Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - January/February 2021 - 14

NOTES from theStreams
" Is she driving the
speed limit? "

After arresting an individual for
boating under the influence, he was
taken to Pennsylvania State Police
barracks for processing. After going
through the processing, myself, the
trooper, and the arrested individual
were sitting in the patrol room of
the barracks, waiting for the man's
girlfriend to arrive to take him home.
We were all talking, and it seemed
to take a long time for the man's
girlfriend to arrive. The man said,
" What is she doing, driving the speed
limit? " I looked at the trooper and
said, " I hope so. " The trooper said,
" The last thing you need tonight is for
your girlfriend to get a ticket on the
way to pick you up. " -WCO Tyler A.
Soety, Eastern Erie County.

Fishing for phones

While on patrol with Deputy
Waterways Conservation Officer
(DWCO) Smith at Merli-Sarnoski Park,
Lackawanna County, we saw a father
fishing on the fishing pier with his two

young daughters. As we approached, the
man stood up to greet us. He had his new
cell phone on his lap. We heard a splash,
followed by, " Oh no, my wife is going
to kill me. I just got the phone two days
ago. " His daughters tried unsuccessfully
to hook the phone with their lines. The
lake is about 6- to 8-feet deep at this
spot. Then, he tried to swim down to
see if he could recover it. DWCO Smith
and I stood by in case he needed any
assistance. He dived down a few times
but was unable to located the phone. He
decided to cut his losses and continue
fishing. As we were leaving, his older
daughter said she was going to call their
mom to let her know what happened. We
figured it was our time to leave to save
him from more embarrassment.-WCO
Alec S. DeLong, Lackawanna, Wayne, and
Susquehanna counties.

That 1%

Most of the time, my job as a
Waterways Conservation Officer
(WCO) is routine. For example, I
know that when the weather is nice,
I will see lots of people engaged in
various activities along our waterways.

illustration-Andrea Feeney

14

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * January/February 2021	

Many of these people will have fishing
equipment with them. Now, one would
think that at this point my job should not
be complicated. Either the individual is
fishing, or he or she is not fishing. If the
individual is fishing, the angler either has
a license, or the angler does not have a
license. Pretty cut and dry, right? Well,
99% of the time it is cut and dry. But, let's
talk about the other 1%. In early spring, I
observed two young males standing side
by side along Dunlap Creek Lake, Fayette
County, casting and retrieving repeatedly.
I approached the two men and asked
to see their licenses. They informed me
that they did not have licenses and did
not need them, because they were not
fishing. It turns out, they had no hooks,
just a heavy sinker on the end of each
line. They were having a competition to
see who could cast the greatest distance.
Several weeks later, at Dunlap Creek
Lake, I observed two males and a female
fishing from one of the docks. I watched
long enough to see each of them cast and
retrieve several times. I watched two of
the people remove what I assumed to be
small fish from their lines and throw the
fish into a bucket. I introduced myself
and asked to see their licenses. They
looked confused and said they did not
know that they needed licenses. One of
them reeled in their line to reveal that
instead of a hook, there was a magnet at
the end of the line. I checked the bucket,
and there were miscellaneous pieces of
metal in it.
Recently, I caught a glimpse of a
fishing rod in a man's hand as he walked
through thick brush near a wild trout
stream. By the time I caught up to the
man, I walked through spider webs
and brushed many spiders off of me.
I never saw the man fish. He did not
need a license, because there was no
reel or string on the rod. The man was
out scouting for the upcoming archery
season and was using this old fishing
rod to knock the spider webs down
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - January/February 2021

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