JACK WOLLITZ The answer is blowin' in the wind, sometimes

Nature has a way of helping and hurting all of us who enjoy outdoor sports.
Whether we are anglers or golfers, football players or hunters, the elements of nature can affect the outcome of our efforts. Perhaps the most influential of all those elements is the wind.
Hunters gauge the wind as they select their stands during deer season. Golfers curse when wind adds an extra club or two to their approach shots. And in football, a kicker is a hero or a goat depending on what the wind does to the ball once it's airborne.
Fishermen also have to play the wind if they are going to enjoy success on the water. There is hardly a day that goes by when the breeze - or lack thereof - fails to be an influencing factor.
I saw the wind in action last Sunday at Berlin Reservoir.
Wind positions fish
Just as it does for deer in the woods, wind positions fish in the water. As we worked our way around the Mahoning River impoundment, my friend and I soon figured it was fruitless to spend time in places where the surface was slick.
The bass we were hoping to catch were most willing to bite in places where the surface was ruffled by the gentle breeze.
That is not to say, of course, that there were no fish under the calm spots; rather, the challenge is to get them to bite.
The spring breezes' main influence is to give bass and other shallow-water species a sense of security more than anything else.
Put simply, the fish aren't so spooky when the top of the water has ripples and waves. Those, in turn, break up the beams of light and give game fish a sense that they can't easily be seen by their prey and by larger predators.
All of that means the fish tend to be more active under choppy water, and that is good news for anglers.
Water was buffeted
Last Sunday at Berlin, every bite my friend and I had came in places where the water was buffeted by the breeze. The key was to put our lures into places where the fish were holding out of the slight current generated by the moving water.
It's all pretty sensible. In a textbook sense, it's called finding the pattern within the pattern.
The general pattern at Berlin involved shallow water cover. Refinement involved going to the breezy banks (I hasten to add that does not mean you must go to places where whitecaps are crashing over the bushes). And because the sun was high and bright, we knew we had to pitch our lures to shadowy places where the bass were watching for opportunities to ambush creatures that tumbled into their range.
I have no doubt there were bass in the willows in the dead-calm spots, but they were not active enough to produce the best results.
Check it out yourself. Next time you are on the water, chose fishing spots where the breeze is wrinkling the surface. It will work to your advantage more often than not.
Local anglers cash in
Several area anglers scored "money" finishes in the first 2003 X Series bass tournament Sundayat Mosquito Creek Reservoir.
Tournament director George Byers of Austintown reported the winners, with a limit catch weighing 14.66 pounds, were Barberton- area anglers Jeff Welker and Chip Tucker. They earned $3,000 for their efforts.
Dave Williams of Canfield and Mark Franko of Cortland teamed up for second place with 12.94 pounds, good for a $1,700 check.
Third place and $800 went to Warren brothers George and Nick Prvonozac with 12.71 pounds. Steve Zarbaugh of Poland and partner Eric Guinter of North Benton finished 12th with 9.05 pounds and took home $150.
jwwollitz@aol.com