Copies of the state’s new fishing booklet won’t be available until early January, but anglers should be aware of several new regulations that will take effect Jan. 1.

The most welcome regulations should be reduction of youth trout and paddlefish fees, as well as a reduction of the 24-hour fishing license fee.

Other changes will affect gigging, length and creel limits, black bass tournaments, and more.

Here are the changes:

Trout

¢ Willow Lake in Tuttle Creek State Park has been added to the list of waters where a trout permit is required for all anglers from Oct. 15 to April 15.

¢ Lake Shawnee in Shawnee County requires anglers fishing for or possessing trout to have a trout permit Oct. 15 to April 15.

Methods of Take

¢ Gigging is now a legal method for taking nonsport fish.

¢ Barbless hooks are no longer required for paddlefish snagging on the Neosho River.

Aquatic Nuisance Species

¢ Diploid (fertile) grass carp have been added to the list of species illegal to import or possess in Kansas.

Length and Creel Limits

¢ The wiper creel limit was increased from two per day to five per day at Coldwater City Lake, Douglas County Lone Star Lake, John Redmond Reservoir, Leavenworth State Fishing Lake, Paola’s Lake Miola and Lake Shawnee.

¢ A 20-inch minimum length limit and one-fish creel limit on brown trout has been established in the Mined Land Wildlife Area.

¢ A creel limit of five per day has been established on blue catfish at Wilson Reservoir.

¢ A 35-inch minimum length limit has been established on blue catfish at Wilson, Cheney, and El Dorado reservoirs.

Paddlefish

¢ All paddlefish snagged must be kept, except on the Kansas-Missouri boundary waters, where there is a 24-inch length limit.

Fees Reduced

¢ Youth 15 and younger no longer have to possess a trout permit to fish during the trout season in designated trout waters, but there is a daily creel limit of two trout for those youth (unless they purchase a trout permit, which allows a full daily trout creel limit).

¢ A youth paddlefish permit fee has been established at $5 for anglers 15 years and younger.

¢ The 24-hour fishing license fee has been reduced to $5.15.

Black Bass tournaments

¢ Minimum weigh-in procedures for all black bass fishing tournaments featuring weigh-ins have been established, holding them to similar standards currently required of tournaments in which participants hold a black bass pass.

For more information, contact the nearest KDWP office, pick up a copy of the 2008 Kansas Fishing Regulations Summary wherever licenses are sold in early January, or download a copy from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Web site.