A West Virginia man caught a massive brown trout on Aug 3, while fishing in the Barnum area of the Potomac River’s North Branch.

Gary Kuhn of Elk Garden, WV, battled an 18-pound, 3-ounce brown trout for 45 minutes before landing it this morning. The trout took a Rapala rainbow trout lure in approximately 7 feet of water on 4-pound test.

Kuhn’s friend Mike Davis witnessed the landing. The 33-inch trout was weighed at BJ's in Savage, MD an official citation center. The fish had a 19-inch girth. Kuhn planned on freezing the fish.

The previous brown trout record holder - the only other record fish caught this season was an 13-pound, 7.5-ounce caught by Cumberland angler Edward J. Martin.

The Great Allegheny Passage has been designated a National Recreational Trail and part of the National Trail System. “This designation gives us a tremendous amount of credibility and provides a major boost to our efforts to complete the entire long distance trail system between Cumberland and Pittsburgh,” said Linda McKenna Boxx, President of the Allegheny Trail Alliance, a coalition of seven trail organizations building the Passage.

“This designation really says we’re among the premier trails in the Nation,” Boxx added. One hundred continuous miles of the Great Allegheny Passage will be finished late this summer, with the entire system expected to be completed about 2003. The system is a 150-mile, non-motorized, nearly level trail system linking Cumberland, MD, and the Forks of the Ohio at Pittsburgh, PA, with a 52-mile branch to the Pittsburgh International Airport. At Cumberland, the C&O Canal Towpath expands the off-road trail linkage to Washington, DC.

“The Allegheny Trail Alliance and its member groups deserve our thanks for developing such a fantastic asset for our region,” said U.S. Rep. John Murtha, who has been a strong advocate for the system. “This trail not only provides excellent recreational opportunities in communities along the trail, but also is attracting tourist dollars into our economy and is being recognized as the type of asset that helps to attract new industry here. It’s certainly appropriate that this asset is now part of the National Park Service’s National Recreation Trails Program.”

The national designation for the Passage and 14 other trails was announced by U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who said the designation recognizes trails for their exceptional conservation efforts. For more information, please visit the Allegheny Trail Alliance website at www.atatrail.org.

For six straight years, Sue Haywood of Davis, W.Va., ended her mountain bike race season as the women’s state champion. This year, Haywood ends her season as a national champion. Haywood, sponsored by the West Virginia Division of Tourism, captured the prestigious National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA) National Short-Track title in Mount Snow, Vt. Haywood was the top American and declared U.S. National Champion in the season-long, five-race series. She finished third overall in the short track series to Jimena Florit of Argentina and Chrissy Redden of Canada.

Also in Mount Snow, NORBA officials announced that Haywood was named to the women’s U.S. World Cup team that will compete in the World Mountain Bike Championships in Vail, Colorado September 8-16. “Winning a NORBA national title is a dream come true,” the 29-year old Haywood said. “I set some lofty goals for this season so I’m really pleased to see them come to pass. To represent West Virginia and the state tourism agency on the national race circuit the last three seasons has been extremely rewarding. Now I look forward to carrying the state’s name at the upcoming World Championships in Vail."

West Virginia Tourism is the only state agency that sponsors a professional mountain bike racer. Haywood is also sponsored by Trek bicycles and Volkswagen.

On behalf of Gov. Tom Ridge, Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary John C. Oliver reminded Pennsylvanians that a new law soon will require all ATVs to be registered with DCNR except for ATVs used solely for farming or business. ATVs used solely on the owner’s land now will be provided a free, one-time registration with no expiration, and a license plate to be affixed to the ATV.

“These changes accomplish two main objectives—crack down on illegal ATV riding and provide additional riding opportunities on private lands,” DCNR Secretary John C. Oliver said. “With the increased popularity of ATVs, we’ve seen more instances of people riding where they shouldn’t be on our state forest land and have received many complaints about illegal riding on private lands.

“Although we have 188 designated trail miles for ATVs, we probably have ten times that number in illegally cut trails going across sensitive areas of our forests and through our streams. This is unacceptable. These changes give us the tools to curtail this unlawful use.”

Beginning Oct. 23, virtually all new and existing ATVs used for recreation in Pennsylvania will need to be registered and all new or transferred snowmobiles be titled with the DCNR, the state agency charged with administering the ATV/Snowmobile law and providing riding opportunities on state forest lands.

Oliver said the changes also allow expansion of ATV riding opportunities by enabling DCNR to award grants to municipalities and profit and nonprofit organizations for trail development and facilities on private lands.

“We believe that providing opportunities for ATV riding should not solely rest on the shoulders of the state,” Oliver said. “Providing financial assistance to help others create trails will take the pressure off forest lands, which seek to balance all other recreational uses as well.”

Most of the law will go into effect October 23, 2001. For more information check out DCNR’s web site at www.dcnr.state.pa.us.