Here is a look back on a colorful year (red, yellow, green) that went to hellgrammite in a hurry …
The year 2020 started greatly enough for hunters, anglers, hikers, and others who love the outdoors.
“Out there” was one of the safest places for us to be in 2020!
In January, “Fins” profiled Adams County fishing guide Rivers Mountain Grove, who went overboard with his work. “All I can say is thank God I had a life jacket on. Lol,” Riv said then. “My clients were more upset than I was. I said to them ‘People pay for rides like that at Hershey Park.’ We still finished the day out fishing and yes I was cold.”
Later, my formula for picking the Super Bowl winner raised its 75 percent success rate when the Kansas City Chiefs got by the 49ers. More on the 2021 game later. Let’s just say I wouldn’t be picking the Dolphins, Ravens, Bears, Colts, Rams, Cardinals, or Seahawks should they get into the game.
A black bear population that reached 20,000 produced a state-record kill in 2019 of 4,653, up one-third from 2018’s 3,153. “There were 30 days of bear hunting across all bear seasons in 2019,” Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) Biologist Mark Ternent said.
For decades, “Fins” fans have read about stream and habitat work on the Conewago Creek by a partnership of ACTU, determined band of sportsfolks from the Northern Virginia chapter of TU, landowners, and other volunteers.
When Knouse Foods, one of the property owners along the Conewago decided it is time to sell, there arose uncertainty as to whether anglers would still be able to enjoy that section of water. Being mindful of the creek’s meaning to anglers and with a history as great stewards of the community and its resources, Knouse was willing to allow the purchase of an angler access easement before the sale. The year ended with some terrific news about this project. You’ll get more details next week in the second half of this review of 2020.
In February, PGC turkey biologist Mary Jo Casalena earned the National Wild Turkey Federation’s Henry S. Mosby Award for her career’s work and accomplishments in restoration or management of wild turkeys.
In her “Fins” profile, Strawberry Hill Foundation Executive Director Kara Ferraro said her favorite view is from a camp chair, that she enjoys foraging and mountain pies, and found a blueberry patch to be the perfect setting for her wedding.
In March there was a listing of Adams County waters to be stocked with Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) trout.
Meanwhile plans for perennial outdoor-related events began to unfold.
Applications were accepted for the 26th annual Rivers Conservation and Fly Fishing Youth Camp at Messiah College. McSherrystown Fish and Game were to host Southcentral Outdoors for Youth. The 5th Annual Heidlersburg Fishing Show and Flea Market was on tap. The Yellow Breeches Anglers and Conservation Association planned their 49th annual outdoor sports show for March 21. Adams County Chapter of Trout Unlimited (ACTU) women’s introductory fly-fishing clinic would be June 13 and 20. Spring could also bring Hunter-Trapper Education Courses.
Then came COVID.
The March 14 entry here read, “I pray that someday we will look back on this these days and appreciate beers with limes, and Paul Simon jokes. For now, the real and sports worlds appear to be closing in around us.
“It’s not a good season for seasons, as we all pull back and away from everyday life, so that we might not-soon-enough share safe victory High-Fives over coronavirus.”
On March 21 it was announced that the April 4 regional Opening Day of trout season would not take place as originally planned. Instead, there would be a single statewide opener on Saturday, April 18.
Readers got to know more about Richard Lewis of Gettysburg in the “Fins” profile for March. Those who know Richard Lewis will attest that when it comes to standing up for trees or trout (and other aquatics for that matter) he is someone who has no problem keeping extremely busy in retirement.
As COVID spread and pandemic restrictions evolved, guiding operations were classified as a recreational industry and so not permitted under the Governor’s Order of March 19. “This very well could put me out of business for good,” is how Rivers Grove put it
On April 6, the PGC and PFBC board meetings went virtual.
“Effective 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 7, 2020, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC), in conjunction with the Office of the Governor, Pennsylvania Department of Health, and Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) opened the statewide 2020 trout season.” Trout season as we knew it was opened mid-week, to give the fishing community the chance to spontaneously spread out during the week, ahead of what is traditionally an overcrowded opening Saturday, and at a socially acceptable distance.
Spring turkey season took on a different look as well.
One of the easiest rules to follow was, if you live together, you can hunt together. Hunting in a blind was out of the question – too close quarters in there. Sharing a vehicle on the way to hunting was to be reconsidered unless you live together.
The PGC said the flock was expected to be close to the 212,170 birds.
In early May, marinas, boatyards, and recreational marine manufacturers could provide services if they can adhere to the strict social distancing and sanitization practices. Fish guiding was also permitted so long as personal contact was minimized, there was social distancing, and masks were worn. Guiding could be done from a boat if clients were limited to two or less.
Charter boat guiding for more than two clients at a time is prohibited.
In April, PFBC made changes in the striped bass regs within the Delaware Estuary, Delaware River, and the West Branch of the Delaware. A mandatory circle hook requirement was enacted for anglers fishing with bait for all species within the Delaware Estuary. These changes do not apply for inland populations of stripers to include hybrid stripers.
The Adams County Trout Unlimited Chapter (ACTU) donated over $325 in food store and restaurant gift cards, to the Adams County Head Start Program.
“Given the fact that our fundraiser had to be canceled, we do not know when it will be rescheduled and some of the gift cards had expiration dates, it seemed that donating the food store and restaurant gift cards to disadvantaged families in Adams County was the right thing to do,” ACTU Chapter President Hank Rajotte said. ACTU also donated $200 to the Friends of Toms Creek to help fund a scientific study to support Toms Creek being declared an Exceptional Value Creek by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
A sortie of invasive Northern Snakehead fish made its way into the Lower Susquehanna River, in the 14-mile pool between the Holtwood (Pa.) and Conowingo (Md.) dams. Over the four days after passage started May 12 at Conowingo, 35 Northern Snakeheads were observed in the east fish lift – 14 were netted out. The other 21 entered the Conowingo pool.
To locate and remove the latest invaders, the PFBC electrofished in the Conowingo Pool.
The criminal case of two Pennsylvania teens who abused a wounded buck in 2019 and then shared the cruelty on social media was been resolved with the main thug getting two years of probation.
Alexander Smith, 18, pleaded guilty in Jefferson County court and agreed to serve two years on probation and community service at an animal shelter and presentations to hunter-education classes and sportsmen’s clubs. He must also pay $1,650 in fines and hunting privileges will be revoked for 15 years.
Cody Hetrick, 17, also of Brookville, had his portion of the case resolved in juvenile court and records were not available for public view.
Smith and Hetrick had been each charged with two felony counts of aggravated animal cruelty and two felony counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated animal cruelty, as well as other misdemeanor and summary counts.
The two were hunting in an enclosed treestand on Smith property Nov. 30, 2019 in Jefferson County, when Hetrick shot and wounded a buck and then missed a follow-up shot. The buck was then held down and repeatedly brutalized and kicked as the atrocity was videoed.
In May, Jonathan Pierce’s flathead catfish was a cinderblock for the state record books.
Pierce used a brown trout head for bait to get the catty out of the Schuylkill (Surekill) River at East Falls. Its official weight of 56 pounds, 3 ounces. The fish was 50 inches long with a girth of almost 29 inches.
Sportsmen and those of us to put together news for rednecks lost an outdoor friend with the passing on May 17 of Kermit G. Henning. Kerm was 74 and lived in Mechanicsburg.
You might recognize Kerm as host of ABC27’s outdoors segment for a dozen years.
Pennsylvania hunting licenses went on sale and for the first time, big-game hunting would be permitted on the following Sundays: Nov. 15 for archery deer hunting; Sunday, Nov. 22 for bear hunting; and Sunday, Nov. 29 for deer hunting during regular firearms seasons.
In a June update of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in the local area, the eastern sector of Adams County remained clear of any Disease Management Area (DMA) restrictions, as the western half remained under restrictions of DMA2, which was expanded.
The PGC Commission tested 15,686 free-ranging deer and 161 free-ranging elk n 2019. Most were hunter-harvest animals. A total of 204 deer tested positive for CWD and again, no elk were found with CWD.
At the time, the new cases brought the number if CWD-positive free-ranging deer found in Pennsylvania to 453.
In late June, Mallard grandfather Cliff Germano reported that the brood of ducks that were the talk of Colt Park in Gettysburg had graduated from the nest and moved on. There was a scary moment on a day when Cliff feared the worst and then discovered mama had cleverly used feathers to conceal them from danger outside the Germano home.
Next week: A look back at the second half of a happy and horrid 2020.
SNAPSHOTS
• The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s annual sale of tree and shrub seedlings from the Howard Nursery will return in 2021, after being disrupted in 2020 by the pandemic. The 2021 seedling order form will be available online at www.pgc.pa.gov, with sales to begin Monday, Jan. 4.
• If you’ve made an outdoors-related resolution for 2021 (and haven’t broken it yet), you are welcome to share it by sending details to me by email.
TOP TWEETS IN 2020
“I don’t think it’s a hassle to wear a mask. If your breath stinks, it sucks. But it just means you brush your teeth a little more.” – Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger
“COVID-19 obsessed supermarket owner burned down his own business to ‘keep customers safe’.” – ABC News Australia
Send your wild thoughts and photos to bjsmall@comcast.net.
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