Prettyboy

To help mark the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, tree plantings are scheduled this weekend, and also in November, in the Loch Raven and Prettyboy watersheds. Both the Gunpowder Valley Conservancy and the Prettyboy Watershed Alliance will each host plantings on Saturday, Oct. 20, and the Prettyboy group will also conduct a planting on Saturday, Nov. 10.  The new trees are intended to help protect both the Loch Raven and Prettyboy reservoirs from runoff, and will also absorb pollutants that would otherwise enter the water supply. Together, the two reservoirs provide drinking water to 1.8 million people in the region every day. The Prettyboy Watershed Alliance received two grants from the Chesapeake Bay Trust, totaling $5,666, which will be used to plant 500 trees.

Since the 1930s, warm weather and sunshine is a signal for many in Carroll and Baltimore counties to venture outdoors for biking, hiking fishing and boating trips in the Gunpowder River and Prettyboy watershed in the Hereford area. Spring has arrived just in time to help celebrate Prettyboy Reservoir Day this Saturday, April 27, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. This year the Baltimore City Department of Public Works, the Prettyboy Watershed Alliance, Carroll and Baltimore County have joined forces for the one-day event as a part Earth Day celebrations and Baltimore Green Week.

Duke Nohe unhooked the fat 14-inch white perch from his spinnerbait lure, admired the catch and flatly proclaimed, "I fully believe that this is probably the best white perch water in the state."What Chesapeake Bay tributary were we fishing? None of them, but rather we were in picturesque Prettyboy Reservoir in northern Baltimore County.How those fish got from the Bay to Prettyboy is a mystery.The most popular theory is that the Department of Natural Resources either mistakenly or covertly planted them when they released hybrid striped bass in the reservoir some years back.

A man's body was pulled from Prettyboy Reservoir in Northern Baltimore County Thursday, police said. The body of a 26-year-old male who was reported missing Wednesday night, was recovered by drivers around 11:30 a.m., said police spokeswoman Cpl. Cathy Batton. His identity has not been released pending notification of his family. Police have not found any signs of foul play, she said, but the medical examiner will determine the cause and manner of death. Batton said the man's vehicle was found in the area, as well as his phone, keys and wallet.

Duke Nohe unhooked the fat 14-inch white perch from his spinnerbait lure, admired the catch and flatly proclaimed, "I fully believe that this is probably the best white perch water in the state."What Chesapeake Bay tributary were we fishing? None of them -- we were in Prettyboy Reservoir in northern Baltimore County.How those fish got from the Bay to Prettyboy is a mystery.The most popular theory is that the Department of Natural Resources either mistakenly or covertly planted them when they released hybrid striped bass in the reservoir some years back.

I feel lucky for having been in the right place at the right time Saturday morning. At 7 o'clock, I hiked a fire road covered with pine needles into the Prettyboy Reservoir watershed in northern Baltimore County. As I stepped down some stone ledges to a silent cove, I saw a ghost - a wide, white gauzy veil sailing across the reservoir, just inches above the water. It was a morning mist that moved quickly, pushed by an erratic breeze into a surreal dance, rising and curling, dropping, then running fast and straight.

Let's hope today's a washout. Tomorrow, too. Heck, it could rain from now until the end of the mourning dove season's first split on Oct. 19 as far as I'm concerned. That's what we need to help keep Prettyboy Reservoir afloat, put water back into the Gunpowder River tributaries and perk up the trout stock. To look at the Gunpowder right now, you'd swear things were hunky dory. Water gushes over rocks and races downstream. Wading fly fishermen need stout hiking sticks to fight the current.

Doris L. McPherson, a retired reading specialist with Baltimore County schools who seemed to always have "a trick up her sleeve" to teach students, died May 4 of cancer at her Parkton home. She was 54.Mrs. McPherson began her education career as a first-grade teacher at Owings Mills Elementary School and became a reading specialist at Prettyboy Elementary in the mid-1970s."She had great rapport with the students. She had great knowledge of how to reach students with reading problems," said Margo Kwoka, who worked with Mrs. McPherson for many && years at Prettyboy Elementary.

D on Roberts is a fisherman. Nearly four decades ago, he was lucky enough to marry a kindred spirit. Every year Don takes Letty Roberts out fishing for her birthday. So when Aug. 12 rolled around, instead of lighting 67 candles, the couple launched their boat at their local fishing hole, Prettyboy Reservoir. Don knows a thing or two about Prettyboy. For 35 years, he fished the reservoir with Duke Nohe, the acknowledged guru who knew every hump, bump and lump where bass hang out. Nohe, who died almost four years ago, could land a bass the way Chuck Yeager landed jets.

This is the time when Prettyboy Reservoir fishermen thin bass or big white perch, but not Linda Keeney of Finksburg. She got a fish so large, her husband Larry Zile doesn't think it realized it was hooked -- until it was too late."

To help mark the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, tree plantings are scheduled this weekend, and also in November, in the Loch Raven and Prettyboy watersheds. Both the Gunpowder Valley Conservancy and the Prettyboy Watershed Alliance will each host plantings on Saturday, Oct. 20, and the Prettyboy group will also conduct a planting on Saturday, Nov. 10.  The new trees are intended to help protect both the Loch Raven and Prettyboy reservoirs from runoff, and will also absorb pollutants that would otherwise enter the water supply. Together, the two reservoirs provide drinking water to 1.8 million people in the region every day. The Prettyboy Watershed Alliance received two grants from the Chesapeake Bay Trust, totaling $5,666, which will be used to plant 500 trees.

Baltimore County Police are investigating a single vehicle crash that killed two people late Saturday, April 14, in the area of Falls Road at Beckleysville Road near the northwestern edge of the county. Police said the incident occurred on April 14, at 10 p.m. Police responded to the intersection of Falls Road and Beckleysville Road, west of Prettyboy Reservoir, and found a 1994 Honda Civic at the location. Investigation revealed that the vehicle was traveling southbound on Falls Road, when the driver lost control of the car, left the roadway, and rolled the vehicle.

Send sports notices a minimum of two weeks before the requested publication date to Patuxent Publishing/MS Sports Notices, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, MD 21278; email tworgo@patuxent.com . Include date, time, location, contact information and subsection. Competitive Baltimore Tennis Patrons forming fall and winter indoor instructional and team tennis programs for Baltimore City and Baltimore County boys and girls in grades four to 12. Program runs October to March.410-296-2100 or http://www.tennispatrons.org.

A father, his son and two juveniles from Dundalk were found safe in Parkton June 2 after apparently spending the night outside with their kayaks and inner tubes, said Baltimore County police spokeswoman Susan Hunt. Hunt said the four left the Dundalk area at 4 p.m. on June 1 with two kayaks and an inner tube to enjoy water sports in the Prettyboy Dam area. The man's wife called police at North Point Precinct at 6:19 a.m. June 2 to report the four never came home. Officers from Cockeysville police precinct and Department of Natural Resources personnel began a search of the area when the man called his wife on his cell phone.

After all this rain, Greg Koppenhoeffer of Ellicott City wondered whether Baltimore's reservoirs were full yet. He looked for numbers online but found none. The city hopes to post reservoir data on a new Web site sometime this summer. Call Public Works, and they'll say Loch Raven and Prettyboy are full. Liberty is rising at 98.9 percent. Combined, they're at 99.4 percent. Plenty.

D on Roberts is a fisherman. Nearly four decades ago, he was lucky enough to marry a kindred spirit. Every year Don takes Letty Roberts out fishing for her birthday. So when Aug. 12 rolled around, instead of lighting 67 candles, the couple launched their boat at their local fishing hole, Prettyboy Reservoir. Don knows a thing or two about Prettyboy. For 35 years, he fished the reservoir with Duke Nohe, the acknowledged guru who knew every hump, bump and lump where bass hang out. Nohe, who died almost four years ago, could land a bass the way Chuck Yeager landed jets.

Seeking to protect the land surrounding a large portion of the metropolitan area's water supply, a group of conservationists, government officials and neighbors of Prettyboy Reservoir is working this week to find ways to protect the reservoir's watershed. As a weeklong conference on the health of the watershed started yesterday, participants said they would explore such issues as agricultural pollution and runoff from development. Among the primary concerns of the "stewardship exchange" is the declining amount of forest land in the watershed, which extends from Baltimore County to Carroll and to York County, Pa. "The forests are the best things that can happen for water quality," Rob Northrop, watershed forester for the state Department of Natural Resources, told a group of about 50 people gathered at a restaurant near the reservoir.

The Prettyboy Dam, completed in 1933, created Prettyboy Reservoir. Gunpowder Falls, the river below the dam, has become an ideal spot to cool off, hike along the trails and get away from the city.