Trout

G    AB     R H    RBI    BB SO    AVG.   10     34     5     6     2     3       8     .176

With silent splendor, it slices serpentine through a sophisticated city and its surrounding suburbs. It offers its visitors a sylvan serenity, a place to escape the headlines and the deadlines of everyday living. It is the Wissahickon Creek, a waterway that meanders from central Montgomery County through Fairmount Park before it empties into the Schuylkill between Manayunk and East Falls. And it offers some prime places to tangle with trout. "When you're along the Wissahickon Creek, you can kind of blot the city out of your mind," said Sally Corl, the state Fish Commission waterways conservation officer for Philadelphia County.

It was 6:30 a.m., the first day of trout fishing season, and the countdown was on - only 90 minutes to go before the first fishing line hit the water. Along the banks of the Ridley Creek, the Chester Creek and the Darby Creek early Saturday, small clusters of anglers huddled together, talking about who would catch the first fish, and who would get the biggest. It was drizzling in the chilly pre-dawn darkness, but that didn't seem to bother the waiting groups. The anglers waiting by the Ridley Creek on Knowlton Road in Middletown Township included Danny Massi, a machinist from Chester, who said that for the last 14 years, he has started trout season at the same spot.

April, said T. S. Eliot, is the cruelest month. He was not referring to the tantalizing opening of the baseball season followed so swiftly by the terrible tax deadline, but he could have been. And he could have been talking about the high hopes of the opening day of trout fishing season - dashed for many an angler come sundown. No such ambivalence exists, however, for people like Dave Freeberger, co- owner of the Nockamixon Sport Shop in Perkasie. "This is the busiest time of the year for us," said Freeburger of the days leading up to the opening Saturday of trout fishing season.

The Lower Merion-Narberth Watershed Association is looking for volunteers willing to roll up their sleeves and get wet. At noon Saturday, the association will begin planting about 7,000 brown- trout eggs in Mill Creek. The boxes that hold the eggs, Vibert boxes, will be placed in areas of the stream that are well-aerated from consistent water flows. Watershed members will work with volunteers to map out placement of the boxes, which hold 500 eggs apiece. Volunteers will cover the boxes with large stones and anchor them to form egg beds for the trout.

From the crowded creeks of Philadelphia and its suburbs to the seldom-fished headwater streams of northern Pennsylvania, anglers will fan out across the state Saturday for the opening of trout season. If you have never fished for trout before or are a veteran who wants to brush up on the basics, here are some facts you need to know: Anglers are allowed to keep eight trout daily on most waters during the regular season, which begins at 8 a.m. Saturday and runs through Sept.

Anglers will enjoy a bonus of extra stocked fish when the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission begins its second round of spring trout-stocking this week. Officials learned that they had 150,000 additional yearling trout on hand after taking inventory at the agency's 10 hatcheries, said Dan Tredinnick, a commission spokesman. The 8- and 9-inch fish exceed the minimum legal size limit (7 inches). Each year, the commission produces fish above its planned stocking target to ensure that it is able to replace trout that die in hatcheries before stocking commences.

Arms talks gave way to trout fishing yesterday morning, and when Secretary of State James A. Baker 3d and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze climbed from the river, it was Yanks 3, Reds 0. Baker, an avid fisherman, stood chest-deep in the Snake River and caught and released three cutthroat trout in the space of five minutes. Shevardnadze stood on the bank and struggled with the rod lent to him by the National Park Service, trying to master the art of spin-casting. He awkwardly plunked several casts in the grass at his feet.

Calendars notwithstanding, spring for thousands of people in Southeastern Pennsylvania began at 8 a.m. on April 16. It was the opening day of trout season, and anglers of all ages descended on waterways throughout Bucks, Delaware, Montgomery, Chester and Philadelphia Counties. Pennsylvania issues more than 1 million fishing licenses a year, according to the state Fish Commission. But the number of anglers might be twice that, the commission said, because children younger than 16 don't need licenses and a number of Pennsylvanians don't bother to obtain the $12 one-year license, choosing to take their chances that they won't be caught.

The trout season is off the hook. Right before Pennsylvania anglers wade into the streams tomorrow, the state has decided the trout aren't too toxic to eat. Just last week, officials revealed that thousands of hatchery-raised trout already stocked into waterways - including some in Montgomery and Chester counties - were tainted with polychlorinated biphenyls, known as PCBs. But after running more tests, the state said yesterday the trout are safe to put on the table - despite traces of PCBs in trout shipped to Philadelphia, Bucks, Delaware and other counties.

Billy Rowell's last at-bat for Bishop Eustace Prep was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in high school sports. Mike Trout's last at-bat for Millville High School wasn't close in terms of theatrical flourish. Which just goes to show how much one at-bat - and any amount of theatrical flourish - means when it comes to projecting professional success for high school baseball players. The last two South Jersey players to be selected in the first round of the major-league draft were in the news for drastically different reasons this week.

Two of the most recognized minor-league names of recent years stepped into major-league roles on Saturday. The Washington Nationals called up outfielder Bryce Harper and the Los Angeles Angels brought up outfielder Mike Trout. These are names you should be reading about for a decade. Harper already is a national name, having been the No. 1 pick in the 2010 draft at an age when most teenagers are just finishing 11th grade. Trout has been known to fans in this region since his days at Millville, following in the footsteps of his father, Jeff, a star for the 'Bolts in the 1970s.

Millville coach Roy Hallenbeck has a good feeling when he sees No. 1 stride to the plate. That's because senior Aaron Cox is the first player to wear that jersey number for the Thunderbolts since Mike Trout graduated in 2009. "You retire a jersey, nobody sees it," Hallenbeck said of the decision to take Trout's jersey out of retirement this season. Trout was The Inquirer's South Jersey player of the year in 2009. He hit a South Jersey-record 18 home runs for Millville and was the No. 1 draft choice by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Trout-fishing season started Saturday at two ponds in Delaware. Tidbury Pond near Dover and Newton Pond near Greenwood opened to anglers after the ponds were stocked with rainbow trout, most of them averaging 11 inches long. The ponds will be stocked with more fish in two weeks. Officials said that residents who want to fish for the trout have to comply with the state's normal requirements for a fishing license and also buy a trout stamp, which costs $4.20 for residents ages 16 to 64. Higher prices apply to nonresidents.

Mike Trout played 40 games in the majors last summer, then spent the winter at home in Millville, N.J., working in a batting cage. After the Angels' first full-squad workout on Monday, manager Mike Sciosca said he wouldn't rule out Trout's making the team out of spring training. "You always got to think you can win a job," Trout told Yahoo Sports, "but it's still up in the air right now. If they put me in [triple-A] Salt Lake, wherever they want me . . . I'm still young.

Hello there Jared sat behind Liz in freshman social studies at Boyertown Junior High School East. Even though they only spoke when Liz had to pass Jared papers in class, she soon had a crush on him. Liz's brother, Stephen, was Jared's teammate on the 1997 Junior Legion baseball team, so Liz had a handy excuse to attend and watch Jared, the pitcher. Liz felt so woozy in Jared's presence, and had shared her crush with so many people, that by the next school year, she assumed Jared knew all about her feelings.

New companion pieces to long-established masterworks are arriving with increasing frequency, often with an inhibiting effect on the most strong-minded composer. But not Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The 72-year-old author of numerous rock-solid concertos and chamber works was commissioned, partly by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, to write for the instrumentation of Schubert's Trout Quintet , and if anything, found an even more defined voice. At the Oct. 19 local premiere at the Kimmel Center by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio (augmented by violist Michael Tree and bassist Harold Robinson)

Craig: Welcome to our weekly Philly Food Chat Throw-down! I have been racking up the dining miles by the hour since we last spoke. Went to a rollicking birthday party for a friend in the back box dining room of Lee How Fook, which was shabbier than I remember, and noisier than I remember, but also wonderfully tasty, because I got the honors (with my pal Wilson) to order all my favorites for the room - Buddha rolls; sui mei; crispy noodles with beef, black bean sauce and Chinese greens; pea leaves; chicken-asparagus hot pot, and likely the best wonton soup in C-town.

A mixture of arugula, parsley, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and mustard keeps the trout fillets in this recipe moist and goes nicely with the barely roasted blueberries scattered on top.   Baked Trout With Arugula and Blueberries Makes 4 servings   4 large arugula leaves Leaves from 6 to 8 stems flat-leaf parsley 1 large clove garlic 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar ...