Folks are getting pretty excited about the fishing on the local waterways.

Lake Arthur has been active with local anglers as large channel cats and muskies have been caught recently. One local angler, Josh Powell, hooked into a 50-inch husky musky while bass plugging and the Scott McDowell family of Slippery Rock had multiple species of cats pulling their boat around as well.

June is the month of the Striped Bass and plenty of anglers will be fishing the night waters from both shore and boat for these line busters.

Although many anglers target specific fish with proven techniques, they never can tell what will hit their offerings while fishing waters like Lake Arthur.

This year, the team of Cabela’s, PA Fish and Boat Commission, and the DCNR have made Lake Arthur part of the million dollar fishing contest. That’s right, Lake Arthur our local warm water fishery with 40 miles of shoreline.

Walleye and bass have been tagged in the lake and a lucky angler could win big money and prizes if you land one of these tagged fish. There is a requirement that you pre-register with Cabela’s in person or online before the contest ends on July 14.

Complete rules are posted with directions of how you can claim your prize from the sporting goods giant. One winner recently landed a $9,000 fish and there is a million dollar trophy swimming around out in the depths somewhere!

n The PA Fish and Boat Commission continue to promote family fishing and boating fun.

Fish for Free Days are scheduled each year and the most recent day was on Memorial Day. If you missed out on your chance you can schedule your next picnic/boating/fishing day on Labor Day. This is the second Fish for Free Day and all persons fishing in the Commonwealth get a free pass to fish!

n On other fronts, the PA Game Commission announced that the 2011-12 hunting licenses went on sale June 13. It never has been easier to buy a license in Pennsylvania as the new automated PALS system is fully operational.

All approved license sales locations need only to scan your driver’s license or plug in your personal CID number; DL number or Social Security number and you are set.

The only thing that changes are when you make your decision on what licenses you want for the upcoming season. There is no fee increase for hunting licenses this year and there has not been a basic license fee increase since 1999.

I’m not sure how they can do that considering the rising cost of everything over the past 12 years, but it is what it is.

n The antlerless “Doe” tags will not be available for sale for resident hunters until July 11 while non-resident hunters get their chance on July 25. Round two of the drawings for left over licenses for everyone will be on Aug. 1.

Elk and fisher licenses will be available for drawings when you purchase your regular licenses, but the doe licenses will still be handled the old fashioned way — with paper applications and special envelopes mailed to county treasurers.

Later rounds of doe licenses can be purchased on line until all the licenses are exhausted.

Discussions on the deer population continue to be both pro and con when it comes to bag limits and the opinions of the deer herd size.

The deer I have been observing are healthy specimens and the good news is that no CWD samples have been found in either the elk or deer harvested. Some areas are deer poor while other areas are pushing the habitat limits for deer population.

At the end of last year’s season, I observed deer traveling in one of my hunting areas that had over 20 deer in the group. It doesn’t take a wildlife biologist to figure out the outlook for this area will be bountiful in the 2012 season.

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle