Trending
So you think you're a pretty good angler. You've caught your limit of your favorite fish and learned a thing or two about your favorite lake.
But are you a one-trick pony? Have you simply memorized fishing spots or do you understand why and where the fish will be biting? Can you hit a triple on Mosquito Lake? Can you catch a steelhead on a fly? Can you pinpoint the smallmouth bass on the Ohio River? Have you boated a 45-inch muskie?
All of these feats are possible for anglers in the Youngstown-Warren region. But many are sadly one-dimensional in their approach to fishing and the goals they set.
I'm not a big believer in New Year's resolutions, but I do think the fresh start presented by the calendar is a great time for anglers to pledge to learn a new lake and new tactics for the upcoming fishing season.
Most of us have stowed our boats for the winter, our reels are in pieces on the workbench and we won't be ice fishing again for a while. So it's a good time to look back on what we might have done better last year and add new ideas to our 2023 schedule.
Have you belted the Mosquito triple? That is, have you caught a walleye, crappie and largemouth bass on the same day? It's not impossible at Mosquito, for sure. With a little modification of tackle and tactics, a skilled angler might catch all three species within a few minutes.
Even among specialists in crappie fishing, for example, anglers have plenty of room to grow their experiences.
Lots of us learned to hang an inch-long minnow on a wire hook under a float and watch it dance on the ripples. When the bobber changes cadence or dips under the surface, we snap the rod tip and reel in the crappie.
But bobber-watching isn't always the best tactic. Casting and swimming tiny jigs with one-inch twisters can be deadly. Small crankbaits also can bring a quick limit when the crappies are chasing. Learning the various tactics can up your score when the fish aren't responding to your tried-and-true methods.
A growing number of Mahoning Valley anglers are experiencing the excitement of Lake Erie's steelhead fishing in the fall and winter as the silver bullets migrate from the depths of the big lake to the rivers and creeks.
Small jigs tipped with maggots are popular among many anglers. It is a simple tactic that does not require specialized equipment. To add a new dimension to your steelhead experiences, try drifting a fly. It takes lots of skill to make the perfect casts and natural drifts that are required to trick wary trout, but when you do connect, you have added a new dimension to your fishing talents.
Have you dreamed of boating a big-bellied, dagger-toothed muskie, but dismissed the accomplishment as beyond your reach? You can check that dream on your wish list more easily than you might guess.
Muskies topping 20 pounds are battled throughout the season by anglers working the waters of nearby Milton and West Branch. Trolling large plugs in the upper reaches of Milton and around the points and weed lines at West Branch is the best bet for muskie newbies and is well within the skill sets of most every local angler.
They say when the going gets tough, the tough get going. That's a great description of our Ohio River and the anglers who fish there. It's big water with lots of places for smallmouth bass to hide and hunt, but not particularly easy to figure out.
If you want to really learn how to bag tough-to-catch fish, put in your time on the Ohio River near East Liverpool and Wellsville. When you box a limit of river smallies, you can bask in the glow of success and another lesson well learned.
That, when it's all said and done, is one of the great joys of fishing.
Jack Wollitz's book, "The Common Angler," seeks to answer the "why" behind our passion for fishing. He appreciates emails from readers. Send a note to jackbbaass@gmail.com.