ANGLING TIPS Jack Wollitz

Friday's blizzard put a big exclamation mark to the end of fishing in 2003, which perhaps more than any other year in recent memory was under the influence of bad weather.
We got off to a late start in the spring as ice covered the reservoirs nearly into April. Then the rain began and the wettest fishing season I can recall extended through summer into fall.
The gloomy weather had a marked impact on the underwater world. The fish most definitely were scattered -- in some instances choosing as their residential structure things like swingsets, picnic tables and bird baths.
But this also was a year during which we learned lessons about how to catch fish in high, muddy and swift water. Here's what I can pass along from my experiences on local lakes and the Ohio River.
First and foremost, when the water rises, anglers must go up with it. Species like bass and crappies -- walleyes and muskies, too -- will relate to the "old" shoreline as the first defined break when the water creeps into yards and parking lots.
Secondly, bass and panfish often establish feeding grounds at places where the new shoreline is well defined. As the lakes swell, the best places to fish for skinny-water species are near walls, rip-rap and steep banks in tributary arms, instead of the newly flooded marshy expanses even though they look tempting.
Third, make sure your lure is visible and noisy in murky water. The past season was one where chartreuse and other bright colors were the hot producers.
And finally, when facing swift current, find places where the fish can hold comfortably without being blown downriver every time they dart out for a shad.
jwwollitz@aol.com