Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - November/December 2012 - 25

As a youngster, Dustin was assigned to collect bait for the family. Today, realizing the importance of the proper live bait for seasonal use, Dustin still collects bait for fishing.

Over a lifetime of fishing, Dan Shay has demonstrated that a big, fancy boat does not catch any more fish. Dan has always fished from a 15-foot to 16-foot boat with minimal electronics installed on it.

photos-Darl Black

of opportunities for my kids to get into serious problems by falling in with the wrong crowd. But, I firmly believe their dedicated interest in fishing, hunting and everything outdoors kept them out of a lot of trouble. We were a family that fished and hunted together.” Thirty some years ago, Dan’s angling exploits at the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission’s Tamarack Lake (currently under drawdown status) lead to legendary musky fisherman status for him. “I had caught muskies from French Creek and Cussewago Creek over the years, but when I started fishing Tamarack Lake, I realized there was an untapped population of the big fish in this very shallow, heavy cover lake,” said Dan. “There was no intention on my part to become recognized as a hardcore musky fisherman. I stumbled into it simply by focusing my seasonal efforts on what was biting best. Through the 1980s, the summer musky bite was phenomenal at Tamarack Lake. A Tyler Walter (one of Dan’s grandcouple visiting musky children) with a French Creek musky fishermen from the during the winter of 2012. Ellwood City area
PFBC website: www.fishandboat.com

Dan Shay does most of his walleye fishing by pulling plugs on Pymatuning Reservoir in the spring and Lake Erie during the summer.

shared information about the plugs they were using, and with that knowledge and my ability as a lure tinker, I began building unique big baits.” It was the number of muskies that were hooked by Dan on his homemade plugs and brought to the side of his boat each season, which put him in the spotlight. For nearly two decades, he caught and released at least 40 muskies each year. During the peak period in the mid 1980s, he boated 100 muskies a year. The only muskies kept were the occasional ones too severely injured from hook wounds to survive. There is no shortage of the Shay fishing clan in the future. Dan’s two daughters, Patty and Tammy, and oldest son, Boone, continue to fish, along with all their children. However, it is his youngest son, Dustin, who will likely carry the mantle of most dedicated all-around angler for years to come. “I cannot recall a time that I didn’t have a rod in my hand,” says Dustin. “However, being the youngest, it seemed my major responsibility was securing the bait for Dad and my older siblings. I was doing it all—collecting bait, placing minnow traps at culvert holes and gathering nightcrawlers.” “Dustin wasn’t a very good worm picker,” said the senior Shay. “He only gathered enough worms for himself for a day of fishing.” Following a nearly nine-year stint in the Navy after high school, Dustin returned to Crawford County in 2010. To make up for lost fishing opportunities while in the service, he spent
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater • November/December 2012

photo-courtesy of the Shay family

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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - November/December 2012

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