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HARRISBURG, Pa. (Aug. 16) - The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is offering two special fishing opportunities to entice adults and kids to fish on Labor Day, Sept. 4.
 
The first is a $1 license for adult residents and non-residents. The license - good for Labor Day only - provides an easy and affordable way for everyone to enjoy a special day with family and friends while fishing on the Commonwealth’s waters, says Steve Kralik, Director of the Bureau of Outreach, Education and Marketing.
 
“This is a great opportunity for lapsed anglers to renew their interest in the sport, and for first-timers to give fishing a try,” he said.
 
The second opportunity is the Mentored Youth Panfish Day. This provides youth anglers who have obtained a free mentored youth permit or have purchased a voluntary youth license an opportunity to fish on 19 Panfish Enhancement lakes.

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L-R: Larry Hergenroeder, Wyatt Bubak, Murray Breemersch, Mike Reeder, Kirt Snyder

Fourteen, five person teams ascended on the St. Joseph Township Centennial Grounds in Richards Landing, Ontario, for the 2017 NAWEOA Warden Skills Games.

Biologist notes the effort helps the Game Commission keep tabs on annual turkey production.

The Game Commission is again seeking help from the public in surveying wild turkeys in August to get a handle on production statewide.
The second-annual web-based Pennsylvania Wild Turkey Sighting Survey begins today. The survey for the first time also will include a mobile app to report findings.
The public is encouraged to report any turkeys observed during August. Information submitted will help the agency analyze spring-turkey production. Participants will be requested to record the numbers of wild turkeys they see, along with the general location, date and contact information if agency biologists have any questions.

Game Commission and Pheasants Forever invite junior hunters to make history.

After several years of intensive habitat improvement to support wild pheasants, four dozen junior hunters now will have the opportunity to swing on a wild, cackling pheasant rooster as it pounds skyward this fall.
A limited-draw youth pheasant hunt will be held this year in the Central Susquehanna Wild Pheasant Recovery Area (WPRA), and the Pennsylvania Game Commission today announced the application process for the hunt.
The hunt represents the first time since the WPRA program’s startup that wild pheasants will be able to be hunted in the recovery areas.
Applications are due by the close of business on Friday, Aug. 11.

Wayne Laroche will lead agency in advancing chronic wasting disease campaign.

The Game Commission has created a new executive-level position to direct its ongoing and intensifying efforts to limit the spread of chronic wasting disease in wild white-tailed deer and neutralize its threat to wild elk.
Wayne A. Laroche, who has served as the agency’s Bureau of Wildlife Management director for the past two years, will be appointed Aug. 1 to Special Assistant for CWD Response, a new position. In his new capacity, Laroche will lead the Game Commission’s efforts to slow CWD’s spread and minimize its impacts on whitetails and elk.
Efforts will begin immediately to hire a new director for the Bureau of Wildlife Management, which is responsible for managing the state’s 480 species of wild birds and mammals, including 60 game animals and furbearers.

Absent as a Pennsylvania breeding bird since the mid-1950s, two pairs of federally endangered Great Lakes piping plovers returned this year to nest in the Gull Point Natural Area at Presque Isle State Park in Erie County.
“The return of nesting piping plovers to the Lake Erie shoreline demonstrates the resolve of the Game Commission and its partners to expand Pennsylvania’s wildlife community and bring back what time and imprudence had taken from the Commonwealth,” noted Game Commission Wildlife Diversity Program Chief Dan Brauning. “It is invigorating to see more endangered species making a comeback.”
The two nests point to piping plovers recolonizing Lake Erie, as well as a positive response to ongoing specialized habitat management and improved environmental health within the Great Lakes ecosystem. The last recorded piping plover nest in the Erie basin was in 1977 at Long Point on Lake Erie’s north shore in Ontario.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (July 11) – The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) voted today to keep in place for at least one more year a closed season on bass fishing in the middle and lower Susquehanna and lower Juniata rivers during the traditional spawning period from May 1 through mid-June.

Also, at the start of today’s formal meeting, the board elected Commissioner Rocco Ali as president and Commissioner Eric Hussar as vice-president. President Ali represents Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Washington and Westmoreland counties. Vice President Hussar represents Bradford, Columbia, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga and Union counties.

A closed season for smallmouth and largemouth bass from May 1 through June 16 has been in place since 2012 on approximately 98 miles of the Susquehanna River from Sunbury downstream to the Holtwood Dam and on 31.7 miles of the Juniata River from Port Royal downstream to the mouth. Anglers can target bass during the remainder of the year, but only on a catch-and-immediate-release basis.

  1. Apply Electronically For Goose Blind Hunts
  2. Don’t Let Boating Under the Influence Sink a Good Time
  3. Game Commission Officers Recognized By State Police
  4. Fallen Officer’s Name Added To National Memorial
  5. Final 2017-18 Hunting/Trapping Seasons Approved
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