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Special-regulation waters offer trout opportunities

By Walt Young sports@altooonamirror.com Although stocked trout waters throughout the state are currently closed to all fishing until the opening day of trout season on April 2, anglers desiring a little preseason trout fishing this month can do so on variety of special regulation waters regardless of whether they fish with flies, lures or bait. Fishing in these designated areas is limited to catch and release, however, so those seeking a few fish to take home will have to wait until opening day. A complete statewide listing of all special regulation areas with the boundaries and ...

PSU fly-fishing program gets generous gift

By Walt Young sports@altoonamirror.com Last month during a wrestling tournament between Penn State and Rutgers, Penn State used the event to announce a $250,000 endowment to fund the university’s historic fly-fishing program. At the request of the anonymous donor, the program will be renamed the Joe Humphreys Fly Fishing Program to recognize the renowned angler who taught the fly-fishing courses at Penn State for 19 years. Humphreys, 93, wrestled for Penn State while a student there. After graduating from Penn State in 1957, Humphreys was a successful wrestling coach at several ...

Florida to allow limited fishing of goliath groupers

The Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. — Florida lifted its three-decade ban on catching and killing goliath groupers Thursday with state officials enacting a highly restricted catch of 200 annually, saying the coastal fish’s numbers have rebounded sufficiently since they were driven to near-extinction. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted to allow the catching of younger goliaths of between 2- and 3-feet in length, which would put them at about 30 pounds (13 kilograms). Adult goliaths typically weigh 400 pounds (180 kilograms) but can exceed 800 pounds (360 ...

National park asks for some help

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) — Great Smoky Mountains National Park and its nonprofit science research partner, Discover Life in America, need the public’s help with their Smokies Most Wanted program. The initiative allows visitors to help preserve park species by recording sightings on their smartphones using the iNaturalist app. Smokies Most Wanted encourages visitors to document any organism they encounter while exploring the Smokies. Discover Life in America uses the data to record new park species, detect invasive species and learn more about understudied or rare species. Smokies ...

Senators introduce bill to end wolf protection

The Associated Press MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin’s two U.S. senators are moving to end protections for gray wolves across most of the United States. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Friday that Republican Ron Johnson and Democrat Tammy Baldwin introduced a bill earlier this week to remove protections for the wolf. Wyoming’s two Republican U.S. senators, Cynthia Lummis and John Barrasso, have joined them. The bill comes after a federal judge in California last month ordered protections be restored for wolves across most of the U.S. after the Trump administration removed them ...

If spring is in the air, turkey hunters will smell it

By Shirley Grenoble sports@altoonamirror.com The turkey hunter’s heart begins to flutter in anticipation when the month of March is close. Wildlife science has always maintained that it is not weather, the moon or any other thing that sets off the breeding season for wild things but ...