The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection on Tuesday announced that changes to sport fishing regulations have been approved, including moving forward the date of opening day of trout season by one week, from the third to the second Saturday in April. This means opening day for the 2015 season will now be April 11.

The changes in date for opening day and other regulations were approved Tuesday by the General Assembly’s Regulations Review Committee, DEEP said in a news release.

“We are excited about the additional fishing opportunities provided to anglers with this change to the date of Opening Day,” said Pete Aarrestad, director of DEEP’s Inland Fisheries Division. “This change provides an additional week of fishing opportunities for both resident and nonresident anglers targeting trout or fishing for other species such as largemouth and smallmouth bass found in trout waters.”

The legislature’s Regulations Review Committee approved several other changes in regulations that were recommended by DEEP. Among them:

- Fishing seasons at Batterson Park Pond in Farmington, Mansfield Hollow Reservoir in Mansfield and the Yantic River below the falls at Indian Leap in Norwich now will be open year-round; the fishing season now will close at Scoville Reservoir in Wolcott on the last day of February; and the season at East Twin Lake in Salisbury is extended through the end of March.

- Anglers now will be able to use up to three lines instead of two at one time when fishing, except in specially designated trout areas. These are Trout Management Areas, Wild Trout Management Areas, Trout Parks, Sea-run Trout Streams and Trophy Trout Streams, where the limit will remain two lines at one time.

- The creel limit for Kokanee salmon is reduced from eight to five fish per day; the special limits at East Twin Lake for brown trout are removed; and for American eel, the creel limit is reduced to 25 fish per day and the minimum length is increased to 9 inches.

- The portions of the Tankerhoosen River in Vernon located in the Tankerhoosen Wildlife Management Area are now a class I Wild Trout Management Area, meaning it will be open year-round for catch-and-release fishing only and will be combined with the Belding Wild Trout Management Area to become the Belding-Tankerhoosen Wild Trout Management Area.

DEEP advised anglers that although these regulations have been approved, they are not effective until they are formally posted on the state Secretary of State’s website: www.sots.ct.gov. It typically takes about a week for the regulations to be posted.