Latrobe second-grader hooks trout of 31 inches
Sometimes the ice hole just isn’t big enough.
Early Sunday morning, 4 or 5 inches of first-ice hardtop covered the upper body of Twin Lakes, Westmoreland County, when holes were augered by five anglers from Latrobe: Brock Simpson, 8, his dad, Brandon, Dom Shenkle and Andy and JakeKrinock.
Brock, a second-grader from Mountain View Elementary School in Latrobe, dangled a live minnow from his short rod strung with 2pound test line. They had fished for about four hours and many anglers were on the ice when Brock’s rod suddenlybowed.
“When we saw the rod go down we knew it wasn’t a little trout,” Brock said.
The fish pulled the line in circles toward the sharp edges of the hole, 10 inches in diameterby law.
“We had to keep the line from scratching [and breaking] on the ice,” he said. “When it went toward the ice, I’d guide it to the middle.”
The fish resisted for more than 10 minutes before Brock finally brought it near the hole.
“When we saw it was a catfish, we knew it wouldn’t fit through the hole that we had,” Brock said. “We had to drill four more holes around the first one to get it out.”
Brock said the bowed rod twisted again when he lifted the 15- to 20-pound channel cat high enough to scoop it out of the water. It measured 31inches.
Brock showed off his catch in a couple of photos before the fish was released. Later in the day, he caught another 10- to 12-inch catfish.
In a dawn-to-dusk trip, fishing at all depths, the Latrobe anglers also caught 15 trout.
Fishing report Lake Erie and tributaries (Erie County):
Spots of 3-inch ice covered with snow created hazards on Presque Isle Bay, but shanties were spread out across the hardtop. A few Northern pike were pulled through the ice, and catches of yellow perch, crappies and bass were reported. Ice over moving tributary water is always considered unsafe. In the smaller tributaries, steelhead were visible in the deepest slow-moving pools. Most of the larger creeks were frozen over,
but fast-moving water in upper Elk Creek was fishable and parts of Sixteenmile Creek were open. Snow flurries were possible through the weekend, with daytime temperatures of 14-24 degrees.
Shanango Reservoir (Mercer County): Ice anglers caught yellow perch, bluegills and crappies on this Panfish Enhancement Program Lake, where crappies must be 9 inches to harvest with a creel limit of 20.
Buffalo Creek (Armstrong County): Despite patches of ice cover, fly and spin anglers caught trout in the Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only section.
Lake Arthur (Butler County): Anglers reported good fishing from nearshore ice over steep drop offs. Walleye and crappies were caught off the island and near the Route 422 bridge.
Raccoon Lake (Beaver County): Good ice fishing was reported over the steep drop -offs in the bay opposite the boat launch and near the dam.
Brady’s Run Lake (Beaver County): Ice anglers caught trout on red worms or live minnows.
North Park Lake (Allegheny County): Trout and bluegills were pulled through the ice off East Ingomar Road, in The Pond near the kayak launch and near the Mars shelter. Live minnows and paste baits were hot.
Keystone Lake (Westmoreland County): Fish and Boat reported anglers fishing straight out from the main launch, ADA accessible areas and near the inflow from Davis and McCune runs.
Twin Lakes (Westmoreland County): Jordan Stranko and Dakota Morrison of Latrobe jigged live minnows and mealworms to catch trout, bass, perch, bluegills and crappies Sunday.
Northmoreland Lake (Westmoreland County): Anglers augered holes near the ADA fishing dock and Grossheim Road. Panfish Enhancement rules apply.
Acme Dam (Westmoreland County): Ice was uneven, but anglers found fishable areas.
Cross Creek Lake (Washington County): Anglers jigging live minnows about 5 feet deep off the main boat launch caught perch, some hand-size crappies and a lot of smalls.
Canonsburg Lake (Washington County): Trout were taken on live minnows and mealworms jigged through 5inch ice near the dam before noon.
File your fishing report and high-resolution digital photos (1MB minimum) at fishingreport@post-gazette.com. Include name, age (for under 18 years), town, species, size, body of water and details of the catch.