Whitehall-Coplay Press

If you’d like to get into kayak fishing, it can be a little overwhelming to figure out what you might need to get started. Here are some tips from the folks at Yak Gear that you can use as a beginner kayak angler.

With families and outdoor lovers taking to Penn’s Woods to hike and camp, be aware it’s tick season. And since we had a mild winter, tick populations could be higher and eager to attach themselves to our bodies.

According to Pennsylvania Department of Health, they’re warning residents that symptoms of Lyme disease, that’s transmitted through tick bites, are often similar to those of coronavirus. Both share similar symptoms of fever, chills, headache, muscle pain and more. And a telltale bull’s-eye around the tick bite may not appear.

You may have noticed several turkey vultures circling in the sky since early spring. They’re even being seen in the West end of Allentown when a woman posted on a blog that one landed in her backyard.

With two-and-a-half months before the start of the deer bowhunting season in Wildlife Management Units (WMU) 2B, 5C and 5D, and an additional two weeks thereafter before it starts in the remainder of the state, now may be a good time for bowhunters to have their bows, both compounds and crossbows, checked to see if they’re in need of service like restringing and re-serving.

With many Lehigh Valley residents out of work because of the Covid-19 virus, it may be a great time for parents with young children to introduce them to fishing.

I have a buddy who is attempting to introduce his 12-year old son to fishing, especially since his son’s Boy Scout troop gave him a spincast rod/reel combo.

I recall buying my young son at the time, a Zebco 33 spincast reel and rod set. Those are nice for first time anglers as they’re easy to cast with their push button line release on the rear of the reel.

If you want really big fish, head to the Jersey shore as stripers up to 50 pounds are being caught says our fishing contacts at On the Water Magazine.

According to Capt. Phil Sciartino from the Tackle Box in Hazlet, stripers are hot in the bay. Bunker chunking around the Old Orchard site was producing stripers up to 50 pounds. The Keansburg Pier was also yielding some linesiders with a few bluefish mixed in.

Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright says stripers, weighing in the teens, were coming from the Shrewsbury River mostly at night using chunks and plugs.

With the spring gobbler hunting season underway, it’s interesting to note that for the first time in history, and during the 2019 spring turkey season, not a single hunting-related shooting incident was recorded, a time that historically garnered the most of these incidents. And the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) hopes that continues for 2020.

After a cold and unseasonable weekend, this week’s forecast of temperatures in the 60s should allow better fishing conditions.

Before the cold front hit, anglers were picking up trout from area streams and the Lehigh River. In particular, the Little Lehigh from Bogart’s Bridge downstream that was stocked last Thursday with fish from the Lil-Le-Hi Trout Hatchery. And from stream reports, anglers there were picking up some sizable trout. One angler caught and released 21 on the day after the stocking so there should be a lot of leftovers.

Since we’re in the midst of a lockdown of sorts because of COVID-199, many sportsmen may not be working, so this could be a good time to do some house cleaning of your trophy mounts, be it antlered, bear, birds or fish.

If you have deer mounts in particular, there are a few methods to clean their hair. To do it properly and without ruining a shoulder mount, Bob Danenhower of Bob’s Taxidermy in Orefield, recommends the following:

There will be yelps, clucks, purrs and gobbles emanating from Penn’s Woods when the statewide spring gobbler season gets underway this Saturday (May 22). And according to th Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC), the monthlongseason that ends May 30 should be a good one.

According to the PGC, the statewide flock, expected to mirror 2019’s estimated spring population of 212,170 turkeys, has been aided by good reproduction last year, declining participation in fall seasons, and a mild winter with abundant natural foods.