Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - July/August 2017 - 13

figure 8 to see if that would revive it.
After about 2 minutes, he let the fish
go and again it rolled over on its side. I
told him to keep trying. He asked me,
"Isn't there something better that we
can try?" I asked him what he meant.
He said, "There's CPR for people, isn't
there a better way to revive a fish?" I
told him that as a matter of fact, I had
CPR training and that if he wanted to
do two-person CPR on the fish that I
was willing to do so. I would be happy
to do the chest compressions as long as
he was willing to blow into the fishes
mouth and give the breaths. The idea of
kissing the bass did not appeal to him,
and yes, he did finally revive the fish
enough that it managed to swim away
on its own.-WCO Thomas Benevento,
Southern Chester County.

See that guy over there?

As Waterways Conservation
Officers (WCOs), we get to do some
amazing tasks in the name of the job.
We set up our own details, train on
many topics from CPR to firearms,
and we sometimes fish undercover.
This story pertains to a conversation
that happened while I was undercover
fishing for steelhead at Walnut Creek,
Erie County.
It was a busy day, and I was fishing
just upstream from the Manchester
Hole. I started talking to the angler next
to me. Small talk quickly shifted to a
more serious topic-law enforcement.
The guy leaned near me and stated
in a low voice, "Don't make it obvious,
but you see that guy behind us sitting
on the log?" I turned and looked and
said, "Yeah, what about him?" The
angler replied, "Watch yourself. That's
an undercover officer." I said, "You're
kidding me. How do you know?"
He replied, "I can detect those guys
anywhere. They think they are so slick."
To which I replied, "That's a sneaky
thing to do. Thanks for the warning."
We then continued our fishing and
small talk for a few more hours until it
was time for me to leave.
Imagine the look on his face when I
badged the whole stream for a license

inspection on my way out. I remember
the look on his face was priceless.-
WCO Chad E. Doyle, Southcentral
Crawford and Eastern Mercer counties.

Mistaken identity

In late August, I was patrolling
Canal Park boat access, one of my
more popular boating pools on the
Lehigh River. There was only one
vehicle in the parking area with a
trailer and a few anglers who were
packing up their fishing gear. As I
walked towards the launch ramp,
I heard the buzz of a personal
watercraft coming my way. When I
saw the individual, he was moving at
a high rate of speed. The individual
pulled up to the boat ramp and
immediately jumped onto land.
When I approached the individual, I
could tell something was wrong. He
was out of breath, could barely speak,
and he looked like he just saw a
ghost. After a minute, the gentleman
calmed down, so I asked him what
was wrong. He told me that he was
in a rush to get off the water and will
not be boating here anymore.
I asked him, "Why? What happened?"
He told me he saw an alligator right
next to him, and it smacked the water.
I asked, "Are you sure it wasn't just
a beaver?"
"No sir, this was definitely an
alligator." It had a long tail, not a flat,
wide tail. Can I please get my Jet Ski®
on the trailer?" he responded.
I thought to myself, "Please, not
another alligator." A few months
prior, there was an alligator that
someone abandoned in the canal less
than 200 yards away, so I grabbed
my binoculars and started scanning
the river. Soon, I heard a "smack"
and "splash" and saw an elongated,
thick-bodied creature making a heck
of a wake. I thought, "No way." After
another thorough look, I discovered
the identity of the alligator, and
I couldn't believe it. This was the
first time I ever saw a wild River
Otter. I showed the man what he

mistakenly identified as an alligator.
He couldn't believe it either. We had
a good laugh. He said, "I guess I'll
see you here next boating season." I
immediately contacted Pennsylvania
Game Commission Wildlife
Conservation Officer Kreider and
asked him if he knew of any otters
in this area of the river. He knew of
them on the Lehigh River but not
upstream this far. He appreciated the
call and reported the information to
his region office. Now, we'll have to
keep an eye out for otters as well as
alligators in this part of the river.-
WCO Travis Miller, Lehigh County.

Enjoying lunch

Deputy Waterways Conservation
Officer Mason and I were patrolling
along the Lackawaxen River on the
opening day of trout, it was around
11:00 a.m., and some of the anglers
were starting to take a break for
lunch. As we came around a bend in
the road, there was a large pull off
where we decided to stop and talk to
the anglers to see how their day was
going. As I approached a vehicle, we
noticed that they had a card table set
up with a table cloth on it, along with
items to make some lunch, and there
was a vase of fresh cut flowers in the
middle of the table.-WCO Robert
A. Plumb, Northern Wallenpaupack,
Pike County.

illustration-Andrea Feeney

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