Canon-McMillan duo has good summer fishing
A pair of Canon-McMillan High School students, Nick Fulks and John Eckels, have spent a fruitful spring and summer on the lakes competing in a number of high-profile bass fishing touranments.
Fulks and Eckels, along with Fulks’ father, Ryan, who serves as their boat captain, won the West Virginia B.A.S.S. Nation High School Championship in May, qualifying them for the Costa Bassmaster High School National Championship July 22 through 25 on Kentucky Lake in Tennessee.
The duo caught three fish at the national championship, finishing 61st out of 136 teams with 10 pounds, 2 ounces of fish. The winners, Alex Heintze and Justin Watts of Louisiana, caught a whopping 15 fish that weighed in at 66 pounds, with their top five fish coming in at 22-2.
Fulks and Eckels also took first place this year at the Pennsylvania B.A.S.S. Nation High School Western Qualifier and third at the Pennsylvania B.A.S.S. Nation High School Championship.
• While at the Steelers training camp last week, I was fortunate to do a radio show at Dino’s in Latrobe. The same night, the White Oak Rotary was having a fundraiser benefitting the Western Pa. Wounded Warriors.
The group raised $2,000 that night toward the purchase of all-terrain wheelchairs that will be donated to the Wounded Warriors, which is based here in Washington County. Already, the White Oak Rotary has raised enough money for three chairs, one of which was donated that night.
“What better way to hunt and fish than in an all-terrain wheelchair,” said rotary spokesperson Jen Miele, a former reporter at WTAE-TV.
“Wounded Warriors will keep the track chairs in Washington County and any time guys come in to hunt and fish, they can hop in one of the wheelchairs and be ready to go.”
Each chair costs $15,000 and the White Oak Rotarians are continuing their efforts to purchase 10. If you’d like to find out how to donate or know a Wounded Warrior who could benefit from one of the chairs, visit the group’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/WhiteOakPaRotary.
• The Pennsylvania Game Commission will begin selling its second round of unsold antlerless deer licenses beginning Monday.
As of Saturday, Wildlife Management Unit 2A, which includes Greene and most of Washington counties, had just over 24,000 licenses remaining with nearly 19,000 sold.
WMU 2B, which includes the northeastern corner of Washington County, had nearly 51,000 licenses remaining with just over 10,000 sold.
Most WMUs have already sold out their allotment of licenses. In addition to WMU 2A and 2B, units 1A, 4A, 5C and 5D are the only ones with licenses remaining.
Outdoors Editor F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.