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Sunday, May 19, 2002

By Deborah Weisberg

On a day that could not have been less fishing-friendly, about a dozen anglers cast convention to the wind and spent their lunch hour Wednesday landing catfish and carp -- and rock bass, sauger and sheepshead -- at the first event for the Downtown TriAnglers, a club for urban fishers.

Still clad in a suit, John Brady spends his lunch hour fishing at the Point with the Downtown TriAnglers, an organization created by the Western Pennsylvania Field Institute. (Franka Bruns, Post-Gazette photos)

Created by the Western Pennsylvania Field Institute, a nonprofit outdoors group, the TriAnglers meet 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesdays through the summer at Point State Park.

The WPFI supplies free tackle and instruction. Participants need only show up with a license and a sense of adventure.

Karen Gainey of Avalon, who has taught freshwater fishing at Community College of Allegheny County for years, had scouted the Point until she found a slack spot where the Allegheny, raging from recent rains at two feet above normal, converged with the Monongahela. Though the sun blazed in a cloudless sky, high winds gave the air a chilly edge. A mother duck and her brood of 14 lingered in the eddy, unruffled by the driftwood and other debris that bobbed by.

Anglers also were undaunted, despite warnings about fast water from the Army Corps of Engineers and sewage pollution from the Allegheny County Health Department.

"Neat-o!" said Janice Meehan, as she reeled a 15-inch golden carp through the murky pool. "This is really fun!" She and her mother, Jeanne Meehan, had come by bus from Pleasant Hills, dressed for the outing in bluejeans and windbreakers. They fished beside businessmen, who cast from the sea wall while their suit coats and ties flapped in the breeze.

Real estate developer Bill Widdoes of Aspinwall had walked from his office out of curiosity, not intending to wet a line.

"I'd read about this in the Post-Gazette and wanted to see what might be available in our own back yard," he said. "I usually fly-fish for trout but I'll fish for anything that swims. I've fished along the [Carnegie] Science Center bank, and then I'll shoot up to Pine Creek and fish the delayed harvest there."

But when the fishing turned on, Widdoes set down his briefcase and grabbed a rod -- not the fly rod he might bring in future weeks, but one donated to the WPFI by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission for the TriAnglers.

Banker David Immonen of Wexford was the first to catch a fish. Though he's a regular at Oil Creek, Neshannock and Erie, he had never explored the urban angle, and beamed when he brought a 14-inch channel cat on a crawler from the depths of the Downtown waters.

"Be careful how you handle that," said Gainey as she rushed to supervise its release. "Their spines will sting you.

"And those," she said, pointing to the whiskers on the fish's head. "Those are barbels."

Though he didn't set up a tank Wednesday, WPFI program director Sean Brady plans to have a 152-quart, five-foot long aquarium on site each week so he and Gainey can teach people about the species they catch. And any one of dozens of different types of sport fish could wind up on someone's hook.

"I think one of the reasons people fish is because they like the way the fish look, how pretty they are," he said.

It also helps the novice to learn the difference between, say, a white bass and a walleye. But the idea behind the TriAnglers is to get Pittsburghers to appreciate existing resources in new ways.

Some have long enjoyed the secret.

"I've caught bass by the Carnegie Science Center," said retiree Frank Ventrosco of the North Side, who fishes the rivers almost daily. "Catfish and bass by the Sewickley dam. A 19-inch hybrid striper under the 31st Street Bridge."

	David Immonen takes a look at a catfish he caught fishing at the Point on Wednesday.

David Neuer of Edgewood, a computer programmer, arrived on Wednesday seeking a break from the way he usually spends his lunch hour -- on his computer -- and because he wants to introduce his 4 1/2-year-old son to fishing.

"I haven't done this in 20 years," he said, as he landed an 8-inch sauger on a twister tail.

Brady ran over with a camera, capturing Neuer's pride with the Duquesne incline as a backdrop.

"I can tell you one thing," he said. "It's better out here than indoors!"

Linda Burke of Dormont showed up because she, too, wants to fish with her son, Tommy, 14.

"He's dying for me to do this with him," said Burke, who had only an hour to spare but got started on the basics. "My son will put a string on a line and buy some hooks and catch 18 crappies that way. I want to find out here what kind of rods to buy, and how to fish so I can go with him."

As amused as the anglers were, so, too, were passers-by, who slowed their lunch-time strolls to watch fish wriggle on hooks.

"Squat down," shouted one observer to retiree Ray Bowman of Mt. Lebanon as he posed for a picture with his 15-inch sheepshead. "It'll make the fish look bigger!"

At about 1:30 p.m., the group began to disperse and return to work.

"I have about 10 seconds left," said Immonen, threading a leech onto a hook. "So this is going to be my absolute last cast."

Such words have worked magic for many an angler and Wednesday was no exception. As soon as Immonen's line hit the water, he felt a familiar tug. Gainey rushed over with a net and helped him land the biggest catch of the day -- a glistening 20-inch sheepshead.

The Downtown TriAnglers will fish every Wednesday at the Point from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Beginning Wednesday evening, the WPFI will also offer monthly guided riverboat fishing, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. A pontoon boat which can accommodate 30 people will launch from the Boardwalk near Donzi's in the Strip District. Rods and tackle can be borrowed at no cost, or you can bring your own. Kids and coolers are welcome. The cost is $25 for nonmembers, $20 for members and $10 for children 12 and under. For information, call 412-255-0564 or visit http://www.wpfi.org/.