Three church ladies often comment on my articles as we park near each other and walk into church.

They enjoy the antics of human nature and the experiences that I have shared with them through my outdoor sports articles. Last weekend they made a request about a fishing story and I didn’t have a promising article for them … until I went fishing the next day.

The weather was typical for Western Pennsylvania, turning from rainy to sunny, cold to warm, and even calm to blustery snow squalls. The ground was soggy and water soaked and the color of muddy coffee. I was trout fishing and only a few other anglers were braving the morning.

One angler talked to me about his difficulty in finding some fishing supplies and equipment that he usually relies on in his pursuit of the early season trout. It so happened that I had the product that he was wishing for and shared my extra with him. He was pleased to be back on the right track and promptly caught a decent-sized rainbow trout.

I kept working my way around the muddy banks and I was doing pretty well with some dough bait working off the bottom. I had two rainbows and was in search of a few more fish for a friend in West Sunbury who fished as a youngster, but hasn’t been on the water for years. I tried to talk him into a fishing excursion but he remained hesitant … so I did the next best thing … I would try to catch a few for him. My wife found a cookbook from the Trout Farmers of West Virginia that had dozens of trout recipes that he could reference and all he needed was the trout!

It started out easy enough as I had a few trout in the bag and one on the line as I fished by two anglers who I knew from our local club, Dan and Matt. I hooked into another trout and was trying to work him around some brush and snags when I stepped into a muskrat booby trap. The muddy water cover made it look even with the rest of the bank until I went down to my thigh in the muddy hole.

With the fish still on and with me trying to save my rod and reel from destruction, I hit the bank in a muddy flop. The fellows looked as shocked as me as I flopped into the muddy slop with both arms stretched out to save me from a total crashing disaster.

Matt came over to help me if he could and I handed him my rod saying “There’s a nice fish on the line, hold my rod until I can get out of this mud trap.”

With their help, I was able to regain my feet and wash off some of the mud in a puddle of clear water. My rod was muddy and my reel was as well, but I was able to bring a really decent brook trout to the bank. After some equipment maintenance, the guys hooked onto a nice golden rainbow and they donated it to the cause of my friend Mike’s trout dinner.

I had a beautiful array of trout and I knew that it was as good as any offering a fellow would have for the grill for a fish dinner. All I had to do now was get cleaned up and dress out the trout and get them on ice. Once I had all that done, I worked over my fishing gear and it needed the attention.

It probably was a good thing that Mike didn’t accompany me on this fishing trek as I’m sure it would have set him back from any future interest he might have had in fishing!

Busy Easter season

Strangely enough, with the Easter weekend upon us, we are well into the trout season, usually in years past this weekend would have likely been our opening day of trout. I am kind of out of synch as the garden is calling for attention, crappie fishing should be warming up and the yard needs rolling to get ready for spring mowing.

Oh, by the way, did I mention that Spring Gobbler is fast approaching and I am hearing some serious morning gobbling! Lots of things to think about, but only so much time or is it ambition?

Earth Day

Next week is Earth Day and it is a time to do something kind for our Mother Earth. I’m all in for a Highway Cleanup project and planting some seedlings that we received from the Arbor Day Foundation. I did plant some pines several years ago, and they are growing very well, all except one that fell victim to a buck rub … not happy about that.

We planted an apple tree that my friend Jimmy started from seeds and it is doing well …but has a fence around it this time! The deer were checking it out already, not this time buster!

Until we meet again, stay out of those muskrat holes and hang onto your fishing pole. Happy Easter!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle