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Football needs more Jeff Bayuks

Full disclosure! This was intended to be a feature, a story on the life of a high school football coach who, for the first time in 47 years, is spending his Friday nights in the fall away from the sidelines. Intrigued at how Jeff Bayuk was adapting to his role as a high school football fan, I reached out to the Hall of Fame coach earlier this week to get some insights. Did he miss coaching? Does absence indeed make the heart grow fonder, or is there great relief in watching the game from afar? Bayuk talked about attending the season-opener between Campbell and Liberty. Dom ...

Fishing’s a lifelong learning process

Tick. Tock. Tick. … The clock and the calendar are relentless. Time marches on. Days fly by. The years pile up. Seems like only a few years ago my buddies and I were traipsing the banks of Yellow Creek in the Poland Municipal Forest, a spinning rod in one hand and a can of worms in another. Seems like just last year I went on my first walleye trip on Lake Erie and started to learn the tricks of the trade for Ohio River smallmouth bass. Now it is autumn, just when I was getting dialed in on the summer patterns, fresh off the success of spring when every fish is either hungry or ...

MillerTech’s unique origin and impact on fishing

Anglers today are benefiting from a product born out of necessity in a Northeast Ohio logging operation and brought to market in an unlikely alignment of interests. In fact, the energy powering more and more fishing boats ironically was sparked in the Amish communities of West Farmington and Middlefield, and boosted by a happenstance meeting in Holmes County. Responding to a need he encountered while working for a logging company, Lester Miller of West Farmington noodled up a solution that soon flourished into one of modern fishing’s most celebrated products. The lithium ...

Knowing where to find crappies in the Valley

Social media chatter is getting louder as anglers throughout our region are asking where and when the autumn crappie bite is kicking in. The home range of white and black crappies includes northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Healthy populations of the popular panfish thrive in our local reservoirs. As the days get shorter, the leaves start turning and the prevailing breeze swings out of the northwest, crappies instinctively follow schools of baitfish and other food sources migrating to shallow cover. The fish anglers found in their springtime outings return in October to ...

Guardians’ late rally one to remember

September is coming to an end, and that means it’s the beginning of the spooky season. Halloween decorations have begun to pop up in neighborhoods, candy has flooded stores nationwide for a little bit now and people will start putting thought into what they want to dress up as for the holiday. The Cleveland Guardians might as well dress as Freddy Krueger for October. Much like the antagonist from the Nightmare on Elm Street slasher franchise, the Guardians will haunt the dreams of the Detroit Tigers and their fans for a while, especially if Cleveland can pull off an American ...

Frustrations and fishing before a break

The timing couldn’t have been more frustrating. My most recent fishing trip followed a string of disappointing outings. The fishing over the past six weeks had been more puzzling than normal, resulting in days when one fish per hour seemed to be the best I could produce. Then came the day earlier this week. Just when my expectations were bottoming out, the fish came out to play. Why, you ask, is that frustrating? It is the timing. Just when the bite soared, my fishing time was reduced to, well, whenever the doctor says I can return to full activity. I knew well that ...