Commission continues to provide fish lessons at Canonsburg Lake
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Observing safety precautions, Addison Lovas pays close attention to her rod as she casts her line into Canonsburg Lake.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Brycen Wendt helps son Lucas with his casting technique.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Mandy Smith gives a demonstration with an oversized hook, pointing out the potential hazards of the barb.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Lucy Dobo-Gorzkowski casts her line into Canonsburg Lake.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
From left, Lucas and Brycen Wendt take a look at Little Chartiers Creek below the Canonsburg Lake dam.
Teaching folks how to fish remains one of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s priorities, even if the format has changed somewhat this summer.
“We’re calling them ‘fishing meetups,’ and they’re more informal programs than what we typically do,” said Mandy Smith, education specialist for the commission’s Southwest Region. “We had to make some adaptations because of COVID-19, so we have smaller groups. It’s a little less hands-on than what our typical programs have been.”
And so the meetup she conducted recently on the Peters Township side of Canonsburg Lake primarily was a demonstration of fishing equipment and techniques, peppered with plenty of practical information, as the youngsters in attendance learned how to use a rod and reel successfully.
“With fishing, just like any other activity, we have to remember safety first,” Smith said as she showed how to cast using a practice rod, lacking a potentially hazardous, if essential item.
“Normally, you have to be really careful with that hook on the end of the line, because it’s not uncommon for people to hook themselves or to hook somebody else,” she said. “And we want to avoid doing that.”
One precaution is conducting what Smith called a “safety circle.”
“If you hold your fishing rod up to your stomach and you spin yourself around in a circle, there should be nobody in between,” she said. “Before you cast out, you’re going to look to your sides. You’re going to look behind.”
Plus take a look skyward, in case some branches or, heaven forbid, power lines are within overhead range.
Once it’s time for casting, finesse is a key.
“It’s not like throwing a ball. I see kids doing that a lot, especially boys. They want to really wind it up and get it out there,” Smith said. “Your shoulder doesn’t move. It’s your elbow and wrists.”
Timing helps, too.
“If I let go of it really too soon, it’s going to drop behind me. If I let go of it a little too soon, I’m going to get more of a big fly ball,” Smith said. “And if I let it go of it too late, it’ll kind of go slamming down in front of me.”
She talked about such fishing necessities as bait, bobbers, sinkers, swivels and, of course, hooks. For demonstration purposes, she used a J-shaped example that, from its size, looked as if it would have been right at home aboard the Orca in “Jaws.”
That helped the socially distanced observers see how easy it could be to get injured with an errant cast, and Smith suggested youngsters not use hooks that are barbed at the tip.
“We recommend for people to either buy barbless hooks, or parents take a pair of pliers and just squeeze that barb down flat,” she said. “You’re going to still catch most of your fish, and it makes it so much easier to remove.”
An alternative is a circle hook, which is designed to make it less likely for a fish to swallow. Along with it being more easily removed, it also helps ensure that the fish survives in cases of catch and release.
How long they can stay out of the water depends on the type of fish. Trout are susceptible to asphyxiation in a short period of time and should stay wet while hooks are removed from their mouths, Smith said, while catfish last for quite a while.
“Sometimes they have been out of the water just a little bit too long, and they won’t swim right off,” she said. “Then you’ve got to give them their ‘CPR.'”
Of course, that bears no resemblance to human cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In this case, the course of action is to move a fish gently back and forth in the water to help get oxygen into their gills and rejuvenate them.
For the edification of the adults in attendance, Smith said the 154-year-old Fish and Boat Commission is an independent entity that subsists primarily on fees paid for the likes of fishing and boating licenses. The Southwest Region covers 10 counties, including Allegheny, Fayette, Greene, Westmoreland and Washington.
More information is available at www.fishandboat.com.