It’s just about prime time for catching flatheads
There are good times to catch big flathead catfish, and there are great times to catch big flathead catfish. We’re on the cusp of one of the great ones. So says Chris Souders, anyway. And he should know. The Ohio-based angler is a two-time Cabela’s King Kat tournament series angler...
Outdoors Xtras, including a bimbo skunk and windy advice
Lure of the week Lure name: Bimbo Skunk Company: Bimbo Skunk Lure (bimboskunk.com) Lure type: Fly Sizes and colors: Available two colors, pink and chartreuse, both tied on a #10 hook. Target species: Bluegills and crappies. Technique: Fly fishing for panfish is lots of fun. Bluegills and crappies fight all...
Significant changes to antlerless license totals, but not everywhere
Don’t get too comfortable. Yes, it’s true that, statewide, there will be more antlerless deer licenses available in Pennsylvania this fall than last. Pennsylvania Game Commissioners allocated 903,000 doe tags for the 2019-20 hunting seasons. That’s up 65,000 from 2018-19’s 838,000. But the increase is not spread evenly across the...
Tips for making the most of morel mushroom season
Forget Game of Thrones. This is a Game of Secrets. And it’s underway right now. Hunters of a sort, armed with onion sacks and the like rather than firearms and bows, are taking to the woods, eyes to the ground. They’re seeking life amid decay. And when they find it,...
Outdoors Xtras: A beastly backpack, muddy water and cajun cooking
Gear of the week Gear name: Beast28 Company: Matador (everybodyshops.com/matador-beast28-packable-backpack.html) Gear type: Backpack Product description: It doesn’t matter what type of gear it is you’re talking about. It’s only good if you actually use it. And let’s face it: Sometimes, if gear is too bulky or heavy, it gets left...
Maintain a chuck box to make camping less stressful, more fun
We discovered the old chuck box tucked away in a corner of my mother-in-law’s basement. How long had it been there, forgotten? Twenty-five years, at least. We went on a lot of outings in the two and a half decades since I joined the family picture, but there’d never been...
Opening day change is official for Pennsylvania deer hunters
The change — and it’s a big one — is official. Opening day of Pennsylvania’s statewide firearms deer season is moving. It has been the Monday after Thanksgiving each year since 1963. This year it will be the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Pennsylvania Game Commissioners on Tuesday — by a 5-3...
Outdoors Xtras, including Pistol Pete, egg bait and a dry stew
Lure of the week Lure name: Pistol Pete Company: Pistol Pete Flies (pistolpeteflies.com) Lure type: Fly Sizes and colors: Available in two sizes — #6 and #10 — in dozens of colors, from black, last supper, chartreuse and egg sucking to green, red, renegade and mafia Pete Target species: Trout...
This spring, focus on rivers and streams for consistent trout action
Birders have their returning tree swallows, hikers and other woods walkers their skunk cabbage, gardeners their daffodils and tree lovers their cherry blossoms. All are signs of spring. Oh, sure, the season officially began March 20. But for plenty of people, it only really arrives when their favorite brand of...
Outdoor Xtras, including how to take better fishing pictures
Gear of the week Gear name: NanoDry Company: Matador (everybodyshops.com/matador-nanodry-large-towel.html) Gear type: Large travel towel Product description: Fishing can get messy, especially if there are children involved. But lugging around a big, bulky towel that gets wet and muddy and stays that way is no fun. A solution? The NanoDry....
More bad news on the ruffed grouse front
There’s not a lot that’s positive to report right now when it comes to ruffed grouse. Populations of the forest-dwelling bird appear to be on the decline throughout the Northeast and Midwest, according to reports from wildlife management agencies from Maryland to Michigan and all points between. The Ruffed Grouse...
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission hosting mentored youth trout day Saturday in Indiana County
Now this is what you call a good deal. Anglers taking part in Pennsylvania’s statewide mentored youth trout day this Saturday will be able to pursue fish a full week before anyone else. But get a free breakfast, too? That’s the deal awaiting those who fish at Blackleggs Creek Memorial...
Camping when campfires are prohibited
They’re as dramatic as they are rare. Lightning strikes are magnificent in an otherworldly, catastrophic way. They’re all power and speed and destructiveness. Some even cause wildfires. But, in that regard at least, they’re far outdone by the mundane, the ordinary, the common. Or, the all too common. Across the...
No guarantees around opening day and hunting participation
It won’t be a case of playing a hunch or taking a leap of faith, necessarily. Not entirely. But new information suggests if Pennsylvania Game Commissioners move opening day of the statewide firearms deer season from the Monday after Thanksgiving to the preceding Saturday, they will do so without certainty...
Outdoors Xtras: French toast mountain pies, kids in the woods, grub lure
Lure of the week Lure name: Platinum curly tail grub Company: Mister Twister (mistertwister.com) Lure type: Soft plastic Sizes and colors: Available in 31/2- and 41/2-inch models in nine colors, including clear/goldfish, clear/chartreuse flake, clear silver flake/red flake, chartreuse silver flake/black and clear/neon pink silver flake Target species: Walleyes, sauger,...
How to prevent, treat blisters while on the trail
We encountered trouble almost from the start. Well, some of us anyway. Backpacks cinched up, we set off, putting the group camping area in our rear-view mirror. Our destination, a set of Adirondack shelters, lay roughly six miles away. That’s not a great distance by backpacking standards. But half or...
Outdoor Expo and Sportsman’s Flea Market in Norvelt memorializes outdoorsman
The second annual Outdoor Expo and Sportsman’s Flea Market honoring the late Andy “Chico” Crise promises to be bigger and better than the first. The Sunday event memorializes Crise, who died unexpectedly last year, collapsing in a stairwell at work. He was 28. The inaugural gathering attracted
26 vendors and...
Outdoors Xtras: Eat’N up, venison rice, bobber talk
Gear of the week Gear name: Eat’N Tool Company: CRKT ( Gear type: Utensil Product description: When it comes to backpacking, where weight it so important — shoot, some people cut most of the handle from their toothbrush to save an ounce — equipment that serves multiple purposes rules. Enter...
Spring gobbler tips from ‘Turkey Man,’ Eddie Salter
Turkeys have taken Eddie Salter all over the map in the past five decades. He’s hunted the birds in 33 states. But then, his life has revolved around the birds forever, it seems. The Greenville, Ala., native known as “The Turkey Man” started hunting turkeys at age 8 and killed...
Tips on releasing fish so they survive to breed again
You’ll feel good. Not outright heroic, maybe, but certainly noble to some degree, believing you’ve done right by conservation and fishing. And maybe you have. Releasing fish you’ve caught can help sustain wild populations and, in the case of stocked fish — like all of those hatchery trout being released...
Outdoors Xtras: Some Melee, biking tips and a syrupy recipe
Lure of the week Lure name: Melee Company: Booyah (booyahbaits.com) Lure type: Bladed jig Sizes and colors: Available in two sizes — 3/8- and ½-ounce — in black/blue, brush fire, green pumpkin, river killer, royal pumpkin, white and white/chartreuse. Target species: Largemouth and smallmouth bass. Technique: The Melee is a...
Camping when campfires are prohibited
They’re as dramatic as they are rare. Lightning strikes are magnificent in an otherworldly, catastrophic way. They’re all power and speed and destructiveness. Some even cause wildfires. But, in that regard at least, they’re far outdone by the mundane, the ordinary, the common. Or, the all too common. Lightning and...
Musky fishing tips from a Hall of Famer
It seems like a simple recipe, really. Joe Bucher — longtime host of “Fishing with Joe Bucher” and a 2002 Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame inductee — believes there are just three ingredients to consistently catching big muskies. They are knowledge, skill and effort. “It’s isn’t luck,” said the...
Outdoors extras: A tip for better outdoor photos
Gear of the week Gear name: Hunt X10D Company: ElimiShield ( Gear type: Scent control spray Product description: Hunters, and especially those who need to get close to game, like archers, know all about the need to control scent. Well, here’s a product that claims to be able to make...
The Thompson/Center Venture Predator a real shooter
Shoot it? Heck, for a while it wasn’t certain I could load it. The folks at Thompson/Center sent me one of their Venture Predator rifles in .223 Remington to test and review. The gun has been around for a while now, and I’d been a fan from afar, having seen...
