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The agony of dealing with mayflies while fishing

The words roll off the tongues of Lake Erie walleye anglers with disdain. “The mayflies are hatching.” They are words no walleye angler wants to hear. Every year from late May through June, just as the weather is getting reliably good and anglers are itching to get out on Erie, Mother Nature throws us her mayfly curveball. Mayflies are the flying insects that emerge from their nymph stage from the bottom mud of Lake Erie. They rise to the surface and molt into adults with wings that enable them to fly from the surface. When the hatch is in full bloom, we are confronted ...

MLB needs to end CBA with a cap and floor

It’s that time of the decade again. The point where finances seep into America’s past time. Over the last couple days, the MLB Players Association and Major League Baseball submitted their initial proposals for the upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement, with the current CBA set to expire on Dec. 1. The expectations have been that there could be a work stoppage – more than likely a lockout, honestly – due to the relationship between the union and the owners still resembling a couple filing for a ugly divorce. Before getting into the meat of it, I come from a union family. ...

Life, art and fishing lures

Fishing lures have been works of art for as long as people have applied their imagination to fashion bone, wood, feathers, metal and string into tools capable of convincing wild animals to attempt to eat them. Inanimate though they are, lures come alive in the hands of skilled anglers who know how to drift or drag them in the vicinity of fish. The familiar saying that life imitates art came to mind recently when I spied a sunfish on the surface of the lake. While playwright Oscar Wilde was not discussing fishing when he famously wrote “Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates ...

It’s never too late to learn from a veteran fisherman

The fifth fish Ray hoisted over the gunwale of the Bass Cat was the proof I needed that I should accept his offer to share one of his lures. Sometimes I need the evidence to hit me in the head. Fishing buddy Ray Halter and I teamed up last week to explore one of our favorite lakes in search of springtime largemouth bass. Ray was the longtime owner of The Rodmaker’s Shop in Strongsville, one of northeast Ohio’s premier fishing tackle stores, and even as he approaches his 80th birthday still gets on the water two or three days a week. He’s learned a thing or two across the ...

Locals assisting paralyzed veterans

There is a code among those who venture out on the water that they are obliged to assist those who are in distress. Since ancient times, masters of vessels were bound to assist those they encountered on the water who required assistance. Mariners, including we who go to the water to fish, are duty-bound stop to aid disabled boats and their crews. And so it is that a flotilla of captains will set sail May 30 and 31 at Mosquito Lake. Their mission will be to skipper boats for U.S. military veterans who love to fish but have suffered spinal cord injuries during their service. The ...

Know which tool will get the job done

Anglers know that size matters when it comes to deciding which lure to tie to the end of their fishing lines. Lure-makers recognize the size question, of course, as they make their baits in a variety of sizes, providing anglers with options they consider likely to tease the fish they seek to catch. Many believe that big fish prefer big baits, which is true to some extent. But those of us who have spent years and years out on our favorite lakes know that big lures sometimes fool little fish and tiny baits often are eaten by giant fish. Recent advancements in fishing’s sonar ...