Trout-stocking times have been changed for Presque Isle State Park, Fairview’s Upper Gravel Pit and Conneaut Creek.

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission staff now will stock brown trout April 10 at 2 p.m. at Presque Isle’s East Basin Pond, West Basin Pond and at the Upper Gravel Pit. Volunteers can meet the stocking trucks at Presque Isle’s Niagara boat launch.

Stocking had been scheduled to take place April 9 at 10 a.m. Anglers were to have met Fish and Boat Commission staff at the Upper Gravel Pit.

Conneaut Creek will be stocked April 13 at 2 p.m. instead of 10:30 a.m.

The trout fishing season opens April 14 at 8 a.m. in northwestern Pennsylvania and most of the rest of the state. The Fish and Boat Commission said approximately 3.2 million adult trout will be stocked in public waters open to public angling this year, more than half of them before opening day.

This week’s Erie-area fishing report from Randy Leighton, deputy waterways conservation officer for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission:

Off-and-on rain Monday and an all-day soaker Tuesday brought the the Lake Erie tributary levels up to fast and muddy conditions There is  rain and possible snow in the forecast which may help to which may spawn additional steelhead movement and help keep water levels up and flowing. Catches have been good with anglers doing very well at the mouth of Trout and Godfrey runs and throughout most of the trib areas. The rain triggered some action at the Walnut Creek Marina basin with a good number taken over the past week on shiners, paste baits and tipped jigs. With the on-and-off rainfall, Crooked Creek has been productive and less crowded than the lower sections of Walnut and Elk. Current Lake Erie water temperature is 48 degrees. Area tribs were flowing and muddy as of late Tuesday afternoon.

Perch must be a minimum of 7 inches beginning Dec. 1 through March 31, 2012, for Lake Erie and Presque Isle Bay. The creel limit remains at 30 fish.

We again want to emphasize that it is wise to wear at least some orange in the outlying areas of the tribs, especially on Elk, Crooked and Conneaut creeks. With the rainy weather we had for opening day and the kill possibly down, many deer hunters will be out over the next two weeks as the colder weather and possible snow reaches our area. Don’t put your self in their sights, wear some orange. If you are on State Game lands, wearing orange is a requirement during hunting season.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is encouraging those who own stream frontage on Four Mile, Conneaut, Crooked, Elk, Walnut and Twenty Mile creeks to attend a public meeting about public fishing access and conservation easement programs Nov. 1.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in the Big Green Screen Theater at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center, 301 Peninsula Drive. It is being hosted by the Fish and Boat Commission and Pennsylvania Sea Grant.

Landowners interested in attending should RSVP by Oct. 28 to Dave Skellie at PA Sea Grant at (814) 490-3248 or dus18@psu.edu.

“Acquiring public access easements is part of the agency’s strategy to improve public fishing areas and ensure that the public has access to these opportunities,” said Jackie Kramer, the statewide fishing and boating access coordinator for the PFBC Bureau of Boating and Access. “Private landowners interested in providing public access for anglers and learning how this easement purchase program operates are encouraged to attend.”

A public fishing easement is a voluntary and permanent legal contract between the landowner and the Fish and Boat Commission. The easement typically provides a 35-foot corridor along a stream bank that allows the public to wade in or walk along the stream bank for the purpose of fishing. The landowner continues to own and control the land.