Although Pennsylvania anglers care about wild trout, they are far more interested in the stocking program. A slight majority even support stocking wild trout streams -- including those dense with wild fish -- especially in parts of the state where stocked fisheries are few.

Those findings are part of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's first angler survey in 17 years. It will be presented at the agency's quarterly meeting tomorrow in Harrisburg. The board of commissioners will consider the results in their retooling of the state's trout management plan -- the first major adjustment in as many years, with renewed emphasis on a science-based agenda.

"We wanted to know where we sit with anglers," said the agency's chief coldwater biologist Tom Greene. "But the survey is just one piece. We have a resource-first philosophy and we'll continue to wrestle with striking a balance between angler preferences and what is good for the resource."

Seventy percent of Pennsylvania's 850,000 licensed anglers purchased trout or Lake Erie-trout "combo" stamps last year, generating more than $500 million in state revenue and $29.3 million for the Fish and Boat Commission, the survey said.

The March-April survey involved 1,562 anglers and was conducted by phone by the Virginia-based Responsive Management Inc., which specializes in outdoors recreation research. Respondents were asked dozens of questions related to how and where they fish, and what they think of the commission's trout management program.

Almost all fished with live bait at least some of the time, and more than half said they preferred bait. The rest were split between lures and flies.

"We're talking about an avid group of anglers," said Responsive Management's Mark Duda. "Sixty-nine percent have fished every year for five years. Many have been fishing for 27 years, and fish an average of 24 days a year."

The majority of respondents supported stockings and fished stocked waters at least half the time. A third fished stocked waters exclusively. Many respondents said they would fish more often if additional waters were stocked. Stocked streams were preferred 8 to 1 over stocked lakes. Only 1 percent said they avoided stocked waters altogether.

Most anglers said they probably would buy a trout stamp even if the stocking program was significantly reduced, but only about a third seemed certain.

Duda said most respondents were happy with the way the commission is managing trout now, giving the agency what amounts to "an A-minus, B-plus rating." He also said anglers were ecologically minded.

"If you look at the whole report, most respondents are putting ecological values above recreational values," he said.

But while 44 percent said "priority" should go to wild trout -- compared with 33 percent prioritizing stocked fish and 18 percent remaining neutral -- more than half supported stocking in wild-trout fisheries. And the term "priority" was never defined.

"The word is open to the Fish Commission's interpretation," said Duda. "We weren't going for specifics."

Also undefined were the wild-trout habitat improvement projects anglers were asked to comment on. Respondents gave those and the stocking program equally high marks.

Though not asked about specific special regulations, the majority of anglers supported project waters as a whole because they believe they offer anglers better chances of catching fish and protecting the resource.

But while slightly more anglers supported the addition of special regs waters, as opposed to those who wanted fewer, 60 percent supported allowing the use of bait on Delayed Harvest waters currently limited to flies and artificial lures.

Eighty-one percent were OK with allowing trout fishing on a no-harvest basis on unstocked streams from Labor Day to the opening day of trout season. While the majority liked the current five-fish-a-day harvest limit, the minority was split between wanting to see the limit increased to eight a day or lowered to three a day.

In general, anglers liked the recent initiative to stock fewer but larger trout, as well as last year's planting of 9,000 big golden rainbow trout.

Most also supported a new concept the commission is considering. Premium Stocked Trout Areas would be stocked with high densities of fish over 11 inches. A third of anglers said they would be willing to pay up to $10 a year in addition to the current cost of license and trout stamp to fish those waters.

The top motivation for trout fishing was recreational and social, and anglers said they would go fishing more often if asked by a child or a friend. Just 3 percent said they fished mainly for food. Even fewer said they were out to catch a lot of fish or large fish.

Support was high for keeping a designated opening day, as well as for expanding the "early" opening day beyond the southeastern counties where water warms sooner than the rest of the state. April, May and June (in that order) were the most popular months for stocked-trout fishing, and October and November were the least popular.

Although Allegheny County led the state in the number of fishing licenses sold, it was seventh on the list of counties for having preferred trout fisheries, after Potter, Cumberland, Berks, Elk, Lehigh and Dauphin counties.

Anglers drove an average of 44 miles to get to a fishery. Their favorite places to fish were Yellow Breeches Creek, Allegheny River, Bobs Creek, Little Pine Creek and Kettle Creek. All are heavily stocked. Anglers put a high premium on public access to trout waters, and said they'd fish more often if there was better access.

Anglers were evenly split between thinking $32.40 for a general resident fishing license and trout stamp was priced right or priced too high.