Although the turnout was less than usual for Saturday’s opening day of the state Fish and Boat Commission’s Southeast Region trout season because of a steady rain that lasted through midmorning in Schuylkill County, anglers who participated made the best of the situation.
In evidence was rainwear that ran the gamut from Gore-Tex rain suits to ponchos to plastic garbage bags. Of all the anglers who were prepared for the weather, none were more elaborate than a group of family members and friends who made the trip to Sweet Arrow Lake County Park, Pine Grove, from the Northumberland County community of Milton, south of Williamsport.
Brendon Lloyd, who put the group together, said his party arrived at approximately 10 p.m. Friday to be well rested and ready for the tradition of opening day. They even had a portable propane gas grill to cook cheeseburgers, hamburgers and hot dogs, and plan to celebrate the same way closer to their home when the statewide season for trout opens April 16.
“A few years ago I came down to this area with a friend and we were looking for a place to fish,” Lloyd said. “We heard about this lake and that it had everything from trout to bass to crappies, so we gave it a try, and we’re thinking about signing up for the tournament.”
Lloyd was talking about the Family Fun Fishing Event, which kicks off April 24 with a variety of activities, including breakfast and lunch at the Sweet Arrow Lake clubhouse and prizes for the two heaviest carp caught. Applications for the year-long tournament are available on the Sweet Arrow Lake website and unclaimed prizes will be awarded at the 2017 opening day by drawing the names of those registered for this year’s event.
Schuylkill County is the northern-most of the 18 counties in the Southeast Region that also contains Adams, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Perry, Philadelphia and York counties. In 2007, the PFBC inaugurated the regional opening to fall on the first Saturday following March 28 for in-season trout stockings to be completed before the usual low-water conditions of late spring and early summer occurred.
This year’s statewide trout season will open at 8 a.m. April 16, per regulations that set the opening day for the first Saturday after April 11. A week prior to the statewide opening day will be the second Mentored Youth Trout Day for anglers younger than 16 years old, who may keep two trout, possess a free youth permit or voluntary youth license and be accompanied by a licensed angler who also possess a trout stamp but are not permitted to keep fish on the special youth day.
Following the statewide opening day, trout fishing is open 24 hours a day. During trout season the daily limit is five fish with a minimum length of seven inches. Anglers 16 years of age and older must possess a seasonal, multi-year or senior lifetime license and a trout stamp to fish for trout.
Since the adoption of the regional opening day, many times anglers had to deal with temperatures that dipped into the 30s or less, sleet and/or rain and snow flurries. Just two years ago most of Sweet Arrow Lake was frozen over with ice not thick enough to allow safe ice fishing, so few anglers complained about Saturday’s rain.
“I was surprised that we were able to have our pick of fishing spots and at 7:30 this morning were able to walk right in and get set up before the 8 o’clock starting time,” Len Nabholz, Cressona, said while fishing a popular hole on Swatara Creek near Friedensburg. “Even though my son, Nate, and his buddy are supposed to have a JV baseball game this afternoon, we weren’t going to miss opening day of trout season.”
Hallie Schneck, Heckscherville, decided her catch of four trout, including two large rainbow trout, one of which was a golden, caught below the falls at Sweet Arrow Lake, was sufficient for Saturday’s dinner.
“I wore my lucky pink boots,” Schneck said. “Actually, I wore them to see if I could upset my uncle.”
Nearby on the opposite side of the stream her uncle, Bruce Schneck, managed to keep busy catching and releasing trout. He was not too busy, however, to observe: “I can’t believe she wore those pink boots.”