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The time spent learning to fish Mosquito Lake

My love-hate relationship with Mosquito Lake dates back to 1977, the year I began to widen my fishing horizon to include waters beyond the reach of the casts I could make from the banks of creeks and ponds. That was the year wife Barb and I went on a Saturday to Southern Park Mall to buy shoes and returned home with a brochure from one of the boat dealers displaying their gleaming fiberglass vessels in a spring’s-coming exhibit in the concourse. Smitten with the notion that we could own and operate a 16-foot tri-haul Arrowglass pushed by a 35-horsepower Johnson outboard, Barb and ...

Time moves on, bringing changes to fishing and regional waters

One thing we anglers can count on is that change is inevitable for our lakes and rivers. The Berlin Reservoir of 45 years ago is considerably different from the Berlin of today. The same goes for Milton, Mosquito, West Branch, Pymatuning, Shenango and, well, you get the picture. Rivers and lakes everywhere ebb and flow every day and every season, changing as the seasons advance. Weather is a major factor. Age is another. Aquatic plants, water clarity, invasive species and a myriad of other factors contribute to our waters’ quality and productivity. It’s interesting to me ...

Remember the dangers while fishing

It’s a truth of human existence that when we put ourselves in harm’s way, bad things can happen. We don’t always get dinged, however, so we tend to dismiss the potential for danger in a trade-off for the fun and adventure that can be the reward when we step out of our comfort zones. Danger? Fun? You make the call. Consider fishing, for example. We can get up tomorrow morning, make some coffee and settle in front of the television to watch great sport without even leaving our driveways. Or we can pour steaming coffee in our traveler mug, hitch up the boat and drive up to ...

The secrets to good bass fishing

Anglers yearn for hot lures, high-tech electronics, sleek boats and the coordinates for the local honey holes, but the truth is they alone are not the real secrets to fishing success. Many people hit the lakes with 100 pounds of lures, thousands of dollars worth of sonar and GPS, 75-mph boats and waypoints snagged from their buddies, but still go home disappointed. All of the gadgets and shortcuts are great. But nothing is more important than putting in the hours, days, months and years that are the foundation for every cast anglers make. Several people told me recently they know a ...

The perks of being a youthful fisherman

There’s something to be said for the kind of enthusiasm that bubbles so exuberantly among youthful anglers. Lots of water has flowed over the dam since I could legitimately claim to be young, but I still love my fishing days as much as I did in years gone by. I readily admit, however, that 4 a.m. wake-up alarms aren’t as welcome as they were a few decades ago. Nevertheless, once I’ve got a couple cups of coffee in me, I’m ready to launch the boat and get on with the day’s fishing. The opportunity to fish with buddies helps make fishing trips fun, which in turn contributes ...

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 ...