Cabela’s, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, will be sponsoring a fishing tournament with a 2 million dollar top prize.

The great news about this contest is that our very own local waterway — Lake Arthur — is one of 12 eligible waters found in Pennsylvania. Other waterways in the western part of the state include; the Emsworth Pool in Allegheny County, Presque Isle Bay in Erie, Raystown Lake in Huntingdon County and Keystone Lake in Westmoreland County.

The contest runs from May 5 through July 8 and it requires that the participants be licensed anglers 18 or older and that they register with Cabela’s as a participant at www.cabelas.com.

There are 1,060 fish that have received a special 6 digit tag number with the year 2012 on it as well. There may be tagged fish from the year 2011, but they are not eligible for any prizes as their time line has expired.

All types of species could be tagged, including three bass species, trout, crappies, walleye, perch, blue gill and channel cats.

Ironically, Lake Arthur and Presque Isle Bay were shut out in last year’s inaugural event of 2011. Surely some lucky angler can get hold of one of the tagged fish and win anything from a $65,000 Ranger Boat to a cool million dollars.

The winning tags are randomly assigned and could be on a blue gill or a cat fish as easily as a striper or trout.

Getting registered is free and takes a few minutes and the complete rules and directions for claiming a winning fish are available for your review.

• The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission would like to remind all Commonwealth residents and nonresidents that one of the Annual Fish for Free Days is being held on Memorial Day, with no license required to fish on any public waterways in Pa. This is the perfect time to try out angling and to see if it might be an interest that will hook you for a lifetime!

Last weekend, a group of us took a couple of boats up to Pymatuning Lake in Crawford County. We launched in Jamestown and found the lake to be perfect for fishing as we had picture perfect weather and a nice breeze for drift fishing.

We started out slow with the walleye until we figured out where they were piling up and the best presentations to tempt them into biting. With no exaggeration, we caught 30-40 walleye that were just undersized in the 14-14 ¾” size with 15 inches being keepers.

The Fish-hawk finally struck pay dirt as I landed an 18-inch walleye with much better heft to it. The Anderson brothers were fishing with me and they too started landing some keepers.

The problem with catching and netting fish was that other anglers saw our success and crowded the area, limiting our drift action. No drift … no fish and for once we had the landmarks lined up perfectly with the sonar and fish finder on track!

Oh well, we will get another day at the lake soon!

• The Boyers Sportsmen’s Association is sponsoring a yellow perch Charter Trip out of Erie June 15 from 4-10 pm. The boat is a party boat that will hold 40 anglers and the cost is $22 per person. For more information call 724-735-4124 (seating is limited).

• Until we meet again. keep fishing and let’s get Lake Arthur on the map at the Cabela’s Fishing for Millions Contest. I will make a point to head over to Moraine and give it a few days worth of casting a worm to see if a lucky tag shows up in my live well.

Remember, the worst day of fishing with friends beats the best day at work with the boss!