None of you guys and gals who are already hooked on fishing need to be reminded of what happens on April 30.

It is, of course, opening day of Michigan's first and most important fishing seasons of the year. Generally, it pretty much covers the inland trout season, when brook, brown, and rainbow trout become legal to catch and keep when taken from all inland waters. As such, it is the big day for anglers who admire these fish.

On the same day, however, the season begins for walleyes and northern pike, as well as their close cousin, the muskellunge, throughout the Lower Peninsula. For fishermen who prefer to get their kicks from this trio of gamefish, there is a waiting period in the Upper Peninsula, where opening day is May 15. Such a delay, however, is considered important since it gives these fish extra time to complete their spawning duties, which is later in the U.P.

Cold water, which is responsible for the later U.P. opening, does give the northern anglers a slight benefit. Since brook and brown trout often fail to fully mature as early, the size limit on them is only seven inches in the U.P. In the remainder of the state, these trout must be at least eight inches in order to be legal. If a rainbow or steelhead is caught, it must be 10 inches or more anywhere in Michigan.

Wherever they may be caught, the limit is five per day and of those, only three may be 15 inches or longer. Should your daily catch be under the 15-inch length, though, feel free to keep that daily five-fish limit on brookies and browns.

While there is nothing wrong with bringing home a nice catch of pan-sized trout, there has been an increase in those anglers who just enjoy the excitement of hooking and landing trout. Some get equal satisfaction from then releasing them to swim another day.

Opening day on most trout streams can bring discolored water that makes it difficult for the fish to see a fly floating on the surface. For that reason, many fishermen will usually trust their luck to worms or other live bait to reach trout on the river bottom.

There are a number of Michigan waters where anglers must do their fishing with flies. These are usually rivers where trout have shown faster growth and the use of bait, which a fish can swallow, will unintentionally kill them. A fly can be quickly unhooked, then releasing the trout.

If a fish has been hooked deeply with bait, the fisherman has the choice of just clipping off the leader and leaving the hook in the fish. Body acids will usually dissolve it in time.

Calendars proclaim spring arrived March 20. But what do they know? Opening of trout season is when spring really arrives.