Fishing in area is business as usual
As tumultuous as our world has become in March, it is difficult to imagine a time and place where things are normal.
Remember normal?
Not so long ago, people took things like going to work, the store, school, church and whatever for granted. Watching a live ball game on TV was just a click of the remote away and we could load our SUVs to the roof with toilet paper.
Life for us today is far from normal. We yearn for the day when normal is normal again.
But there are many places where yesterday, today and tomorrow are as normal as they ever have been. They are places many of us know like the backs of our hand. They are the lakes where we have learned to fish.
While we humans have been dealing with all manner of worry and tiptoeing around in an abundance of caution, the fish in our lakes are going about business as usual.
Walleyes are on the prowl at Mosquito, Pymatuning and Berlin. Northern pike are eating big time at Mosquito and the muskies below the dam at Lake Milton are ripping walleye anglers’ jigs.
Back before our world was turned upside down by the coronavirus, spring walleye fishing might very well have been the most popular pastime around Youngstown and Warren in March. Judging by the action already this spring, it would seem the fish are behaving in a perfectly normal fashion.
Anything “normal” these days is comforting, isn’t it?
Local walleye pro Sammy Cappelli reports the fishing is about to bust wide open.
“I was breaking in my new Ranger 621 and 400-hp Mercury Verado on Mosquito the other day with my wife Rhonda,” he said. “We stopped over some deep water on the roadbed and dropped Vibes down on them and caught several good walleyes. Then we went shallow with 1/16-ounce Northland jigs and minnows and caught a few more.
“People also are doing well on walleyes jerking Rapalas on the causeway, too, so I’m thinking they are really going to fire up this weekend.”
How is that for a return to normal? A spring weekend catching walleyes on Mosquito is the kind of normal many of us fondly remember.
Anglers John Breedlove of Girard and Tyler Woak of Niles also know a thing or two about local walleye.
Woak reported a good day on Pymatuning earlier this week with Vibes and jerkbaits. Breedlove says the typical spring tactics are producing, including wade fishing. He recommends areas around Walnut Run and the causeway during the evening with floating jigs and Rapalas.
Cappelli noted some anglers are scoring good walleyes by jigging Vibes a rod-length from their perches on the causeway.
“Lake Erie also is on fire,” he said. “The trolling out around the islands with Bandits is so good you can’t find a parking space near the ramps after 8 in the morning. People are launching and driving back to their hotel to park and taking an Uber back to the dock.”
It’s great to hear such good news. If things are normal out on the lake, you know we’re another day closer to normal in the rest of our lives.
Jack Wollitz is a writer and angler who has spent many a normal spring day in pursuit of local walleyes. He also appreciates emails from readers. Send a note to Jack at jackbbaass@gmail.com.