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Understanding bountiful fishing environments

The casual observer might gaze across a lake and imagine great populations of fish swimming as far as the eye can see. We anglers know all too well that simply isn’t reality. Experts tell us 90% of the fish live in 10% of the lake, a claim that makes sense considering 100% of us anglers spend 90% of our time looking for the magical 10% of our lakes. Truth is, fish live where they find the right mix of comfort, food, security and even reproductive opportunity. If this sounds similar to the human situation, that’s because comfort, food, security and reproduction are requisites ...

Wollitz: Statement on the state fish

My first Lake Erie walleye was swooped with the net in 1974, four of us once boated more than 80 walleyes one weekend in 1976, I’ve battled a dozen or more walleyes of seven pounds or more, and I’ve devoured my weight in fried walleye fillets. So those are my credentials. While I’ve not made walleyes my main game over the past 50 years, I do feel qualified to weigh in on the debate whether they should be Ohio’s state fish. Yes. If Ohio is to have a state fish, let’s make it the walleye. No fish has done more to put Ohio fishing on the map than the walleye. Bass anglers ...

Wollitz: Autumn fishing can be impacted by weather

Weather deals considerable influence in the fortunes of anglers, especially during the seasonal transitions. I have experienced good times and doldrums in recent outings as weather fronts, wind shifts and cloud cover messed with my game plans. Autumn’s cooler temperatures and increased rain are major factors from Lake Erie to the Ohio River and beyond. Our northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania region is especially susceptible to conditions created by shifting weather. Steelhead anglers, for instance, hail the arrival of cold fronts laden with rain, knowing the precipitation ...

Fanatical for fishing and ball

Today dawned with the kind of anticipation that churns fans’ stomachs yet pulls them irresistibly into the game. Fandom delivers great joy, but not without great cost. The thrills of victory push us to the peak, but sooner or later, we will endure a stumble. It happens. Always does. Nobody is perfect. Not in baseball, football or fishing. Today dawned with me launching the Bass Cat on the Ohio River for the annual “King of the River” bass tournament. I won’t know the outcome until later this afternoon, of course, but I had high hopes for a satisfying victory. As you ...

Wollitz: Rust along the river

Her question was the perfect set-up. “What are those rusty things?” wife Barb asked as she checked my cell phone photos of fish I caught during a recent fishing trip. My answer to her is another explanation of why I so thoroughly appreciate each and every outing on the Ohio River’s New Cumberland Pool. The “rusty things” are the backdrop of almost every photograph I shoot on the Ohio. One can hardly point a camera on the river without a rusty thing prominent in the frame – barges, walls, pilings, docks, conveyors, breakwaters and other steel structures oxidized to the ...

Hiner: Successes from area players highlights first 5 weeks of high school football season

It may be hard to believe for some, but we’re midway through the high school football regular season. There have been some good starts to the season, some disappointments and stellar play. So, why not take a look at some of the biggest surprises that have popped up through the first five weeks of the season? And hopefully there won’t be any jinxes that take effect for future games. BULLDOGS GOT SOME BITE Lakeview has to be one of the biggest surprises in the first half of the season. The Bulldogs came out of the first half with a 4-1 record after going 5-6 last season. Their ...