Oct 8, 2016 4 min read

Rumor has it Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission determined Pymatuming Lake declined to the point where it holds the lowest number of crappie and walleye it has had in 15 years.

Remember, it is a rumor, but from what I have seen and heard, it probably holds more than a little truth.

Jim Roberts of Prosperity has a cottage on Pymatuming Lake, which has traditionally been one of the best walleye waters around. He reported he goes in without as much as a strike lately.

Where he once caught five or six walleye at a time, he can fish for hours and a juicy night crawler will look just like new at the end of the night. What is going on there?

Where can you catch fish near our home in Washington and Greene counties?

We were discussing this problem with Joe Smith of Smith’s Bait and Tackle Shop on Brownlee Road in Eighty Four when John Dino came up with a good answer. It might not be the only answer, but his was as good as any and better than most.

He said we have the three rivers in Pittsburgh and we tend to overlook the quality fishing they offer.

John and his brother, Joe, worked the stretch of river from Brownsville to Greensboro most of the summer with some success. Last week, they were catching one channel catfish after another with a sprinkling of smallmouth bass mixed in.

One of the bass measured 21 inches, which is a whopper for smallmouths. It was caught in 15 feet of water dragging a Bomb Rapala.

The channel cats were mostly in the 15 to 20 inch class and it was the bait, night crawlers and minnows that brought John to Joe Smith’s shop.

Joe is a steelhead fisherman and told me there was plenty of water in the creeks and the fish were starting to turn up as far upstream as the town of McKean.

Fishing is not dead, but many times we have to change our fishing places, methods or type of fish. I would rather catch a 17-inch channel cat than sit for fruitless hours waiting for noncooperating walleye to decide to bite.

That, I believe, is the sign of a good angler. He is not a one-type-of-fish fisherman. If the bass are hitting, why not fish for bass? The same could be said of the others.

Over on the other side of town, you find the best fishing water but one that is a bit farther away, the Allegheny River. From the trace of the Kinzua Dam to the point in Pittsburgh, the Allegheny is excellent fishing water.

There are plenty of smallmouth bass and walleye there. Occassionally, a muskie will steal your bait and much of your line along with it.

There are places to fish. We might have to go for a short drive but it can be worth it.

• Have you ever heard of laws that are on the book but never enforced?

Maybe that will turn out to be the case with a Pennsylvania Game Commission rule I just became aware of and would bet is known by few.

It is illegal to hunt with an expired hunting license in your wallet.

For that matter, it is illegal to hunt with an old license on your person at all.

Boy would they have been able to cite a young man I know who used to just stuff the new one in the holder with the others he had bought since his 13th birthday!

The last time I looked, he had six in there. What a terrible crime.

Better clean out your wallet. As you get to your photo identification, the officer might be peering in there for contraband licenses.

Who ever thought that law up needs to find something else to do. He has too much time on his or her hands.

George H. Block writes a Sunday Outdoors for the Observer-Reporter.