Fishing for the sheer sport of it? Alphy Shultz knows all about it.

She recently caught a 16-inch Palomino trout, then a 20-incher the following day at Buffalo Creek - only to voluntarily release both rare catches.

"Fishermen rarely catch a Palomino ever and when they do, it's usually mounted, a once-in-a-lifetime thing," said her husband, Tim Shultz. "She catches two in two days and throws them both back."

Mrs. Shultz, born and raised in New Jersey, moved to this area for the first time two years ago on her birthday, Dec. 19.

Her husband - Tim Shultz, born and raised near East Brady and the son of a Deputy Wildlife Conservation Officer - left this region at age 22 and took a job with a trucking company in New Jersey.

While in New Jersey, Shultz met his eventual wife, but always yearned to return home.

"I was sitting on the back porch one night and just broke down," Shultz said. "I missed home. I grew up in the outdoors. Alphy had never seen that, had never been there.

"She knew how much I loved it and she wanted to go."

Shultz's father, Guy Shultz, was a game warden for 50 years. His son had experienced pre-season trout stockings and numerous hunting and fishing trips.

Once the family - including 20-year-old son Angelo - decided to come to Western Pennsylvania, Tim and Alphy Shultz set themselves up to do so. Shultz got a job with a New Jersey company that had a terminal in Pittsburgh.

When the company arranged to place Shultz in that Pittsburgh terminal, his wife left her job and the family relocated to Moon Township.

Alphy Shultz found work with a mortgage writing company in Pittsburgh and the family eventually moved back to the East Brady area after Shultz introduced his family to the world of fishing.

"When we lived in Moon Township (for two years), we packed up each Friday and stayed in a cabin up there," Mrs. Shultz said. "We got tired of packing up every weekend, so we just moved up there.

"We drive in to work together every day. It's worth the extra miles to me. It's like being on constant vacation here.

"The people are so nice. It's incredible how peaceful it is. People are too involved in the rat race back east," she added.

When trout stocking day arrived this year, Shultz was able to get the Pennsylvania Fish Commission to allow his family to help with the stocking. Mrs. Shultz and her son dumped buckets of fish into the stream.

"It was fun … A total blast," she said.

During the stocking, Mrs. Shultz first came into contact with a Palomino trout as she dumped a few into the stream.

"She was teasing with the guys on the fish truck, telling them she was going to catch one of those Palomino's," Shultz said. "Catching a Palomino trout is basically unheard of."

Not for her. When the family returned three weeks later for the opening day of trout season. Mrs. Shultz caught 10 fish that first morning.

After lunch, she fell into the creek and was waist-deep in freezing water. Once she got out and regained her composure, it was back to fishing.

Moments later, she landed a 16-inch Palomino.

"I had to throw it back," she said. "It's such a beautiful fish. I wanted someone else to have that same experience."

After fishing for 11 hours that first day, the family was up at 5 a.m. the next day to do it again.

The trio went to the same spot. Five hours later, Mrs. Shultz landed a 20-inch Palomino after a 10-minute struggle.

"I asked her if she wanted to keep this one since she threw back the last one," Shultz said. "She wouldn't hear of it and I wasn't going to argue."

"No way was I keeping it," Mrs. Shultz said. "Look what happened the last time."

Shultz did take pictures of his wife with the fish before she released it.

It's not the catch that counts in her eyes. It's the experience.

"When the weekend comes, we go fishing," she said. "To do something so peaceful and fun as a family for hours at a time is wonderful.

"We ride four-wheelers, we snowmobile, we have a boat - I love it here. There's nowhere else in the world I'd rather be."

As for the spot where she caught the Palominos?

"Everybody asks," she said, laughing. "My answer is always Buffalo Creek, by the fifth green tree.

"In other words, I'm not telling."