakes are severly overcrowded and as people of stated, some other adults have no qualms about boxing out the little guys and girls on the good holes on creeks.  That to me is simply unsportsmanlike.  I don't want my little guy picking up all these bad habits.
 
*edit*
Don't take this as a slight on people who like to head out on opening day, there's plenty of good folks out there as well. Just a few bad apples in the bunch.
 


I'll take him after the first weekend, we'll take our own trips. 

There is a nice kids only section on Tom's Run in Forest County, the Marienville Rod & Gun Club stocks it every Saturday until the end of May. Lots of nice brookies in there.