A new angle on conservation

Friday, August 25, 2006 By TIM YOVICH VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF MECCA — Attention, fishermen! Here is the latest fishing hot spot on Mosquito Lake by geographic positioning system coordinates: between north 41º 23' 2" and west 80º 45" 13". Matt Wolfe, fisheries biologist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Department of Wildlife, should know. On Thursday, his crew placed 50 wooden and block structures at the coordinates on the west side of the lake, just south of the state Route 88 causeway, to attract fish. The area also can be located with a fish finder, Wolfe said. The crew used boats from the boat launch at Routes 88 and 46 to float the structures to the spot. The triangular structures built from 150 wooden pallets anchored with concrete blocks were dumped overboard. One of Wolfe's responsibilities is to place artificial structures in 70 large reservoirs in 19 northeastern Ohio counties. Sometimes he takes truckloads of rock out and dumps them. The last time structures were placed in Mosquito was in 2003 or 2004, Wolfe said. Wolfe explained that it's necessary to replenish Mosquito's stump fields because there's isn't much structure on the lake bottom. The structures dumped Thursday will immediately attract panfish — crappie and bluegill — because they stir up the bottom, including insects and worms. The panfish also will attract walleye to the 8-foot bottom, he said, although walleye prefer deeper water. Lots of walleye Mosquito is know for its walleye fishing because 8 million walleye fry are put into the lake each year. They are let go north of the causeway in the spring because the water is shallow and warms up quickly to support them. Wolfe said tests show that bass are now making a comeback at Mosquito. While the state boats were running the structures out into the lake, Gary Jasper was launching his small boat for a day of fishing. Jasper, 53, of Hambden near Chardon, is attracted to Mosquito when he likes to fish by himself. He doesn't like fishing alone on Lake Erie. Jasper said the fishing was very good at Mosquito this year. He's caught walleye, catfish and crappies. Fishing has slowed as the water temperature increased with hotter weather this summer but is expected to pick up as the water cools this fall. Laurence Sessions, a 72-year-old from Cleveland, wasn't having much luck fishing off the north side of the causeway. "I'm trying to catch Mr. Whiskerfish [catfish]," Sessions said, laughing. He was using a night crawler as bait on the end of one pole and a plastic crawfish on the end of a second pole. Sessions prefers Mosquito to Lake Erie because as soon as he catches a fish on the Erie shoreline, it attracts other fishermen, who get their lines tangled with his. Also fishing off the causeway Thursday was Dave Walters, 38, of Mecca, and his 12-year-old son, Zach. "We love it. We have a good time," Walters said of fishing with his son. This is their first year of fishing. Walters and his family were vacationing in Canada and got hooked. "We had a ball." They also had a little luck as Walters caught a small bass, and Zach caught a bluegill early in the day.