Anglers are getting ready to hook brook, brown and rainbow trout once the season gets underway at 8 a.m. Saturday across Pennsylvania.

With the first day of trout fishing quickly approaching, area shops have been busy selling licenses, tackle — and bait.

“We sell a lot of flat heads and rosy red minnows, as well as shiners,” explained Tara Titus of Tom’s Auto and Marine in Tamaqua.

She scooped some of the tiny bait fish into a small bucket for a customer who was browsing the store’s assortment of fishing rods, hooks, line and lures.

In addition to the live, swimming kind of bait, Tom’s stocks the crawling kind, too.

New this year is the “super mealy.”

“It’s a larger-sized mealy worm,” Titus explained.

And since they don’t have to be refrigerated like most other worms, the plump — and active — critters can be picked up in packages of 18 from the store’s front counter.

Spikes, or white maggots, are also a new and popular addition and great for trout fishing, Titus said. They’re the larvae of the common blowfly, and as such, Titus said they should be refrigerated.

Other live bait, including wax worms, garden worms, night crawlers and more, is available, too.

“If anyone wants anything specific, we can order it in a certain quantity,” Titus noted.

The store sells artificial baits and fishing licenses, too. Titus said those sales picked up in advance of last Saturday’s Mentored Youth Trout Day. Tom’s Auto and Marine expects to sell more licenses, bait and gear in the coming days and has extended its hours. It will be open until 7 p.m. Friday; 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to noon on Sunday, Titus noted.

To ready for the season, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is stocking approximately 3.2 million adult trout in 691 streams and 130 lakes open to public angling, said commission spokesman Michael Parker.

The figure includes 2.4 million rainbow trout, 693,000 brown trout and 125,000 brook trout that average 11 inches and weigh just over a half pound. It will also stock around 72,000 trophy-sized brood fish measuring 14-20 inches and 14,000 golden rainbow trout.

“I don’t think there is a scientific way to determine someone’s chances of catching a trout since it depends on skill, location, bait, etc., but the odds are pretty good if you go out on Opening Day and keep fishing for the rest of the season, you will catch plenty,” Parker said. “The biggest factor I tell people, especially new anglers, is not to put all your stock in one day and then call it quits.

“Opening Day is just that, the opening of a season that will be full of opportunities through May.”

Parker said the commission will continue to stock hundreds of streams and lakes after the opening day, and encouraged anglers to look at the stocking schedule, which can be found online at https://fbweb.pa.gov/TroutStocking.

“Make plans to keep fishing those areas throughout the season,” he suggested.

Parker reminded folks that to catch and keep trout, those 16 and older must have a fishing license and a trout permit.

Last year, he said, a total of 767,079 fishing licenses and 510,212 trout permits were purchased.

“This means that in 2024, 66.5% of those who purchased a fishing license also purchased a trout permit,” Parker said, noting that the number is mostly consistent from year to year. “We can usually generalize that about 7 out of every 10 anglers participates in trout fishing, making it, by far, our most popular fishing season of the year.”

A fishing associate at Dunkelberger’s Sports Outfitter, which has stores in Stroudsburg and Brodheadsville, said fishing license sales had been picking up more and more each day.

By Friday, he said, he expects to see customers lining the aisles for last minute purchases.

Anglers are also stocking up on all colors of PowerBait, a brand of fishing bait that comes in a dough form. All colors are being purchased, he said, with many favoring the garlic scent.

The associate also noted that anglers are picking up stringers, in anticipation of catching multiple trout.