JACK WOLLITZ Anglers can't wait for fishing trips

Like kids and Christmas and lovers and Valentine's Day, anglers look forward to their fishing trips with great anticipation.
And who can blame us?
A day on the water is about as good as it gets, an opportunity to fulfill our wildest wishes while regaling in all that is meaningful about fishing.
For a young child, the dream is to awake and spy a shiny bicycle parked next to the Christmas tree. An angler, meanwhile, has his or her own special wishes, from lots of fish to the trophy of a lifetime.
Optimistic
Kids, lovers and anglers are optimists as our big days approach. There will be no lump of coal. We will not be jilted. Our casts will be rewarded with many strikes.
I'm one of those who counts the days, hours and minutes until it is time to go fishing.
On the night before Christmas, the little ones have a hard time falling to sleep, what with visions of sugar plums dancing through their heads.
And on the night before a fishing trip, I set the alarm clock for 4 a.m., but awaken at 3 and peer at the red digits as they flip. When I can't stand it anymore, usually after 30 or 40 minutes, I pad out to the kitchen and switch on the coffee maker.
Another fishing day has begun.
My wife Barb will tell you I have a particular pre-fishing routine that begins the evening before the big day. I become absorbed in another world, where sorting tackle, tying knots and oiling reels replaces thoughts about food, entertainment and chores.
She says I go out to the driveway and stare at the boat as she wonders whether I'm losing touch with reality. What actually is happening is I'm going over a checklist and commencing the everyman-to-fisherman transformation, which becomes complete the next morning when I emerge from the cocoon and step up to the Ranger's casting deck.
Like all great days, a fishing trip is more than a box of chocolates and a bouquet of flowers. It's a complete array of pleasures, from the sweet aroma of dawn to the instant the angler becomes aware a fish has taken his lure.
While days on the water have their similarities, each is unique. Something new awaits just around the corner, even if you've been there 100 times before.
To the uninitiated, the allure of fishing is puzzling. But to those of us who know, fishing is like Christmas, but better, because it happens more than once a year.
X Series finishes big
Two local anglers earned a handsome check for their efforts in the Extreme Bass Series championship tournament Sept. 13-14 at Lake Chautauqua, N.Y.
Al Masaitis of Brookfield and Bob Easton of Hubbard teamed up to catch a two-day limit total of 10 bass weighing 28.02 pounds to claim sixth place and $750. Masaitis and Easton reportedly caught most of their fish working off-shore weedlines with soft plastic baits.
Winning the event was the team of Marty Salchak and Dale Corley of Akron, who caught a total of 36.43 pounds of Chautauqua bass. They earned the keys to a $30,000 Procraft-Mercury bass rig.
X Series tournament director George Byers of Austintown said the 2003 season was a success, with tournaments averaging more than 100 boats this year on a tour that included local stops at Berlin and Mosquito.
Byers said the 2004 schedule will be announced soon.
jwwollitz@aol.com