A popular weekend experience for northeastern Ohioans and western Pennsylvanians is visiting the Pymatuning Reservoir spillway in Linesville, Pa., to feed the churning school of carp as ducks walk across their backs.

While Pymatuning is famous for its carp-feeding entertainment, that is but one small piece of the lake’s fishy entertainment. Walleye, bass, crappies and muskies thrive in the reservoir straddling the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, and attract thousands of anglers every year.

My experience at Pymatuning dates back to 1980, when the editor of Ohio Fisherman magazine asked me to write a feature about the 17,000-acre lake. With little other than word-of-mouth knowledge about Pymatuning, I looked up veteran fishing guides Al Novotny and Bob Tomasko to learn more.

Novotny made his ho

See Full Page