On the last day of our vacation at Raystown Lake, June 16th , we woke up early in the morning to see what we believe is Raystown Ray. The figure was moving about 100 yards behind our boat while we were tied off at Panther Cove. It slowly made it’s way across the cove behind Marty’s Island and disappeared into a small inlet. What a great way to end a great vacation!
While night fishing on the lake May 14, 2006 at around 2:00 am, I noticed something large and dark slowly appear in the water approximately 40 yards away. It was very slowly moving through the water. I asked my friend if he could determine what it was. The visible portion was approximately 8 – 12 feet in length. After shining a Surefire flashlight at it, it submerged. There were no noticeable features such as a head or humps.
“We’ve known it’s been in there a while now,” admitted Managing Director of Raystown Lake Dwight Beall when he was asked his thoughts on this astonishing discovery. “It’s a private creature, but it comes out around this time of year. Call it Raystown’s own Punxatawny Phil.”
Call it what you will, but this is no ground hog swimming in the water. It seems that our favorite Pennsylvania lake may now have a mascot.
When asked his professional opinion, Jeff Krause, Wildlife Biologist at Raystown Lake submitted the following statement in writing: “I believe it must be a vegetarian. We have not seen any evidence of this animal taking fish, geese, otters, or ducks. So I would suggest that our swimmers and boaters are very safe. It appears this animal’s habits are similar to Manatees, which are completely herbivorous and gentle. The increase of weed beds around the lake is probably providing more food in the shallows for herbivores and that would increase sightings.” Krause concluded with, “Even if a visitor does not get a chance to see ‘Ray’ while at the lake, there is an excellent chance to see nesting Bald Eagles and recently re-introduced Osprey and River Otters, which were not present just a few years ago.”
It is a wonder how “Ray” has managed to stay submersed with nearly 2 million visitors frequenting the lake each year to fulfill their boating and other recreational activity needs. According to Raystown Lake staff, the lake spans about 30 miles and contains 8,300 acres of water. With depths of the lake being over 185 feet deep, the lake remains over 100 feet deep at Seven Points, which is 10 miles upstream from the dam. With numerous coves, submerged timber, and other structures there is plenty of room for “Ray” to hide.
Should there be reason for caution though? Beall notes that “Ray has been known to scare off 50 pound striped bass.” Hopefully this is not true for the anglers participating in this year’s fifth annual Stu Tinney Reunion Striper Tournament hosted by the Raystown Striper Club. Dates are May 13 and 14 with Mr. Tinney scheduled to be present this year for the event. For more information on the event, “Ray,” or the Wildlife at Raystown Lake visit the Raystown Lake Region’s Visitor Center.
The Raystown Lake Region of The Alleghenies’ tourism services are provided by the Huntingdon County Visitors Bureau located in the Raystown Lake Visitor Center. The Center is in the Seven Points Recreation area of Raystown Lake just 8 miles south of Huntingdon.
The mission of the bureau is to develop and implement strategic marketing initiatives, which will result in increased visitation to the region. Visitor Services specialists can be contacted at 1-888-Raystown or visit www.raystown.org
Where: 20 minute cruise from the camp grounds area at Raystown Lake. (only been to the lake once -not sure if there’s more than 1 campground) Sighting It was approximately 9AM in the morning and a friend of mine invited me and my wife as well as his in-laws for a quick morning ride on the calm lake. It was a nice warm morning cruising around 20 knots. Me and my wife were on the stern of the boat, his wife and her parents were on the bow.
While my friend was navigating the boat, he turned around and were having an idle chat drinking coffee and about 20-25 minutes into our ride the three of us glanced off the port side of the boat and all at the same time seen ripples in the water, a long dark somewhat shiny black object that surfaced to the top of the water, then it seemed to spin and turn over and then submersed and disappeared. He immediately shut down the boat in amazement, the 3 of us asked each other, “did you see that?” His wife and her parents were asking what was a matter and we were speechless.
The size of the object was at least 10 to 12 feet long putting into perspective we were riding on a 19 foot open bow boat. The object was approximately 40 to 50 feet away. Never-the-less we finished our cruise and reported our findings to the rest of the group we were camping with and obviously no one believed us. To this day we still talk about what we saw and we still get harassed about the “fish story”. A friend of mine sent me this link today thus the reason for just reporting it now. Now we have proof to our doubting Thomas friends that others have seen what we seen that day. John R. Pendel Pittsburgh, PA