Eli Eakin had one goal in mind when his family trekked Sunday morning to the banks of the Neshannock Creek.
“I want to catch a catfish,” the 6-year-old member of Boy Scout Troop 743 said. “In case we’re going fishing, I’m going to catch a catfish.”
There were no catfish to be had, but Eli and his family didn’t emerge from the banks of the creek empty handed.
They were among more than a dozen volunteers who carried out bags of trash from along a downtown stretch of the Neshannock as part of a clean-up spearhead by The Fly Stop in nearby Washington Centre.
Eli was accompanied by his father, Aaron; mother, Jamie; and sister Kiely, who belongs to Troop 6743.
“I have to get a total of 80 hours of community service,” Kiely said, adding that to her, though, the task was just as important as logging the time.
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Aaron, Eli and Jamie Eakin dig out a piece of half-buried trash along the Neshannock Creek in the shadow of the East Washington Street bridge. Behind them is daughter Kiely.
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Eli Eakin, 6, checks out a grabber tool as he and his family — from left, Aaron, Jamie and Kiely — prepared to help with a clean-up of the Neshannock Creek downtown.
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Dave Hathazy walks along the bank of the Neshannock Creek between the East Washington and North street bridges, looking for garbage to pick up.
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Sunday morning’s Neshannock Creek clean-up included efforts both along and in the water. Above, Vinny Martinez searches for debris in the creek.
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Vinny Martinez of Chippewa pulls on his waders in the parking lot of Washington Centre as he prepares to take part in a clean-up of the Neshannock Creek.
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Volunteers pick up trash in and along the Neshannock Creek near the East Washington Street bridge.
“We all enjoy fishing,” Jamie Eakin said. “We go to friends’ ponds and fish. She (Kiely) had some experience with fly fishing at summer camp. So that was pretty cool and we know friends who fish in the Neshannock Creek, so we thought, ‘what a good way to help clean up and make it a nice place to continue fishing.’”
The Eakins themselves haven’t fished the Neshannock, Aaron Eakin said, as they don’t have the proper fly fishing gear.
“But maybe we’ll get into creek fishing at some point,” Jamie Eakin added. “We just moved here (from Washington, Pennsylvania) a little over a year ago, and we’re still getting to know the area.”
Like the Eakins, The Fly Stop itself is relatively new to the area, with owner Kory Van Tassel having launched it just weeks before the opening day of this year’s trout season. Van Tassel, though, is a county native who returned to the area in 2021 after about 10 years on the West Coast, where he opened the original — and still existing — Fly Stop in San Diego.
“We just want to help out a little and give a little bit back,” Van Tassel said, “and we’re doing it in New Castle because it’s an area that probably needs it more than other stretches.
“It’s not terrible, but you can find cleaner stretches of water, that’s for sure, so it could use a little bit of love.”
The clean-up kicked off a day of activities at The Fly Stop, with food and drinks scheduled for noon and a line-up of speakers beginning at 1.
“We’ll be doing various presentations from four different guys,” Van Tassel said prior to the start of the clean-up, “anything from steelhead fishing, muskie fishing, trout fishing and warm water species like carp and bass.”
But it was the opportunity to help out along the creek that most enticed Chippewa resident Vinny Martinez to add a weekend trip to New Castle to the five he usually makes during the week.
“I work in New Castle, and the Neshannock has offered me and my family a good time for years and years and years,” he said. “I’m fishing there just about every day. During lunch breaks, I’m in the Neshannock or I’m at some local stream down here.
“I just feel that it’s time to give back to the creek, and give back to everything around here in this area. We love it so much.”
(The Fly Stop is located at 26 N. Mill St., in the walk-thru of the Washington Centre. For more information, visit https://www.theflystop.com).
d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com
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