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Don't worry about those "troutsicles" in the freezer.
Next year, you'll be able to head out to catch more fish regardless of how many frost-burned foil packets linger in the Frigidaire.
The Utah Wildlife Board made two changes to fishing regulations Thursday that will make it easier for anglers to keep more fish in 2015.
The board eliminated the home possession limit, which means anglers will no longer have to worry about the fish they've stashed before heading out to catch more. At the same time, wildlife managers raised limits at fisheries where populations need to be culled.
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) biologists don't think the change will result in a rush by anglers to fill their freezers or pantries with canned fish. But they will watch for possible impacts, particularly in urban fisheries.
"We will need to closely evaluate waters that may be impacted," said Drew Cushing, warm water sport fisheries coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources. "It is possible that people who are going to take advantage of this are already doing it and we may not see any difference, but we just don't know."
Anglers are currently allowed to have just the daily limit of fish — four trout for average Utah fishers — in their possession. That means four fish on the stringer at the lake, in the cooler at camp or at home in the freezer.
The state wildlife agency had proposed eliminating the home possession limit — with the exception of caps on trout, salmon, grayling and whitefish. Wildlife managers wanted to see how the change went before making a decision in 2016 about Utah's most-kept fish: trout.
But board members elected to lift the limit on all species starting Jan. 1.
Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife first suggested giving anglers a pass on the fish they had preserved at home. But angling groups asked the board Thursday to delay lifting the cap on trout.
Cushing said there have been three cases of DWR conservation officers searching freezers since 2000 and each were "really gross violations." Those cases were reported by other anglers at community ponds who witnessed anglers catching a limit of fish, leaving for home and then returning to catch another limit.
In 2003, a middle-aged couple in West Valley City was found with 174 trout in the freezer.
The board also approved Thursday higher limits at fisheries where state biologists believe more fish need to be harvested.
"We have trained our anglers too well," Cushing said. "Seventy-five percent of them practice catch-and-release fishing most or all of the time."
As a result, populations expand to a point where food resources become limited and fish stop growing, known as stunting. And the last thing anglers want to catch are stunted fish.
Online polls conducted by the state show anglers do indeed prefer large fish. To get them, they may have to start culling the population at some waters.
"We are developing lists to let anglers know where we want them to keep fish and where we don't," Cushing said. "They can really help us make a difference."
In the meantime, the board removed the limit on yellow perch at Fish Lake in an effort to make room for a possible introduction of kokanee salmon, which in turn would help provide food for lake trout, that, in theory, would grow to larger sizes. And they raised the limit on brook trout from four to 16 at Oak Creek Reservoir on Boulder Mountain.
Anglers at waters across the state are encouraged to keep more fish in general. Limits are set with the expectation that fish will be removed.
Twitter: @BrettPrettyman