Only die-hard anglers out for season opener
Thanks to the heavy downpours and intermittent flooding caused by unrelenting rain last week, the few anglers who dusted off their reels for the first day of trout season on Saturday were fishing in what appeared to be chocolate milk.
Many of the county’s usual fishing spots along creeks and streams were devoid of anglers, with the exception of one or two hopeful souls wetting a line with no results.
Braden Miller, of Butler, tried a spot below the spillway at Lake Oneida Dam in Oakland Township on Saturday morning.
Normally lined with cars and trucks, Lake Road on the south side of the dam was completely devoid of vehicles except Miller’s. No one could be seen fishing around the entire circumference of the dam.
“It’s pretty rough,” said Miller, who didn’t get a nibble from the life under the surface of the muddy water.
He thinks the trout are disturbed and unsettled in the water after the flooding, making them hard to catch.
“They really are not thinking about eating,” Miller said.
Last year, Miller pulled 14 trout out of the Connoquenessing Creek in Renfrew on the first day of trout season, so he decided to give it a try on Saturday.
“Not much luck,” he said as he headed for the truck with his pole and tackle box.
Neil Watt, of Oakland Township, and his son, Trever, 9, tried a spot at the mouth of the Connoquenessing Creek just below the dam.
Trever patiently watched his line as the swirling brown water rushed past.
“I haven’t fished trout for at least 10 years, but he wanted to try it,” Neil said.
He figured fish cannot see or smell the bait in such murky, swift water.
“And they’re kind of like us in a storm. They hibernate,” Neil said.
Their stringers empty, the pair planned to try Little Buffalo Creek in Chicora, and if the fish weren’t biting there, they planned to go “shed hunting,” which is searching the woods for antlers that white tail deer have shed.
“We got 45 so far this year,” Neil said.
When his dad was asked what he’ll do with all those antlers, Trever took his eyes off his line for a few seconds.
“We’ll build a coffee table,” Trever said.
While the anglers are normally shoulder-to-shoulder around Glade Run Lake in Middlesex Township on the first day of trout season, the high, opaque water and chilly wind kept the majority of them away Saturday.
But the few who braved the less-than-favorable conditions had better luck than those fishing a stream.
Larry “Cappy” Craft, 88, of Plum borough, Allegheny County, felt a slight tug on his line at around 9:30 a.m.
“I think I’ve got something going here,” he said as he picked up a pole resting against the pier fence.
Sure enough, a 9-inch rainbow trout thrashed to the surface while being reeled in by the experienced fisherman.
His great-grandson, River Turner, 16, grabbed the fish and pulled the hook from its gullet with a pair of pliers, under the calm tutelage of “Pappy Cappy.”
After depositing the prize into a cooler, Craft instructed River to rebait his hook with two more mealworms.
“I used to bait his hook, now he baits mine,” Craft said, stooping sideways with his left palm down. “I’ve had him out since he was this high.”
River admitted the water was murky and the air cold, but he wouldn’t miss the first day of trout with his spry octogenarian relative.
“I’ve been fishing with Pappy Cappy my whole life,” he said.
River recalled a trip to Erie to fish for walleye with Craft and other relatives to celebrate his 16th birthday.
“I caught the two biggest fish,” he said.
Craft recommends placing a trout — with only its guts and head removed — on aluminum foil with butter, lemon, garlic powder, salt and pepper before wrapping it up and baking it at 350 degrees for 20 or 25 minutes.
“When it’s cooked, you take a spoon or a fork and pull the meat right up off the bones,” he said.
Robert Johnston, of Penn Hills, Allegheny County, also fished off the pier at the lake alongside his son, Sabastian, 14.
Johnston said he fished Glade Run Lake many times in years past, as he has relatives in the area.
“Today, we tried places near home and did no good, so we came up here,” he said.
He said murky water makes fishing a challenge.
“It’s less visibility for both the fish and for us,” Johnston said. “And all the debris means a lot of snags.”
Still, Sabastian managed to pull up an 11-inch trout.
Sabastian did not appear bothered by the icy wind buffeting the pier.
“It’s fun to cast out and hang out with my dad and just fish and talk,” he said.
The pair used night crawlers as bait, and hoped to catch their limit of five trout before dark.
John Ricci and his two young sons, Elliott and Simon, of Middlesex Township, found a spot along the edge of the lake.
The boys reclined facing each other in camp chairs with a fuzzy blanket covering them.
John stood beside them, watching his line.
He said the boys were taking a break and trying to warm up after fishing in the morning.
“I was kind of worried about the weather today,” said John.
He formerly fished in North Park Lake, but moved to Middlesex Township in 2019 and began hearing about the lake.
“Maybe we’ll come out tomorrow when it’s nicer,” he said.
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