Although there's plenty to do at the hatchery open house, folks might want to show up early for other wildlife-watching opportunities around Linesville.

The most famous is the Pymatuning Reservoir spillway, where carp gather by the thousands to be fed by an estimated 300,000 tourists per year.

"Now that ice is off the lake, carp are coming back from the deeper water," said Pymatuning State Park manager Pete Houghton.

The spillway is located a quarter mile from the hatchery. People are welcome to bring bread to feed the carp, as well as the ducks that walk on the carps' backs to beg for food. But Houghton asks that tourists refrain from tossing cake, cookies, and hot dogs into the water. Carp pellets and loaves of day-old bread can be purchased at concession stands at the spillway, which was recently renovated with new rest rooms, concession facilities and handicapped access.

Open water on Pymatuning also means migratory birds are beginning to touch down near the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Pymatuning Wildlife Learning Center, next door to the hatchery. The center doesn't open for the season until April 8, but a walking trail and viewing platform are open year-round and offer vantage points for seeing dozens of species of waterfowl from mergansers to puddle ducks to swans.

"At this time of year, they're at their most attractive because they're in their breeding plumage," said Game Commission education supervisor Regis Senko. "Pymatuning is also one of the premier places in the state to see a bald eagle."

Pymatuning State Park's annual Pymatuning Eagle Weekend concludes May 21, with prearranged tours of nearby places to observe the nesting, perching and soaring of mature and immature bald eagles and other raptors and waterfowl. (Another Eagle Weekend is planned April 9-11, call 724-932-3142 for details.)

South of Meadville on I-79 is Geneva Swamp, the state's largest wetland and a hot spot for birders and other wildlife watchers. And don't forget the park and lake themselves. At 21,122 acres, Pymatuning is the largest state park in Pennsylvania. The 17,088-acre Pymatuning Reservoir, the largest lake in the commonwealth (with management shared by Ohio), is spanned by two causeways offering scenic views.

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