Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 13

NOTES from theStreams
into another steelhead. He began to
reel the fish in when he handed the
rod to the female who finally landed
the fish. The male again placed the
fish on a stringer. At that point, the
female continued fishing with the
male coaching her along the way. In
no time, the female hooked into a
steelhead and began reeling in the
fish. The male appeared to be very
excited and was in the process of
taking the perfect action photograph
of her when he fell in the stream.
The female landed the fish, and it
was placed on the stringer. More
time passed, and they continued to
fish. My shift was almost over for the
day, so on my way out I identified
myself and checked their licenses. I
told them that I was watching them
earlier. There were no violations.
They were husband and wife, and it
was her first time steelhead fishing.
The wife was mostly interested if I
saw her husband fall into the stream.
He explained that he was so excited
that she caught her first fish that
he lost his footing and fell into the
stream. He gets the real credit for the
day in my book. Although he fell in,
he saved the phone and still got the
perfect shot of his wife catching her
first steelhead.-WCO Timothy J.
Fuller, Eastern Crawford and
Warren counties.

Some kind of deal

Waterways Conservation Officers
(WCOs) are lucky to witness some
amazing aspects of nature while
performing our duties. During a
summer evening, I was on patrol at
an access area along the Susquehanna
River, Wyoming County. I was using
my binoculars to observe a cluster
of kayakers as they were making
their way down river. In the same
frame of vision, a bald eagle came
swooping down, caught a carp, and
began flying away with the fish in its
talons. That is not uncommon to see,
especially in this area of the endless
mountains. However, I watched
the eagle as it went to shore and
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immediately dropped the fish to a
couple of turkey vultures that were
waiting on the riverbank. It seemed
the eagle had no intention of eating
the carp. It only stayed around for a
few moments to watch the fish get
devoured, then went on its way. This
first-hand experience certainly left
me wondering.-WCO David Raulfs,
Jr., Wyoming and Southwestern
Susquehanna counties.

Personal flotation dog

After you have done this job for
long enough, it gets to the point
where you start finding violations
you have never seen before. Certain
regulations you learned about in the
academy you never get to apply out
in the field, or at least not very often.
An example of such an instance
came about when I wrote a citation
for a person operating in a dive
zone marked by a divers flag on a
float tethered to two scuba divers at
Harveys Lake, Luzerne County. The
operator of the personal watercraft
(PWC) seemed to not notice the float
as they cruised by on plane within
5 feet of the small yellow buoy. When
I was explaining the violation to the
PWC operator, she stated, " Yeah, you
are correct, I should have known
that. I am a diver. " In 23 years of
service as a WCO, I never wrote a
citation to anyone before for that
particular violation.
Similarly, there are also times
when you run into issues that are
seasonal rarities. For example, I had
never written a violation for anyone
on a PWC in the cold months of
November through April in all my
time working for the PFBC-until
2020 anyway.
I was patrolling Harveys Lake on
a weekday in early November and
concentrating on checking anglers as
they came and went from the PFBC
Access Area. It was unseasonably
warm, but almost all the resident
boaters had removed their boats
already for the winter. I could see a

PWC approaching from far away,
coming across the middle of the lake
and heading towards the access area.
As the vessel got closer, I could see
that the operator had his small dog
onboard riding in front of him. I
could also see that the operator was
not wearing a life jacket as required
by law when riding on a PWC. Since
it was November, there was also the
issue that the cold weather wear
regulations were also violated by his
actions. As he beached his PWC, I
approached him and explained the
violations I observed.
Perhaps, the most interesting
aspect of the encounter was that
the operator of the PWC had
thought to put a life jacket on his
dog but neglected to take the time
to do the same for himself. The
gentleman was polite throughout
our interaction and perhaps a little
embarrassed when I asked how he
could think to put a life jacket on
his dog but neglect his own safety.
He stated that he was a couple of
hundred feet from his dock when
he noticed he had forgotten his own
life jacket. I guess he figured if he
fell into the water, he could just hold
onto his dog to stay afloat. That is a
lot of pressure to put on a dog. Upon
completion of a boarding to check
for other violations, and finding
none, I issued the operator a citation
for the life jacket violation.
Life jacket regulations are no
laughing matter and especially so
when you are out on the water in
the cooler months. I walked away
from that contact thankful that the
operator's actions resulted only in
a citation, a little lesson, and not
a more fatal outcome. But, I also
wondered if the operator may have
been confused by the acronym
PFD for personal flotation device,
thinking maybe that it meant
personal flotation dog.-WCO
John R. Cummings, Northern
Luzerne County.

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * March/April 2021

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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021

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