Whitehall-Coplay Press

With the cold temperatures and occasional snow flurries we’re experiencing, it may be the incentive to think about the upcoming skiing/snowboarding/tubing season.

In a prepared press release, Tricia Matsko, Director of Sales and Marketing at Blue Mountain Resort in Palmerton, said they put their snow guns in service last Friday night thanks to below freezing temperatures and low humidity. It’s their first attempt this year to make snow and to build a base on the major trails of Lower Main Street, Vista, Come Around, Valley School and Snow Tubing Lanes.

With cold temperatures settling in, most of the best fishing action appears to be at the New Jersey shore where big stripers up to 51 pounds are being caught.

Fishing reporters from On the Water Magazine say linesiders are the ticket. Their report is as follows:

Bob Matthews, from the Fishermen’s Den in Belmar, said boat anglers are finding big fish from a half mile to three miles out. Trolling bunker spoons and Mojos seem to be catching the majority of fish, with spoons taking the edge over Mojos. Party boats are jigging them with Ava 47s and rubber shads.

Since the grouse, rabbit and squirrel season opened last Saturday, the third part of small game opens this Saturday (Oct. 26) for pheasants, often referred to as long-tails. A reference to the long tail feathers of a male cockbird.

If a cockbird can be flushed, the cackle and burst of feathers is exciting and when not anticipated, a bit startling for the hunter. But it’s a nice rush to experience.

The second part of the small game season gets underway this Saturday (Oct. 19) when squirrel, rabbit and grouse become legal game.

Of the trio, squirrels are the most plentiful and their sweet meat makes for excellent table fare be it in a stew, creamed or as a primary meat with mashed or sweet potatoes and a green vegetable or two.

As for rabbits, there are more of them in the city of Allentown and suburbs, than there are in area farmland fields and woodlots. And the reason for that are coyotes, foxes and great horned owls who keep their numbers there severely in check.

Deer and bear hunters are in for some changes this season, with most offering additional hunting days afield.

Now that the statewide archery deer hunting season gets underway this Saturday (Oct. 5), it also spells the time junior license holders can hunt squirrels and rabbits until Oct. 19. Juniors can also hunt ring-necked pheasants from Oct. 12-19.

Since the archery deer hunting season kicked off this past Saturday in WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D, the remainder of the stateÕs season gets underway this Saturday (Oct. 5) and runs until Nov. 16. It reopens again from Dec. 26-Jan. 20, 2020.

With an increasing number of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) cases occurring within certain areas of Pennsylvania’s deer herd, the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) is soliciting input from sportsmen on a response plan before more areas are affected.

To date the CWD has designated three CWD areas: Disease Management Area 3 (DMA3), encompasses WMU 2E and includes parts Jefferson and Indiana counties; DMA2, the largest of the affected areas, covers WMUs 4B, 4A, 5A and parts of 2G and 4D; DMA4 covers Lebanon, parts of Lancaster and Berks counties.

Friday’s severely dropping temperatures could be a hint that fall is on the way. As such, fresh water fish traditionally go on the feed as cooler water temps signal the feeding frenzy, says our local fishing reporters.

Willie, from Willie’s Bait & Tackle in Cementon, reports Leaser Lake is the hot spot with customers picking up muskies on jumbo minnows while bass anglers are nailing largemouths on large shiners. As for Lehigh River, Willie said it’s dead of late although one avid angler picks up an occasional trout or two but no smallmouths, which is rare for this time of year.

With the archery deer hunting season set to kick off locally Sept. 21 in WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D, now’s the time to check your bows, bow strings, arrows and tree stands if you use one.

With warm temperatures, it’s difficult to think about hunting. Even fishing isn’t that good during these times. But come Monday, September 2, the traditional dove and early goose season kicks off.

Since dove are somewhat easier to hunt this time of year, we’ll focus on them as corn and soybean crops are still standing, which makes those fields not conducive to goose hunting methods.