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Wollitz: Quick flashes of Muskie fishing

Who doesn’t love getting struck by lightning? It’s happened to me many times while I cast my way around northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Bolts of lightning have lit up my days while fishing for bass, walleyes and crappies. And yet, I’m here today to write about lightning strikes – the most descriptive term I can imagine to describe out-of-nowhere attacks by muskies. They are sudden, startling and spectacular, always when I least expect them, and always exploding peace and tranquility into electrified mayhem. Muskellunge, aka “muskies” to most anglers, are ...

A crappie autumn tradition

Nothing says Thanksgiving like a bucket of crappies. Well, I exaggerate. Family gatherings, turkey dinners, Macy’s parade and NFL football are long-lived Thanksgiving traditions for most everybody in the Youngstown-Warren area. The anglers among us give thanks every autumn for the abundance of fish readily accessible to those who venture out to try their luck. Lifelong Niles residents Tyler Woak and Tony Baragona are two of the most enthusiastic fall fishermen. Though they represent generations separated by more than 50 years, Woak and Baragona share a great love for the ...

Best parts of fishing often change and vary

People often ask what I like best about fishing. Though it may seem easy to respond that it’s reeling in a big one, the answer really isn’t so cut and dried. The best part of fishing? It depends. It depends on the lake. It depends on the season and the day. It depends on the weather, the conditions and a myriad of other factors that drive our experiences every time we go to the water. For me, in fact, it is almost impossible to single out a “best” from a day on the lake. It might be sunrise, the fresh scent of a brand new morning, the whiff of outboard motor smoke or the ...

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 ...