HUNTERS AND ANGLERS
Let your favorite angler start the new year with the only piece of gear that is absolutely essential to go fishing. A Pennsylvania fishing license is required of all anglers age 16 and over. Adult resident license cards or buttons are available for single-day use ($11.90), full-year privileges ($22.90) and three-, fiveand 10-year durations ($64.90-$211.90). Kids feel grown up on the water wearing a voluntary youth fishing license ($2.90). Permits for trout fishing and other purposes are available for additional fees. Pennsylvania fishing licenses and permits are valid through Dec. 31, 2021, and sold at about 700 locations throughout the state or www.fishandboat.com.
Give the gift of a facemask that will protect your favorite hunter from detection as well as the cold. Manufactured to fit most heads with an acrylic exterior and polyester fleece lining, the insulated QuietWear Reversible Camo Facemask
protects the forehead, cheeks, nose and chin and switches from blaze orange to woodland camouflage. $14.99 at Dick’s Sporting Goods or dickssportinggoods.com.
A new state law permits furbearer hunters to use handheld and sporting-arm mounted night-vision optics. Sharper Image Night Vision Binoculars are equipped with three levels of infrared brightness, 7X optical zoom, 2X digital zoom and can shoot uploadable photos and videos, even in total darkness. Supports a 32GB micro SD card for recording. $169.99 at Walmart or www.walmart.com.
The compact, easy-to-use Daggerfish Handline is the ideal fishing system for hikers, campers, bike riders, ice anglers and anyone who wants to keep a stowable backup fishing tool in the car. Essentially a fishing reel without a rod, the Daggerfish is hand-lathed in Pittsburgh from branches, not boards. The wooden spool is wrapped with monofilament fishing line. Hooks and other tackle are stored inside. Just bait up, flick the wrist to cast and be ready to set the hook. The Daggerfish handline comes in several models tooled from sugar maple, cherry, walnut and osage orange wood. $60 at 3 Rivers Outdoors in Regent Square, PG&H in Downtown, Love, Pittsburgh in Mount Washington or Daggerfishgear.com.
“Penn’s Woods Passages,” a new book from the Pennsylvania Game Commission, aims to capture the essence of the commonwealth’s hunting experience. The 300-page book features updated columns and artwork by author-illustrator Bob Sopchick that have appeared in Pennsylvania Game News, the agency’s long-running monthly magazine. $19.99 on the Game Commission’s website, www.pgc.pa.gov.
Give the angler in your life a night to remember, a one-of-akind Nocturnal Addictions Bowfishing adventure on Pittsburgh’s rivers. Aboard a flat-bottom 20-foot bass boat tricked out for bowfishing, the five-hour “hunts” are guided by Jordon Miller of Washington, Pa., above, who set the Pennsylvania bowfishing record by spearing a common carp weighing nearly 50 pounds. Stuff a gift certificate in the stocking for charters starting in the spring. $400-$600 at NocternalAddictionsBowfishing.com.