Breaking News

Outdoors

The annual rite of spring is about to hit our area

By now, I hope most anglers are aware that trout season begins statewide next Saturday, April 3, at 8 a.m. Late last year, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission set the opening day of trout season for April 3 for 18 southeastern counties and April 17 for the remainder of the state. But in January, the Board of Commissioners changed all that to one statewide trout season opener on April 3. Those changes were made after the 2021 Pennsylvania Summary of Fishing/Boating Regulations handbook that comes with your fishing license was already printed, so unfortunately the information in ...

Montana Gov. warned about stone wolf kill

By Matthew Brown The Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. — Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte received a warning from wildlife officials after killing a radio-collared wolf near Yellowstone National Park without first taking a mandated trapper education course — a violation of state hunting regulations, officials said Tuesday. It’s legal to kill wolves in Montana with a license, but trappers must first complete a three-hour online course that includes instruction on how to take the animals ethically and lawfully. Gianforte had a valid wolf license, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks ...

Mentored Youth Trout Day on the horizon

Next weekend — Saturday, March 27 to be precise — is Mentored Youth Trout Day throughout Pennsylvania. This event is a great opportunity to introduce a young person to trout fishing without the crowded atmosphere that often occurs on some waters on a typical opening day. The two regional Mentored Youth Trout Days scheduled for last spring were canceled because of the COVID-19 panic. For 2021, the original plan was to again have two regional days the week before the regional opening days of the regular trout season, but that schedule was changed for one statewide day on March 27 ...

Bad winter hurts elk herd

By Jason Nark The Associated Press In rural Elk County, a mile from the $12 million Elk Country Visitor Center, a small herd of elk munched grass beside a new coffee shop called Elk Life. They were mostly females, known as cows, with a lone young bull nearby that sported two thin antlers called spikes. Some elk sat. Some stood. All were massive, some three times the size of whitetail deer, and none cared about the car idling a few feet away. Inside the store, a former Catholic church that features a large painting of a bespectacled elk on its exterior, owner Eric Blythe, 43, said ...

Susquehanna the site of monster catfish

The Associated Press YORK — They come to the Susquehanna River to fish for something they’ve only heard about. The biggest fish in the river, the biggest in Pennsylvania — the kind of thing that almost doesn’t seem like it should even be here. The flathead catfish phenomenon continues to grow. It’s common to catch them from 20 to 30 pounds each, though they easily get twice that size in the lower third of the river. “It’s about catching the biggest fish I can catch,” said Mark Kraemer from Tamaqua, Pa. He and his 17-year-old son, Riley, grew tired of the expense ...

Trout stocking schedules made available

From Mirror reports BEDFORD — State Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford/Franklin/Fulton) recently announced that copies of this year’s Pennsylvania trout stocking schedule are now available in his district offices in Bedford, Mercersburg and McConnellsburg. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission plans to once again stock approximately 3.2 million trout in 707 streams and 130 lakes open to public angling. “The release of the annual trout stocking schedule is always a sure sign that spring and fishing season is just around the corner,” Topper said. “Fishing is a great way to ...