How to earn a Fish Ohio pin

March 21, 2026

Anglers live for noteworthy catches and rarely fail to celebrate and commemorate their successes. For as long as people have gone to the water with intentions of catching fish, the most and the biggest were measures of anglers’ skill and cunning. The ancients rejoiced at outstanding catches as villagers feasted on the bounty. More recently, we got pumped up when the bait store proprietor took a Polaroid and tacked it to the shop’s cork board. Today, we take a phone photo and post it on Facebook for all the world’s oohs and aahs. Whether for sustenance or for accolades, ...

Every angler’s love for fishing started somewhere

March 7, 2026

Consider the fact that you’re either an angler or you’re not. Even if you have only a foggy memory of a day long ago when someone took you to a pond and handed you a fishing rod, you are a fisher. So, the way I see it, everybody started somewhere or they simply never took the bait. Many are fortunate to have had the opportunity to lob a bait from the bank of a pond and stare down a red-and-white bobber with hope that a bluegill would make that bobber dance. It’s a very safe bet that the majority of people who are anglers today were introduced to fishing on a sunny day ...

Marquette: The future is bright for racing

March 6, 2026

In the 78-year history of NASCAR, no driver has ever won the first three races of a season. That is, until basketball legend Michael Jordan hired Tyler Reddick and set the 2026 NASCAR season on fire. In 2020, Jordan teamed with Denny Hamlin to form 23XI Racing. The team has won at various tracks, including Atlanta, Kansas and COTA. Reddick came from the dirt tracks, driving Late Models and was a protege for Scott Bloomquist. Early in his career, he raced at Sharon Speedway with the World of Outlaws. So far this year, the NASCAR guys have gotten their butts kicked by a dirt tracker. ...

Natural beauty is returning to the Mahoning River

February 28, 2026

Slowly but surely, our Mahoning River is reverting to the time when it flowed freely through a hardwood valley unencumbered by modern times. Our valley’s lifeblood river hasn’t always had a happy existence. In the 19th century, as Youngstown and her sister cities grew along the banks of the Mahoning, citizens sought to tame the river. The generations that moved to Warren and Youngstown in the 1800s soon established businesses, including iron- and then steel-making, that required water to cool furnaces, but not so much that flooding might quench their fires. Industry shaped the ...

Spring fishing is almost here

February 21, 2026

Ice and snow may come and go, but spring is the promise nature never fails to fulfill. People who love to fish are biding their time in this “tweener” season as winter fights to maintain its frigid grip while the winds shift and the sun beams more energy across our region. The annual tug of war between winter and spring will end as it always does, with warm days welcoming anglers to our boat ramps, causeways, break waters and dam tailraces. Snow may be in the forecast, but sufferers of cabin fever are looking beyond the next week or two to March madness with crappies, walleyes, ...

Changing with the times

February 14, 2026

An associate yesterday quipped that I should stop writing on a typewriter because there are gadgets called computers that make things easier for a writer these days. (So picture a laughing-face emoji here.) I know my friend was teasing. I have been fishing and writing longer than many readers have been alive. I may be an anachronism, but I am no fuddy-duddy. I did start writing on a typewriter, but those days are way back in the rearview mirror. I consider myself to be fairly tech savvy. I have modern electronics on my boat. I rely on forward-facing and down-scan sonar as well ...