"I don't want to see hundreds and hundreds of anglers stacked up on each other at public launch sites because I know our sports men and women are better than that," said Matt O'Brien, the conservation warden for the Wisconsin DNR. "As a group of people they are constantly interested in the collaborative long term benefits for future generations and society as a whole. I think this is a group that sort of gets it."

The number one rule in getting outdoors is to stay close to home and fish within your community. With the predicted warm weather, the DNR expects fishing to be great on opening weekend.

After outdoor activity was deemed essential during the coronavirus, the DNR reported selling 371,368 individual fishing licenses for 2020 season. That's compared to 299,849 individual licenses sold at the same time last year.

"Even though in March we did see an uptick in license sales, the regulations on the fisheries are there to protect the fisheries long-term so I wouldn't expect any impacts of any increase fishing," said Justine Hasz, the DNR Bureau Director of Fisheries Management. 

The DNR was able to maintain stocking out of their catchable size trout across the state. However, they made some adjustments on location access to some of those streams or lakes.

For more information of the Wisconsin DNR's COVID-19 response, click here.

To see the original story and see related outdoors reporting, follow this link to the WDIO-TV website.  https://www.wdio.com/sports/dnr-wisconsin-fishing-opener-coronavirus/5717141/?cat=10347