Licensed To Reel

Fish & Boat Commission Changes Lake Erie

Regulations, Elects New Officers at Quarterly Business Meeting

July 12, 2011

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) today approved several changes to Lake Erie regulations, moved four lakes to the list of approved trout waters open to year-round fishing, and established an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to collect American shad eggs from the Potomac Rive...

Lake Erie, Presque Isle Bay (Erie County): As conditions allowed, anglers were releasing smallmouth bass up to 4 pounds in 15-25 feet in the main lake, and smallmouths on tubes, grubs and soft and hard jerkbaits in the bay. Northern pike were hitting in the bay. Perch were reported on shiners. The night bite on walleyes along the Erie shoreline began last weekend.

Allegheny River, Allegheny Reservoir (Warren County): River anglers caught brown trout up to 6 pou...

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has confirmed the presence of whirling disease in a delivery of 8,000 commercially produced rainbow trout stocked in several Western Maryland streams. These fish are safe to consume, as the disease does not harm humans.

"While we believe this event represents a low risk, DNR considers the health of Maryland's trout streams and populations a key priority," said Fisheries Service Director Tom O'Connell. "Our goal is to eventu...

wo years, $21 million and nearly 300,000 cubic yards of sediment have passed since Allegheny County and the Army Corps of Engineers, with some financial help from the state, began restoring North Park Lake. With a few exceptions, primarily located in and around the Irwin Run tributary, the project is in its final stage and the lake is slowly refilling.

Don't rig up the fishin...

Friday, April 29, 2011

By Deborah Weisberg

Presque Isle Bay (Erie County): Crappie and perch were hitting in the head of the bay. Perch were spotty off the north and south piers. Crappies also were reported in Misery Bay and Long Pond in the lagoons, with emerald shiners the ticket. The bass bite started to pick up, with a couple of anglers releasing smallmouths and largemouths up to 5 pounds. Suckers and smallmouth bass were in the west side tributaries.

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Catch and release" is part of the language of modern angling. But if caught fish are not liberated correctly, "released and deceased" might be a more correct phrase.

A 2005 study of game fish mortality after release, conducted by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources' Fisheries Section, concluded that while catch and release has become an effective management tool to both increase recreation and sustain fish populations, fish survival after release can be j...

Shrimp have been discovered in the Monongahela River -- but don't grab the cocktail sauce just yet.

David Argent, California University of Pennsylvania

California University of Pennsylvania biologist Bill Kimmel holds one of the shrimp found in the Mon River.

Click photo for larger image. They're not the jumbo kind listed on restaurant menus, but a smaller cousin known as grass shrimp. They were found by scientists trawling the bottom of a ...

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is encouraging anglers to visit the upper Owl Creek Reservoir in Schuylkill County and harvest as many fish as they can before the lake is drawn down this spring and construction begins to repair the facility.

“Removing all harvest restrictions provides additional recreational opportunities for anglers and can help reduce the number of fish that could potentially be stranded when the water level dr...

Harrisburg, PA – Get out your shiny lures and round up your fishing gear. Cabela’s and supporting sponsors announced today Wanna Go Fishing for Millions?, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win millions of dollars in cash and prizes by enjoying one of America’s favorite pastimes – fishing.

Cabela’s is tagging hundreds of fish in selected waters in states that have Cabela’s retail stores – including Pennsylvania - and every one of th...

A Texas company has paid a total of $208,625 in three settlements in lieu of fines and civil damages to the Fish and Boat Commission as a result of the company’s pollution of Clearfield County’s Alex Branch and Little Laurel Run in 2009 and 2010.

EOG Resources, Inc. agreed to pay the settlements following investigations by PFBC waterways conservation officers and the Department of Environmental Protection which determined that the substances the compan...