{"id":246461,"date":"2026-07-18T06:39:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T06:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/246461\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T06:39:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T06:39:37","slug":"new-steelers-wr-michael-pittman-jr-makes-unexpected-pittsburgh-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/246461\/","title":{"rendered":"New Steelers WR Michael Pittman Jr. Makes Unexpected Pittsburgh Connection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steelers News<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"NFL:Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

When not running routes and catching passes on the field, Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Michael Pittman Jr.<\/a> enjoys a good fishing trip. Tom Van Atta, a Pittsburgh-area-based fisherman, recently shared a story about going out on the water with Pittman.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight after Mike got to town, he wanted to fish,\u201d Van Atta said<\/a> in a YouTube video. \u201cThat\u2019s how I knew the guy was obsessed about fishing and that I knew I\u2019d like him.\u201d<\/p>\n

High water levels in nearby rivers kept forcing them to push their trip back. Bored one day, Pittman reached out to Van Atta and asked if he\u2019d wanna finally go out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get there, and I see the river, and my stomach just dropped,\u201d Van Atta said. \u201cStanding next to it rather than just driving over bridges looking down on it, I\u2019m like, \u2018It is really bad.\u2019 Where we launch the boats, it\u2019s in a river, so the water\u2019s usually moving a little bit, but at this time, the water\u2019s hauling through this area so fast that it\u2019s making an eddy behind the docks, which is just exceptionally high for this river.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Atta sent Pittman a video of the water and said, \u2018Man, it is worse than I expected. I don\u2019t know if you wanna waste your time today.\u201d Van Atta was hoping that Pittman would postpone once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew it was kinda dangerous, honestly,\u201d Van Atta said. \u201cBut he was pretty set on fishing that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PittsburghIndianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. (11) warms up before an NFL game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium on Dec 7, 2025; Jacksonville, Florida, USA.\u2013 Travis Register \/ Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The pair planned on hooking some bass, maybe some walleye and trying for muskie during the evening. While aiming to catch some muskie, Van Atta thought Pittman might have gotten snagged on a log floating in the current.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it turns it out it was not a log. It was a muskie,\u201d Van Atta said. \u201cAnd it was a big muskie.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Pittman lured it in, Van Atta dropped a net and trapped the thrashing fish, which stretched over 48 inches. Van Atta was relieved that they\u2019d caught it, but soon worried about Pittman holding the muskie.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the reason I say \u2018problem\u2019 there is because if I get cut up by a muskie, whatever,\u201d Van Atta said. \u201cI\u2019ll throw some band-aids on it and nobody\u2019s really gonna care. If he gets cut across his palm, on the other hand, then I don\u2019t have to tell you what happens there.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The headline of) the Steelers wide receiver gets toothed by a muskie across his hand and loses use, I was thinking worst-case scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Atta, who was hoping Pittman would say no, fetched a glove for him. Van Atta schooled Pittman in how to hold the fish and \u201cit worked out great,\u201d Van Atta said. Pittman released it back into the murky waters as Van Atta snapped pictures on his phone.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned In This Article: Michael Pittman<\/a> Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> Steelers<\/a> top<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steelers News Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images When not running routes and catching passes on the field, Pittsburgh Steelers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[15240,73,75,74,1833,1829,17531],"class_list":["post-246461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-michael-pittman","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-steelers","tag-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}