Wollitz: Catching fish species often a ‘game within a game’

August 24, 2024

By my unofficial count, I have caught more than 30 species of fish, a testimony to the variety of experiences awaiting anglers around northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. In spite of that variety, some say fishing is “boring.” The same folks may say baseball is boring. But I say fishing and baseball are far from boring, considering the game within the game. There’s so much more to baseball than the duel between the pitcher and batter. And so it is with the game of fishing. Consider that during the years spanning my fishing life, I’ve reeled in nearly three dozen ...

Moments with friends make for fun on the water

August 17, 2024

A bit of advice: Take advantage of any day you can share on the lake with a bobblehead character or friend associated with the greatest. They’ll get a chuckle out of this, but it’s true. Over the past week, I was joined by fishing friends John Hirschbeck of Beaver Township and Ted Suffolk of Canfield. They’ve been in the Bass Cat several times over the years, and each time is another checkmark on my long list of fun fishing excursions. Ted and John enjoy bass fishing, so we click immediately every time we rig up and head out. Each outing, of course, peels back another layer ...

Morning stillness leads to picturesque moments

August 10, 2024

The alarm clock kicked into action the other day and my unconscious self’s first instinct was to ignore the signal. Ugh. Not yet. No way. Can’t do it. Leave me be. But then the truth of the day dawned on me: I was going fishing. Suddenly the annoyance on the nightstand was my call to action. Alarm clocks and fishing trips have been two of my essentials for a long time. Pausing now to think about the relationship of the clock and angling actually reveals the irony that on most of my fishing trips, the best action often has almost nothing to do with getting on the water just ...

Column: Coming full circle

August 7, 2024

It’s funny when things come full circle. I’m a second-generation Bronco fan. I followed in my dad’s footsteps. I’ve been a Broncos fan for 28 years. I am 28 years old. This is something that is ingrained in me. I love the Broncos more than some (and maybe most, depending on the season) actual family members. But it’s a familial connection that sparked that love to begin with. I became a Broncos fan, in a way, because of Randy Gradishar. I wrote about this upon his selection, so I won’t go too deep into this same story again. But long story short: my dad became a fan ...

Countless types of baits exist as tools for anglers

July 27, 2024

The quintessential picture of fishing is an angler sitting lakeside with a rod, reel and can of nightcrawlers. Anglers and earthworms date back to the earliest days of using poles and lines to harvest fish to feed families and villages. Ancient anglers learned tasty creatures tempted fish to bite their hooks, and earthworms were among the easiest baits to gather and keep handy. For thousands of years, in my simplified view of the early evolution of sustenance fishing, worms were the bait of choice. Convenient. Basic. Productive. Ah, but the human species always leans to ...

Fishing new waters a welcome experience

July 20, 2024

To borrow a popular claim, if you know, you know. Anglers get it. Fishing a new lake for the first time is one of the great adventures in fishingdom. If you are an avid angler, you know what I mean. Nearly 50 years have passed since I towed home my first boat and began exploring lakes and rivers on my own. Prior to that, I fished aboard Dad’s Starcraft and on foot wherever I could find a fishy-looking riverbank or causeway. I was always thrilled at the prospects of what I might discover as I headed out on new waters. I recall my first visit to Mosquito Lake, the tailrace below ...