The biggest brown I ever saw in the flesh in PA was brought into the newspaper where I worked. It was almost 30 inches long and had been caught in a tiny tributary of Bald Eagle Creek by a 9-year-old. The kid had a little trout take his worm and then the big brown came from nowhere and nailed the little trout.
And I tried night fishing in PA on Big Fishing Creek in 1964 and caught a bat on my back cast as well. I chickened out and cut the leader instead of tryin to unhook the bat.
Don
LOL. I got the night fishing bug after reading a book from Jim Bashline called "Night Fishing for Trout". I think it's out of print but if you can rustle up a copy I highly recommend you do so. He apparently was a bad drunk but a hell of a fisherman and a funny writer. So my 23 year old self ran out to the big hole up on Big Fishing Creek (Anyone who has fished that streams knows what I'm talking about) and my result was also a bat. Got him in the arm and that was the end of my fishing.
Pennsylvania has such a potential to be a far better fishery than it currently is, and I'd argue it could be on par with some western states but the ingrained culture of put and take and the game commission's absolute fear of losing license dollars if they don't dump stockers into every public access point will keep it from being so. Don't get me wrong, there is amazing fishing in this state. We have some of the most famous waters in North America, but fishing pressure is absolutely through the roof and the big boys only come out at night now. We probably have 20-25 other waters that could be as good as Penns Creek and Slate Run and others but they currently fall prey to the put and take culture we have where every good ol' boy feels it is his God given right to weave 6 trout through the gills and take them home to the frying pan. These waters are absolutely hammered for about 3-4 weeks until the stockers (and some planters and natives) are harvested and then the rods are put away until next April.
While PA doesn't have the water supply of western states, we arguably have a longer growing season and more food available to our fish. We just can't get away from the culture of pounding waters and keeping loads of fish.
