Have you had it with this summer’s heat?

I can’t speak for all the other people who fish near Youngstown and Warren, but I can tell you that I am ready for cool mornings and breezy afternoons, the kind of days when the fish are in the mood and the catching is plentiful.

Hot weather is one thing. But the days when your shirt sticks to your back after simply hitching the boat trailer are quite another. Anglers nevertheless persevere. It’s tough out there, but somebody’s got to get out there and keep the fish honest.

Cooler days are coming. In the meantime, this dog-day lull in the action provides the opportunity to take stock of 2025’s action and acknowledge the good things that have transpired.

Two of the happiest success stories this summer are Berlin Reservoir and the Ohio River. Lake Erie is a great story as well, but we have come to expect great things on our great lake. Pymatuning is another big deal, as is its downstream cousin Shenango Reservoir.

After several years in a down cycle, Berlin has been knocking out surprisingly good catches of largemouth and smallmouth bass this summer. The crappie fishing also has been productive, and the spring walleye action was good enough to point toward a very promising fall season.

The Ohio River is certainly making a comeback, based on the evidence of thriving emerald shiner and gizzard shad populations, improving water quality and big numbers of apex predators like smallmouth bass, walleyes and saugers.

The river tends to fish better during periods of high water and swift current, which we experienced throughout May and much of June. The conditions have settled into the more normal summer levels and current, which has resulted in a slow-down in the very fast action that bass anglers enjoyed earlier.

The bass and walleyes are still biting, but not at the crazy clip we saw in the spring and early summer. Fall looks very promising for those who chase river smallies.

Anglers also experienced excellent walleye and smallmouth fishing along the Lake Erie coastline due north of Warren and Youngstown. A lot of people reported catching walleyes and smallies in May and June – as well as bonus steelhead – and burning only a few gallons of gasoline to get it done.

The rocky walls around Ashtabula, Conneaut and Fairport harbors held good numbers of bass well into July. Anglers caught walleyes, casting nightcrawler rigs and Erie Dearies in relatively shallow water, while the fleet of trollers loaded coolers dragging spoons and crankbaits through large schools of Erie baitfish.

Pymatuning has been an anglers paradise again in 2025, as fans of walleyes, largemouths, smallmouths and crappies all got lots of action. The big reservoir sprawling across the Ohio-Pennsylvania border is super healthy with aquatic vegetation that in turn harbors the shad, perch and minnows that sustain the game species.

The outflow from Pymatuning forms the eastern arm of Shenango near Sharpsville, Pa. Anglers who chase the reservoir’s big schools of hybrid striped bass have had a great summer, along with the bass anglers who are probing the points and structure for big largemouths and smallmouths. Shenango’s crappies have also been busy this summer, with specialists reporting good catches from mainlake schools of suspended fish.

The hot weather has been tough on us anglers, but those who have persevered have benefited from some pleasantly good fishing. All signs point to the promise of more surprising successes as the weather cools.

Jack Wollitz has found some of his best fishing during the dog days of summer at Mosquito, Berlin, Milton and Shenango. Contact him at jackbbaass@gmail.com.