The new rules make the opener the first Saturday of January yearly only where the the early catch and release season already exists.. The fall season extends from the current Sept. 30 to Oct. 15. Opening day of 2016 Small Stream Catch and Release Season will be the January 2nd. It will always open the first Saturday in January no matter the year.
I took the wording directly off the WDNR website and had to modify it to take away confusion.
If it is still unclear here it is. Small Stream Trout in Wisconsin opens yearly on the first Saturday of January. The season does not open any new water that was not already open during the catch and release seasons from recent years past. The week buffer between catch and release season and regular season no longer exists Regular season opens the first Saturday in May. The catch and release and artificial only season closes the day before. Read the new regulation closely because many things have changed and the regulation are very long and cumbersome.
read more:
http://lenharris.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-newold-2016-trout-season.html