Fayette County WCO has a fish story of his own to tell
Here’s a new twist. The fish warden has a fish story of his own to tell instead of listening to everyone else’s, especially from those who are trying to talk themselves out of a fine.
A few days ago, I arrived at home and found message on my answering machine from Fayette County Waterway Conservation Officer Scott Opfer saying, “I’ve got a fish story for you. Give me a call.”
Scott indeed had a tale to tell, and unlike Santiago in Hemmingway’s “Old Man and The Sea,” he had proof in hand that he had caught his big fish – in this case, two big fish.
A week ago, Opfer and a friend decided to go fishing in the Cheat River at Point Marion, just below the Cheat Lake outflow in Pennsylvania.
Opfer then started his story.
“We were fishing last Friday night (Sept. 1) below the wall (concrete fishing pier). I was jigging in a nightcrawler, when all of a sudden it felt like a pretty good fish was pulling out the drag.
“I just about had it into shore, when it stopped dead, like the line got caught around something.
“I started pulling it in again, and whatever it was wrapped around started coming in with it like it was a big heavy weight. Then all of a sudden it started moving up river, and I began to realize that something was not right.”
That was an understatement on Opfer’s part.
He continued to try to get the fish to shore.
“After battling it for about four or five minutes, I saw its big tail break the surface of the water, so I called to my buddy for some help.
“He grabbed a flashlight and came over. After a couple of minutes we got a look at it. We knew it was big, and I was afraid it was going to break my six-pound line any second.
“It ran back out. My buddy tried to grab it, but it was very lively, and it went under and came back up again. I brought it back to shore again, and my buddy finally got hold of it. It was a large catfish, and it had something in its mouth.”
Opfer’s buddy reached under the gill cover and hoisted it out of the water.
To their amazement, they pulled up a 22-pound flathead catfish with Opfer’s original catch, which it attacked, still in its mouth and lodged halfway down its throat – an 18-inch drum fish.
A catfish had something in its mouth
“It was amazing,” Opfer said. “You would think an 18-inch drum fish would be pretty safe. Sometimes we wonder if a minnow is too large. I guess that answers that question.
“How big the drum was did not concern the catfish. The drum’s dorsal fin was clinging to the flathead’s throat. My hook never touched the catfish. The drum was actually the hook.”
Unlike Santiago, Opfer had digital photos to validate his story.
It will be a while before he can top this fish tale!
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Fishing always picks up as the nights begin to get cooler and autumn approaches.
Local anglers have been finding that out.
“They area catching some nice rainbows and smallmouth bass on the Youghiogheny River below Connellsville in the vicinity of Camp Carmel.
“They are also catching quite a few sauger from Dawson down to Layton and some sheephead.”
Opfer is still spending every weekend patrolling the Mon.
“They are catching a lot of sauger and white bass and some striper hybrids on the Mon, especially at night. They say fishing is best where some sort of light hits the water as it attracts the baitfish, which in turn, attract the white bass and sauger.
“I heard that on guys if fishing below the Point Marion lock and catching a good many 20-pound striper hybrids.”
Is fishing good the entire length of the Cheat River from the day to the Mon?
“I never see anyone catching anything in the middle of that stretch,” Opfer said. “Part of the Cheat is dead. They only catch fish from the dam halfway down to the Mon. It is probably because of acidic water flowing in, plus you can’t get all the way up the river in a boat.”
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Opfer was happy with the success of two of his pet projects – the youth only fishing areas at Dunlap Creek Lake and Virgin Run Dam.
“The youth projects saw more participation this year than last,” Opfer said.
“I was watching at Virgin Run one afternoon. A little boy about four or five years old hooked a big golden rainbow. His father tried to net it once and missed. With his rod bent, the boy got it back to shore again and his father was able to net it that time. Everybody was clapping as his dad netted it. It was a nice scene.
“That area is not even trout water. We didn’t sacrifice anything by developing it for the youngsters. It was all gain, definitely a good project.”
He gave a lot of credit for the success of the project to a handful of tireless volunteers who spend countless hours of their time to make it a success.
In commenting on the Dunlap youth area, Opfer said, “Dunlap is nice. If we could only get it dredged. It is a sediment control pond, and it does what it is intended to do. But it would really be nice if we could get it cleaned out. It would take all sorts of permits to do it.”
Rod Schoener is the Herald-Standard outdoors writer.