Donegal lake

05/12/2026

This Saturday!

05/12/2026

05/11/2026

When heading out to your favorite fishing spot, be aware of ticks.

Here are some tips:

⚫Wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants and closed shoes.

⚫Wear light-colored clothing to make it easier to spot ticks.

⚫Treat your clothing and gear with permethrin.

⚫Apply insect repellent to exposed skin.

⚫When you return home, conduct a full-body check for ticks. Also, check your clothing, pets and gear.

If you find an attached tick, remove it as soon as possible. Clean the bite area and your hands with soap and water or rubbing alcohol.

If you find a tick, consider sending it to the Pennsylvania Tick Research Lab at ticklab.org for a free tick test.

If a rash or flu-like symptoms appear, contact your healthcare provider right away.

You can learn more about tick diseases at health.pa.gov/ticks

05/11/2026

The Bluegill or more commonly known as “Sunfish” may have been the first fish you ever caught.

Its scientific species name is “macrochirus” and means “large hand,” probably describing the fish’s body shape.

Here are some facts about Bluegills:

🐟️ Bluegill colors vary from olive to brownish. Their sides have 8 to 10 sets of double, blueish vertical bars, its belly is white to yellow. The sides of their head are greenish to blue-green.

🐟️The distinguishable mark on Bluegills is the flap at the end of its gill cover is black with no red spot.

🐟️Bluegills are found in lakes, ponds and slower parts of warmwater streams and rivers.

🐟️They spawn from May, when water temperatures reach 67 degrees, until August.

🐟️Females lay as many as 38,000 eggs in a nest.

04/28/2026

Walleye season opens Saturday (May 2)
This year, we will stock over 1.9 million fingerlings and over 12.8 million fry!

For the best places to fish for walleye check out the link.

https://ow.ly/mlo150YMTbz

04/25/2026

The daily creel limit for Lake Erie Yellow Perch and Walleye will not change this year with Yellow Perch remaining at 30 per day and Walleye at six per day.

The Yellow Perch and Walleye populations in Lake Erie are maintained strictly by natural reproduction. Good “hatches” and survival of young fish are necessary to provide fish for sport and commercial fisheries.

The Lake Erie Walleye hatches have been record-setting over the last five years. However, it takes two to three years for Lake Erie Walleye to fully grow to the 15-inch minimum size limit.

You can read more about the Yellow Perch and Walleye creel limits: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/fishandboat/newsroom/pfbc-sets-2026-daily-creel-limit-lake-erie-perch-walley-apr2026

04/22/2026

Perhaps, it was a new Bluegill record.

WCO Opfer was patrolling the Monongahela River when he came upon a grandpa and his grandson fishing.

“Pap! It’s a monster!” the child yelled. His rod bent so far over that WCO Opfer thought he hooked a big one.

The rod almost fell out of the child’s hands and he was fighting hard to land whatever he had hooked.

“If I go in, save the fish!” the child said.

Eventually the child landed a tiny Bluegill on the bank, but he looked like he just landed a river monster.

“Officer, is this a record?” the child asked.

WCO Opfer said “Absolutely, it’s the biggest Bluegill caught on this stretch of the river today.”

Grandpa smiled. The boy beamed and the Bluegill was released back into the river.

04/20/2026