WOLLITZ: TV show gives exposure to area lakes

As episode four in the Outdoor Channel series of Major League Fishing broadcasts of tournaments filmed around Youngstown airs this afternoon, our region’s bass fishing is proving to be action-packed and full of drama.

Known as the Bass Pro Shops Challenge Select, Presented by Ferguson from Youngstown, Ohio, the competition took place last summer on Mosquito, Milton, Evans and Pine lakes.

Three shows already have aired, revealing the tactics and tribulations of 18 of America’s top bass anglers at Mosquito and Milton. Today’s episode features six more top pros tackling Lake Milton. The final two installments, next Saturday and May 7, showcase the competition at Evans and Pine, respectively.

Youngstown-area bass anglers are proud to see their favorite waters on national broadcasts and are reveling in their discovery that the world’s best bass anglers encountered the same complexities we face when we fish our lakes.

What’s more, the Mahoning County Convention & Visitors Bureau is reveling in the positive exposure for our community.

Bureau Director Linda Macala said our local fishing impressed her cousin in Boston. “He is a crazy fisherman – like huge tuna out in the ocean – and when he saw the Lake Milton show, he couldn’t believe it. He was pretty pumped!”

Assistant Director Tara Mady said the social media response has been huge. “We’ve had more than 350 views, and the MLF social media posts/tweets have been outstanding,” she said.

The fishing, meanwhile, has been pretty darn good. The Mosquito events were won by Andy Montgomery of South Carolina and Scott Ashmore of Oklahoma. The Milton round was snagged by Fletcher Shryock of New Philadelphia.

Ironically, Shryock, the only Ohioan in the field of MLF pros, had never fished Milton before the day in July that found him in action there. He’d been to Mosquito a couple of times, but his only familiarity with Milton was in driving over it on Interstate 76 en route to tournaments in the eastern U.S.

“I just put my head down and went with what I thought would produce, which was the main lake docks,” he said recently.

Shryock and others in the competition at Milton plucked numerous 12- to 14-inch smallmouth bass from the waters. He separated himself from the pack with a dandy smallie that weighed nearly

4 pounds, and held off a strong charge from Jacob Wheeler of Indianapolis.

Montgomery pitched up some excellent weight during the first round of fishing at Mosquito. While the field spread out around the perimeter of the reservoir north of Warren and plucked largemouths with topwater frogs and creature baits flipped into thick vegetation, Montomery fished the south-end boat docks.

Up at the causeway, meanwhile, former BASS Angler of the Year Gerald Swindle and former Bassmaster Classic champion Randy Howell dueled around the rocks on the Ohio 88 bridge. Both caught keeper after keeper, with Swindle eventually edging Howell but unable to overtake Montgomery’s nearly 40 pounds of largemouths.

Three Major League Fishing Youngstown-style tournaments remain to be broadcast. The action promises to be just as dramatic as the first three shows – pretty hot stuff for our town, which is proving that “You Belong Here” is more than a slogan.

jack@innismaggiore.com