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SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 2012
THE TIMES LEADER www.timesleader.com
➛ WWW.TIMESLEADER.COM/SPORTS
OUTDOORS The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is capturing spawning walleye in Lake Wallenpaupack as part of a fertilizing and hatching program.
TOM VENESKY OUTDOORS
Artifical baits worming way into fishing
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RICK KOVAL/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission employees check a net for captured walleye on Lake Wallenpaupack on Wednesday.
Producing net results By TOM VENESKY tvenesky@timesleader.com
Hatchery has grasp on species
PALMYRA TWP. – Bill Smoyer climbed to the front of his boat and peered into the net that had just been pulled from the cold Lake Wallenpaupack water. Inside were a myriad of fish species, including channel catfish, perch, rock bass and more than a dozen walleye, which Smoyer was hoping to see. Smoyer, who is a fish culturist with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, deposited the walleye into a tank on his boat where they would later be loaded into a truck. When the fish were removed, the net was re-tied and deposited back onto the bottom of the lake. “That’s why this job doesn’t get old,” Smoyer said. “You never know what you’re going to find when you pull a net up.” The PFBC is currently capturing spawning walleye in the lake and taking them back to the Pleasant Mount hatchery, where the eggs are fertilized and hatched. As of Wednesday, Smoyer had already captured 600 walleye – and the goal is to collect 20 million eggs each year. A large female walleye may contain 180,000 eggs, Smoyer said. The agency uses the eggs to restock lakes in the eastern half of the state. Lake Wallenpaupack receives an annual walleye stocking of five million fry and 100,000 fingerlings, which Smoyer said is much higher than what would reproduce naturally in the lake. To capture the walleye, Smoyer uses a Pennsylvania trap net, which is basically RICK KOVAL/FOR THE TIMES LEADER a funnel system of nets 100 feet long. Spawning walleye patrolling the shoreEggs are removed from a female walleye into a container where they will be
PLEASANT MOUNT – The concrete tanks and outdoor raceways that cover the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s hatchery in Pleasant Mount contain something of critical importance. It’s home to the future fishery of many lakes and ponds in the eastern half of Pennsylvania. The hatchery was built in 1903 and is one of the few owned by the PFBC that doesn’t raise brook, rainbow or brown trout for stocking. Instead, Pleasant Mount is used to raise a variety of cool and warmwater species used to augment fish populations in lakes and ponds, or re-establish numbers in places where populations are low. “The future for a lot of lakes starts right here,” said hatchery manager Tom Pekarski, who has been at Pleasant Mount since 1995. “This year, we’re raising chain pickerel and bluegills for Leeser and Possum lakes, both of which were drained down for dam work.” That future includes Tiger musky, chain pickerel, walleye, crappie, lake trout and channel catfish, all of which are raised at the hatchery. The beginning of the busy season at the hatchery begins in April with the
See NET, Page 11C
See HATCHERY, Page 11C
fertilized and moved to an incubator to hatch.
By TOM VENESKY tvenesky@timesleader.com
OUTDOORS NOTES The Red Rock Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation will hold its annual JAKES event on Sunday, April 22, at the Wilkes Barre Twp. Settlement Camp in Thornhurst. The event runs from 8 a.m. until approximately 4 p.m. If you are looking for a fun day for kids to attend and learn about the many things there are to enjoy in the outdoors, this event is for them. For $15, a child gets a one-year membership and magazine delivered to their house, lunch and a t-shirt. For more information, call Chastity King at 472-1190. This event is limited to 150 children ages 5-17. Some of the classses offered may include archery, shotguns (12-17 yr. olds) .22s (5-11) turkey calling, trapping and fishing to name a few. The Stanley Cooper Sr. Chapter of Trout Unlimited will host the Wyoming Valley Fly Tyers on Tuesday at the VFW Anthracite Post 283 in Kingston. The board meeting will be held on May 1 at the post, and the monthly meeting will be held May 8. Featured speaker will be Jim “Coz” Costolnick, who will discuss the current
conditions of the Delaware River. Also, the guest speaker will be Joe Humphreys for the 25th Anniversary Meeting on May 8. This year’s adult fly fishing camp will be held May 20 at A&G Outfiiters in Dickson City. Cost is $25 for non-TU members and free to members. Call Jay Downs at 8146998 for more information. The youth fly fishing camp will be held June 9. Call Joe Ackourey at 574-5956. Stan Cooper Jr. will host a fly tying demonstration Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Fishin’ Musician Fly and Tackle Shop located inside the Merchants’ Village at 1201 Oak Street in Pittston. For more information, call 451-0248. Beltzville State Park will host a basic boating course instructed by the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission on May 14 and 16. The course will be held from 6-10 p.m. each night. There is no charge for the course. All participants must pre-register and must attend both sessions. Call Beltzville State Park at 610-377-0045 to register. The basic boating course is designed to supply boaters with practical information
so they can make better informed decisions on the water. Instructors will provide students with information via a classroom setting to help them reduce the risk of injury and conflict on the water. Students who successfully complete the course may apply for a Boating Safety Education Certificate for a $10 fee. The certificate is required of all operators of personal watercraft (PWCs) or anyone born on or after January 1, 1982, who operate a motorboat of more than 25 horsepower. More information about this course or boating safety can be found by visiting the Commission’s website at www.fishandboat.com. Those clubs interested in hosting a junior pheasant hunt are encouraged to use the 26-page planning guide prepared by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania State Chapter of Pheasants Forever. The booklet offers a step-by-step guide on how to develop an organized junior pheasant hunt. The guide book includes: a sample timeline; suggested committees and assignments;
general event planning considerations; and several sample forms and news releases. It also includes event evaluation guides so clubs and organizations may consider changes for future junior pheasant hunts. To view the guide, go to the Game Commission’s website, put your cursor over “HUNT/TRAP” in the menu bar at the top of the page, click on “Hunting” in the drop-down menu listing, select the “Pheasant” in the “Small Game” listing, and choose “Junior Pheasant Hunt Planning Guide” in the Junior Pheasant Hunt section. Once a club schedules a junior hunt, it can submit the information for posting on the Game Commission’s on-line “Special Hunts” calendar, which enables those looking to participate in special hunts to locate and register on-line for an opportunity near them. Clubs that want to have their junior hunt advertised in the “Special Hunts” calendar should contact Samantha Pedder, Game Commission outreach coordinator, atsapedder@pa.gov, or at 717-787-4250 (ext. 3327).
t’s about time the worms got a little credit. Worms as in nightcrawlers, redworms, waxworms and mealworms. All have long been the go-to bait when it comes to trout fishing, and they all are fading away in popularity. Dan Cochran, owner of Grubco, a bait company in Ohio, said last week that his business for fishing has decreased to the point where zoos and the pet industry are now his biggest buyers of worms and grubs. Why? Because of artificial baits, like Power Bait. More anglers are grabbing a jar of the synthetic stuff rather than picking up the real deal. It’s a shame. I’m not advocating a ban on PowerBait, or even lures for that matter. But there’s just something about using grubs, minnows or worms that seems to fit with trout season. Especially when pursuing wild trout in a secluded mountain stream. My favorite bait for those small, wary trout is anything I find under a rock in the woods surrounding the stream. These trout weren’t raised in a hatchery and they never ate a pellet. Their diet consists of the insects that hatch in the stream and the worms and grubs that wash into the water. That’s all they eat, and that’s all I use. Nature is the best bait It’s an effective, easy way to fish when it comes to targeting wild trout. The places they inhabit can be tough to get to, and it’s much easier to maneuver through the woods carrying only an ultra-light rod. The tackle box is left at home and the bait is anything that I find under a rock or log. Casting a small redworm or grub into a wild trout stream just seems more fitting than lobbing a bright orange chunk of PowerBait into the water. Bait such as worms and mealworms are part of the tradition of trout fishing. Casting a hook baited with a redworm is what gives fishing its simplicity. After all, isn’t that a big reason why we fish – to get away from the complexities in life? A few bait shops in the area also reported that sales of worms and grubs have dropped significantly ever since Power Bait hit the market years ago. Apparently the scientifically engineered baits, infused with scent and flavor enhancers, are more appealing to anglers than the actual stuff that it is supposed to replicate. But why use a Power Bait Minnow, Leech or Grub when you can just use the real thing with real flavor enhancers built in? I’m not saying that the use of artificial bait is wrong, and I am fond of rubber worms for bass. I also saw many anglers using PowerBait on Saturday’s trout opener with amazing results. That’s fine. After all, anything that keeps people, especially kids, interested in fishing is a plus. Even if it’s a chunk of PowerBait. Still, it’s sad to see that it’s displacing a live bait industry that has long been the backbone of fishing. No matter how lifelike or flavor enhanced the artificial stuff is, and no matter how many fish one can catch with it, I’ll opt for the real thing when it comes to trout fishing. That means leaving the jars of synthetic bait on the shelf and buying the stuff that comes in a plastic cup full of sawdust, or, better yet, the things that are found in the dirt in your backyard.