130,000 fish isn't that significant. According to the fish commision there is 868 total waterways stocked with adult trout. Thats only 150 fish per place stocked!  Not a big deal.  Like chris said limit your creel not your catch.  It's one thing to keep a few trout for dinner or throw em on the smoker but we really don't need to keep every single trout we catch every single time we are lucky to get out and wet a line! There are many solutions and opinions that can be made to attempt to make this situation better. For example how about putting less fish in places that have proven natural reproduction in them.  It might solve two problems.  Give more fish to put and take waters and also possibly create a viable wild trout fishery. More properly managed wild trout streams, alot more fish put into a few less places? Everybody wins!
 

ORIGINAL: SteelPerch

How many years in a row will they stick it to us?  First they introduced the trout stamp, then they reduced the limit from 8 to 5, then they went on the "fewer but bigger fish" marketing campaign which materialized into fewer trout but not bigger, and now it is just a cut in the number of stocked fish.  It really ****es you off.

 
It doesn't "**** me off" in the least.
 
What the PFBC needs to start doing is spending trout satamp monies on upgrading the waste water treatment facilities at their hatcheries.  As it is now, the hatcheries are horrible polluters.  Probably they should double or triple the cost of the stamps to do this.  And it must be done, that is if the PFBC plans to continus stocking ANY trout raised in PA.

i'm in favor in decreasing the amount of trout they stock in warmer water lakes where the trout become fish bait. also, their fall stockings the last few years have been sad seeing the low water conditions and puddles they were 'dropping' trout in.
if they increase the trout stamp any more they'll see less sales of it. i was a road tech. in pa when the trout stamp first came out and if fishermen didn't buy the stamp they said they wouldn't it should have led to less lisc./stamp sales to supply stockings.
there are wild trout areas already established in certain areas such as the wild brook trout habitat.
i believe the pfbc is leaning more to getting trout affiliated groups/clubs to raise trout and help out in the stockings to save money.

Poaching of trout and other species due to the current state of the economy will be a bigger problem than this relatively minor cut in the trout numbers.  

you will not see any decrease in amount of trout caught this year compared to past years. these are minimal numbers and if you think you pay too much for a trout stamp, then don't buy one WE won't miss ya.
 
sorry gonefishin, don't know why it said in reply to you. it was not directed to you.

This won't affect me one whit. I love to fish for trout but the last two I kept were in 2002. One was a brown that had been in the lake for a long, long time (flesh was orange from eating crayfish) and the other was a stocked brookie. Both were equally terrible eating.
 
As far as fewer trout, 95% of all anglers can't catch 5 trout for a limit, much less 8. And hopefully this will reduce some of the "Wild West" crap that we have to put up with in the more rural counties. The weekend of the first day of trout season gives us nothing but problems with people camping and getting drunk, starting brush fires, fighting, and falling over hills. The first day of trout season results in more and more posted lands every year, not to mention straining our law enforcement and EMS systems. "Trout Camp" is a greatly over-rated and out-moded thing that needs eliminated up here.
 
As far as bigger trout, I've seen better trout the last couple years. More big palominos, which are a double-edged sword, but nicer rainbows, especially on in-season stockings. And we are seeing more and more "breeder" trout stocked.
 
The major drain on the trout stockings here in PA are pollution problems from hatcheries. I envision the Federal EPA stepping in soon and shutting down or forcing pollution control updates on some hatcheries.
 
Yep, I'll pay more for a trout stamp. It will get the idiots out of the way and provide better trout fishing opportunities for me. If the cost of a trout stamp bothers you, re-evaluate your fishing. Bluegills on a basic license are within the reach of everyone, they taste better, and the average angler can get some year-round. I get my money's worth out of my license the first time I fish. My trout stamp money is just money out of my pocket as I don't keep any, but since it's something I enjoy I'll gladly pay it. The new line I put on my reel costs more than the trout stamp does!