Fishing Line

Many people see problems and ask why someone isn't doing something about it. Not Stephen Brown. When he recognized the environmental issues created by castoff monofilament fishing line, which is hazardous to birds, fish, animals and boaters, Stephen took action. A member of Boy Scout Troop 973 in Abingdon, Stephen and his fellow Scouts worked along with Harford County Parks and Recreation specialists Chad McGraw and Meghan Denhard to develop and implement an Eagle Scout project which resulted in the construction and placement of 13 bins specifically for the disposal of used fishing line.

Kenny Files said he "knew I had something" when he felt more than a little tug on his fishing line April 14 in the flood-swollen Potomac River near Williamsport in Washington County. Files, who was 12 at the time and has been fishing since "I was 3 or 4" pulled in a 31.75-pound muskie after casting a large white plastic grub lure. It turned out to be the state record. Files' father, Ken, said he was a bit surprised at his son's big haul. He had been fishing the same waters across from their home Falling Waters, W.Va., and had not caught anything bigger than a 9 1/2- pound largemouth bass at their regular fishing spot.

Howard County Fire and Rescue Services responded in full force to a distress call Wednesday night - a great blue heron was dangling 60 feet above ground from a tree near the Little Patuxent River in Savage. The assembled rescuers - two fire engines, a ladder truck and 14 firefighters from volunteer and career companies - required about 30 minutes to untangle the injured young male from what appeared to be kite string or fishing line. Two firefighters in an aerial ladder basket wrapped the heron - a protected species - in a blanket and carefully cut away the line before taking him to the Savage fire station to await assistance from a wildlife rescue group.

Many people see problems and ask why someone isn't doing something about it. Not Stephen Brown. When he recognized the environmental issues created by castoff monofilament fishing line, which is hazardous to birds, fish, animals and boaters, Stephen took action. A member of Boy Scout Troop 973 in Abingdon, Stephen and his fellow Scouts worked along with Harford County Parks and Recreation specialists Chad McGraw and Meghan Denhard to develop and implement an Eagle Scout project which resulted in the construction and placement of 13 bins specifically for the disposal of used fishing line.

Kenny Files said he "knew I had something" when he felt more than a little tug on his fishing line April 14 in the flood-swollen Potomac River near Williamsport in Washington County. Files, who was 12 at the time and has been fishing since "I was 3 or 4" pulled in a 31.75-pound muskie after casting a large white plastic grub lure. It turned out to be the state record. Files' father, Ken, said he was a bit surprised at his son's big haul. He had been fishing the same waters across from their home Falling Waters, W.Va., and had not caught anything bigger than a 9 1/2- pound largemouth bass at their regular fishing spot.

Bill Alwine , an avid angler from Sparks, writes: I have approximately 1,000 yards of used monofilament line. What is the best, and most eco-friendly way, to dispose of this without harming any wildlife or the environment? Outdoors Girl applauds your decision to rid yourself of nasty fishing line in a responsible manner. Plastic monofilament takes more than 500 years to decompose. Carelessly discarded line can kill seabirds, fish and other wildlife. Many Maryland state parks have white receptacles near fishing spots for anglers to dump old line.

The folks at Wenger, maker of Swiss Army stuff, call their newest little gizmo a personal manicure tool. Shows you what they know. Any angler - especially a fly guy or gal - will take one look at this fancy nail clipper and say, "What a neat fishing tool to clip to my vest." The Clipper comes two ways: one with a tiny knife blade and the other with a screwdriver, which makes it OK for air travel. The other tools are a clipper (good for nails or fishing line), a pair of scissors, a nail file (I've removed hook barbs with it)

Early in the second act of Little Women, the heroine gets bad news. The audience begins to weep helplessly and doesn't stop for a solid half-hour. The Hippodrome Theatre begins to fill with sea-water. After 10 minutes, you could pilot a small boat down the aisles. After 20, you could drop a fishing line into the waves and catch a late dinner. Heck, even the fish are crying. Little Women 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays; 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m. Sundays. Through April 23. Hippodrome Theatre, 12 N. Eutaw St. $26-$71.

Fishing Ron Lewis' catch Sunday morning taxed his fishing line, dwarfed his net and overwhelmed his new digital scale. The huge blue catfish muscled its way past the state record with these measurements: 67.1 pounds, 51 inches long and 34.5 inches around. "I don't know if it's the biggest fish I've ever seen, but it's the biggest fish I ever caught," said Lewis, 45, a construction foreman from Point of Rocks. Longtime angler and buddy Jimmy Griffith launched their boat into the Potomac River about 7 a.m. and quickly made for their favorite fishing spot near Fort Washington.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- It is not difficult to separate truth from fiction when it concerns Baltimore Orioles right-hander Ben McDonald. Here's a rule of thumb: The more it sounds like fiction, the more likely it is to be true.So, when a report surfaced that there was an alligator in the clubhouse, everyone laughed nervously and looked around for the only guy who would have the nerve to get close to one. Sure enough, McDonald had found a friend and brought him along to work."I caught it on a fishing line and brought it to the clubhouse in a duffel bag," McDonald said.

Bill Alwine , an avid angler from Sparks, writes: I have approximately 1,000 yards of used monofilament line. What is the best, and most eco-friendly way, to dispose of this without harming any wildlife or the environment? Outdoors Girl applauds your decision to rid yourself of nasty fishing line in a responsible manner. Plastic monofilament takes more than 500 years to decompose. Carelessly discarded line can kill seabirds, fish and other wildlife. Many Maryland state parks have white receptacles near fishing spots for anglers to dump old line.

Nobody gets a shiny new bike for Christmas anymore. They get a video game version of the Tour de France. Nobody gets a sweater or a shirt or a tie these days. They get an iPhone, an iPad, a Kindle or Xbox Kinect. And stockings are stuffed with controllers, headsets and AA batteries instead of candy. It was a high-tech holiday this year, and the grown-ups in my family were scrambling to keep up with the kids. We were faking that look of composure, the one we save for the self-checkout lines at Home Depot.

Descendants of fish that roamed the seas when dinosaurs ruled the earth, Atlantic sturgeon are in danger of disappearing just like their ancestors. They're the biggest, strangest-looking fish most people have never seen in the Chesapeake Bay, so few are left in these waters. Now, at the urging of an environmental group, the federal government wants to formally classify them as endangered, which triggers stricter legal protection from harm for the remaining sturgeon. But some scientists and state officials worry it could also complicate efforts to restore their numbers.

Fishing Ron Lewis' catch Sunday morning taxed his fishing line, dwarfed his net and overwhelmed his new digital scale. The huge blue catfish muscled its way past the state record with these measurements: 67.1 pounds, 51 inches long and 34.5 inches around. "I don't know if it's the biggest fish I've ever seen, but it's the biggest fish I ever caught," said Lewis, 45, a construction foreman from Point of Rocks. Longtime angler and buddy Jimmy Griffith launched their boat into the Potomac River about 7 a.m. and quickly made for their favorite fishing spot near Fort Washington.

There's scarcely a ripple on the tiny pond tucked behind the strip mall on Route 3 in Crofton. People do their banking, mail their letters and buy their coffee just steps from where, five years ago this week, the saga of Maryland's nastiest fish surfaced on the end of a fishing line. Over the course of several months, the northern snakehead - also called "Frankenfish," "the baddest bunny in the bush" or the "fish from hell" - leaped from the waters of Southeast Asia to the world's headlines to the late-night talk shows.

Let's talk trash. Not the nasty verbiage or playground hoops variety. Garbage. Rubbish. Trash. You know, the kind of stuff that decorates our landscape. On the opening day of put-and-take trout fishing, I was grossed out by the amount of fishing line hanging from tree limbs and wrapped around bushes and rocks at a number of spots. Equally disturbing - the number of discarded white cardboard bait cartons floating in back eddies and bumping along the shore. Several of you have noticed, too. You've gotten in touch with me in recent weeks to comment about the volume of crud you've found streamside, trailside and roadside this spring.

WITH HEADS nearly the size of their bodies, the week-old osprey chicks just stare at me as I stand on tiptoe on the channel marker 8 feet above the Severn River. The anxious parents flap nearby, attempting to scare me off with their squawks and chirps. Not to worry; as an afraid-of-heights, can't-swim human, I am doing a good job of frightening myself. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees wait in their boat below ready to activate a search-and-rescue mission. While the chicks are impossibly cute, what is hanging a short distance from their heads is not. Old discarded plastic and fishing line are woven into the nest.

A few weeks ago, while on a photographic expedition to Conowingo Dam, I noticed several anglers wading on the Harford County side of the Susquehanna River.They were casting a variety of lures with medium-weight spinning tackle. Some anglers were connecting with smallmouth bass and hickory shad while others hooked up with catfish and carp. The weather was perfect, water conditions relatively clear and at least half the anglers were catching some sort of fish.One particular fisherman, a young man of about 25, was having a great deal of difficulty landing fish.

The folks at Wenger, maker of Swiss Army stuff, call their newest little gizmo a personal manicure tool. Shows you what they know. Any angler - especially a fly guy or gal - will take one look at this fancy nail clipper and say, "What a neat fishing tool to clip to my vest." The Clipper comes two ways: one with a tiny knife blade and the other with a screwdriver, which makes it OK for air travel. The other tools are a clipper (good for nails or fishing line), a pair of scissors, a nail file (I've removed hook barbs with it)

Early in the second act of Little Women, the heroine gets bad news. The audience begins to weep helplessly and doesn't stop for a solid half-hour. The Hippodrome Theatre begins to fill with sea-water. After 10 minutes, you could pilot a small boat down the aisles. After 20, you could drop a fishing line into the waves and catch a late dinner. Heck, even the fish are crying. Little Women 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays; 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m. Sundays. Through April 23. Hippodrome Theatre, 12 N. Eutaw St. $26-$71.