Signed up myself Mika.  I'm sure hoping I can catch me one of those tagged ones.

How do you find out about the fishing tournaments at lake arthur?

There are no bass tournaments during closed bass season.  Allot of the western pa clubs have tournaments on Pymatuming during closed season because that lake goes by Ohio rules and there is no closed season.

The butler basscasters have a tourny every wednesday evening after bass season opens from 6 to 10pm.

http://www.butlerbasscasters.com/

On Saturday during the midday rain I was talking with two guys from Vandergift - Apollo area. We were all waiting out the rain under the 528 bridge. They said every year there was a crappie tournament (NOT A BASS - since they aren't in season) and this year's was on this upcoming Sunday. Apparently you fish in teams of two. I thought it would be a fun thing for me and my 5 year old daughter to do.

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ORIGINAL: mere2180

where is a good place here to night fish on the shore? We are going to head out there tonight around 9pm. Not sure which access would be the best. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Also is there any place that does night rentals on boats?

Thanks!
-Mere

You can find a wealth of information with the search feature

http://forums.fishusa.com/m_321950/mpage_1/key_wading%252Carthur/tm.htm#321988

Seemed like the fish were gonna turn on early last night, then as soon as the fog rolled in then right back out, it was dead. Chris, I just ordered some beads and spinners online. Gonna make some of those spinners myself for 1/10th the price. I'll give you some the next time I see you. I just hope the beads are the right size! Got some turkeys pegged up at Arthur too. I just need to find a morning or afternoon to shoot one while fishing. We get there too late now and they're already up in the trees. But they've been in the same place the last five evenings that we've fished.

You know that you can only hunt spring gobbler in the am, right?  Maybe I read your post wrong but in case I didn't......  I wouldn't wanna see someone get pinched if they didn't know.

Ahh, I haven't played that game since before they started issuing a second Gobbler tag.  They used to be all worried about making sure that the hens got bred and not getting bumped off nests, etc.  But then again, if the number are strong enough to support bonus tags, then why not?  Man, I must be getting old.  In that case, good luck and happy hunting!

Fished the dead sea for the first time last night with my uncle. Trolled with a few of his friends we had no luck 10-12 AM, but then it turned on. His buddy must have landed 4 and his other 6. I had two Stripers get off and caught a nice 24 inch walleye. My uncle caught 3 Stripers. Our trolling group had to be close to 20 Stripers though. We left 4 AM and they were still smacking.

Here is a pic.

Too cool  !!!

I was able to give the noodle rod a test on the wipers. It works great for sensitivity for fishing alewives (incredible for this actually). Could cast them pretty far with the light line, although, I am able to get them just as far with my other setup. Detecting the strike was unmatched compared to my standard setup as well. Many times their bite is pick up and carry (then drop), not seek and destroy, as they do to the topwater plugs. So, sensitivity is key to alewive fishing, although many times they do grab and run. I've noticed they mostly grab and swim slowly away and will spit out within a few seconds if you don't set the hook. The "exaturated pulsation / thump" of a hooked fish on a noodle is nice as well, much like a fly rod, although the bigger wipers seemed to pull too hard for the light rod to pick this up. The smaller ones and eye that I landed all gave this nice feeling. I'm sure a heavier noodle would do this. Mine isn't technically a noodle, but a 9' light, so is heavier than most "noodles".

Downsides were, getting a fish in took twice as long as my standard wiper gear, having them very exhausted when landed. I prefer to get them in much quicker if C&R. I didn't even attempt tossing a wiper size stickbait out with one. Also, after a few fish caught / alewives swimming in circles, the line gets twisted like crazy. This might be true with any rod/line setup, but am pretty sure it isn't as bad with the thicker line (4lb on my noodle). This contributed to me breaking off on a hook set using a very large alewife, so wasn't very happy with myself not trimming and retying. I'm sure a small barrel swivel would probably help, but I like to keep them at the top of the water. Maybe combine with a lil' corky to keep up? Getting hung up in the shoreline overhang a few times sucked as well (same thing happened a good bit flinging flys a few years ago too).

Just like putting the notch on my belt, picking an Arthur byrd up with the fly rod, I think that I will probably stick with my standard 7' medium weight w/ 10lb copoly line, for both lures and live bait for these guys. Just have to stick with the most optimal setup for the situation that I have found. Moving water is a different story, the fly might be the most optimal for these guys in some places, but haven't fished the rivers much in the past few years. It was a good experiment, and would recommend if someone is planning to keep some for the grill, or only has one wiper rod and wants one for lures and second for bait. Not bad getting some extra use from your steelhead gear, especially if your steelhead season is only 2-3 trips per year. This kind of reminded me of the trib guys that use 2 wt. fly rods or ultra lights. Nothing wrong with it, but to me, the noodle is under weight for these guys able to dive 20' and run free. Not sure if steelhead would give a similar fight if given the same water or not, but definitely don't in the tribs. I'm guessing bumping up to a heavier line would allow to tighten the drag down a bit more and get them in faster. That will probably be my next move on this.

Good luck all, and hope to make it out again before too long.

They must be fishing.  I checked out the Bear Run boat launch after taking the family for ice cream around 9:30 tonight.  There were a lot of empty boat trailers in the parking lot.  I'm guessing that the night-bite is on.  Will find out for myself Saturday night when the wife gets home from working the 3:00-11:00 shift.  The sad part is that I probably won't get to launch until around 1:00am :(