‘Cap’n Al’ retiring from bait, tackle shop business
Al Packan, standing inside his shop recalls the history of Dunlap Lake. After nearly 40 years of suppling anglers at the lake, Cap’n Al and Son’s will be going out of business.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Al Packan, owner for Cap’s Al and Sons, stands in front of his bait and tackle shop adjacent to Dunlap Lake in Menallen Townsip. After nearly 40 years in business, Cap’n Al’s will be closing.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Al Packan, points to Dunlap Lake in Menallen Township and remembers when the lake was constructed as a flood control project in the early 1970’s.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Al Packan holds a net full of bait fish available to anglers at his Dunlap Lake shop.
Last Saturday marked the end of a 41-year-old fishing and boating tradition at Dunlap Creek Lake in Menallen Township.
Al Packan, owner of Cap’n Al and Sons, said Nov. 19 was his last day of running the lakeside bait, tackle and boat rental shop he opened in 1976.
At 75 years old, Packan said the time is right to get out of the fishing business and sell his lakeside home, which are set on three acres, and find a smaller home for him and his wife. Both are retired educators.
“I’ve told a lot of people already, regardless of whether I move or not, I’m not going to be open next year,” Packan said.
Opening from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and sometimes until 9 p.m. during spring and summertime from February or March through early November requires dedication of a lot of time, which Packan said he and his wife now prefer to spend with their grandchildren.
The shop is on the same lot as his house, which is getting harder to maintain as the couple gets older, Packan said.
“We want to downsize,” he said.
Several people have expressed interest in renting the business from him, he said.
“Everybody knows about Cap’n Al’s,” Packan said.
He said he has met anglers from throughout the region who came to the lake for the trout fishing that he helped make productive by organizing the Dunlap Lake Stocking Committee, which stocked trophy sized trout and some catfish and crappies. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission also stocks the lake with trout.
“I feel bad in a way, but I’m not getting younger. It takes a lot of time. If you want to do it right, you have to spend a lot of time there,” Packan said.
His business and the lake grew up together.
Packan said he found out the state was planning to create the lake after he bought a larger piece of property in 1973 or 1974.
Fayette County bought 4.5 acres from him and land from other owners to build the lake, he said.
Construction of his home started about the same time work started on the lake.
“I watched them build it,” Packan said about the lake.
At the time, he said he fished, but wasn’t an avid angler and had no experience with boats, but his brother in law suggested that opening a bait, tackle and boat shop on the lake shore seemed like a good business opportunity.
“I figured it was good way to make some money on the side,” Packan said.
He and his wife were teachers and he went on to become a principal in the Turkeyfoot Valley and Uniontown school districts.
He had friends run the shop for him while he was working until he retired in 1997.
“In 1976, I opened with a metal shed and three new 12-foot aluminum boats from Sears,” Packan said.
Due to his unfamiliarity with boating, he said he neglected to buy paddles and anchors for the boats, which he rented to anglers.
“We graduated from row boats to electric motor trolling boats. I was learning as I went along and growing as I went along,” Packan said.
A couple years later, he obtained a license to repair outboard boat motors and became a boat dealer.
A large building that served as the bait and tackle shop and a boat and trailer showroom and repair shop was destroyed in an arson in 2009.
“We sold beautiful boats here,” Packan said.
The fire was devastating and he said he didn’t want to re-open, but anglers from the lake would come to his house asking for bait so he decided to give it another shot.
However, he said could not obtain the building permit necessary to replace the structure, so he placed a small trailer on the site and has been working out of it since then.
The lake is where most of his customers fished and all they had to do was ask if they wanted to know about the history of the lake.
“I try to give people information so the story of the lake development isn’t lost,” Packan said. “It was build for flood control.”
Before the dam was built, a small stream flowed through the property.
Heavy rain caused the stream to flood Fairbanks, Filbert and Republic, he said.
Underground springs are the primary source of water in the lake and they provide a steady flow of water even during droughts, Packan said.
Workers placed flags where the parking lot, boat launch and restroom were later built. Pavilions, sturdy picnic tables and a playground were gradually installed, Packan said.
Over time, the playground equipment was removed and some picnic tables were stolen, he said.
In the early 1990s, lake anglers started complaining to him that the trout stocked by the state were too small and asked him if he could help, he said.
He started the committee, which raised money to buy trout measuring 14-30 inches from the Laurel Hill Trout Farm in Somerset County to stock in the lake.
Pictures of anglers posing with some of those lunkers remain taped to the walls of the shop.
Experience gained in submitting grant applications from his tenure as an educator helped him secure a $10,000 grant from Fay-Penn Economic Development Council to construct a paved walkway that enables handicapped angers to fish from the lake shore, Packan said.
He went on to obtain other grants for benches and playground equipment.
“We tried to help the county by getting grant and making it family oriented. It’s a beautiful place,” Packan said.
The restrooms were a problem. Anglers complained because the facilities were not maintained well, he said.
Portable restrooms were set up, but people complain about them too, he said.
The committee spearheaded an effort that resulted in 93 porcupine cribs getting placed on the lake bottom over the course of five years for habitat and hiding places for small and young fish.
Packan said the committee purchased the lumber and concrete blocks for the cribs. PFBC staff made the cribs from the materials and pushed them into the lake from a boat equipped with rollers on the deck, he said. Local high school students took part in that project, he added.
He said the committee, county officials and officials from the PFBC, Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Conservation and Natural Resources meet quarterly to discuss improvements to the lake, which is at the center of county-owned Dunlap Creek Park.
Plans for the future include a new concrete restroom building, renovating pavilions and building a walking trail around the lake.
Packan said county and fish and boat commission officials contact him if they want to check on activity at the lake.
It grew into a popular fishing destination.
“There are people who are really interested in renting it,” Packan said about the business.
If the house is sold, the property were the shop is located would go with it, he said.
He said he had been selling some of his merchandise at reduced prices, but the future of the remains uncertain.
“I wont be running it any more. Time marches on as my dad used to say,” Packan said.
“Opening day of trout season is mind boggling. There are people everywhere,” Packan said.
The future of the shop is uncertain, but Packan said he loved the business and appreciates all of his customers.
If he sells his house and moves, he said he hopes the new owner will want to keep the shop open.