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The first wave of fishing optimism
The season’s first 60-degree temps happened last week and the fishing world immediately thawed into a torrent of chatter about the beginning of another season here in Northeast Ohio.
Never mind the water temperature is still cold enough to numb an elephant. Never mind the wind was whipping whitecaps on parking lot puddles. Never mind we woke up Friday to a fresh blanket of white.
The mercury had topped 60 and spring fever had swept through anglers like the flu in an elementary school. Everybody had it.
The signs were everywhere as fishers visited the lakes and bait and tackle stores’ sales jumped. But it’s 2016 and the clearest signs that anglers were smitten were on the Internet.
Discussion boards and social media were buzzing with questions, comments, brags and even photographs.
Northeast Ohio fishers were rejoicing.
Some even managed to catch a fish or two.
I read accounts about success with crappies, bluegills, bass, walleye and northern pike. The steelhead experts were excited about freshening opportunities in the Lake Erie tributary streams. Many were getting jazzed about the annual walleye runs at our area reservoirs.
Not so many years ago, most of us who love fishing could only guess whether their excitement about the end of ice and beginning of the warm-up was shared so far and wide. Today we need only to log on to find a community of like-minded fishing fans.
Paying attention to the discussions online opens a whole new world, for sure, but it pays to take the comments and supposed “guidance” with a healthy dose of common sense. I noticed a few claims that even in the best of circumstances would be difficult to substantiate.
When you read the phrase “everybody was catching them,” it’s a pretty safe bet that many weren’t.
Nevertheless, it was good to see the first wave of fishing optimism break ashore.
I’m optimistic 2016 will be a bunch of fun. Mosquito and Pymatuning will be the walleye hot spots they typically are, especially from ice-out through early summer. They also will be the places to go for big strings of crappies.
Largemouth bass fishing will be strong, as well, at the big lakes up north. Recent years have brought good hatches and a resurgence of aquatic vegetation, providing great cover for the young of all species and the foundation for a strong food chain.
Lake Milton will be a good spot to try for smallmouth bass this spring, summer and fall, and with nearby West Branch combine for the best one-two punch of musky fishing any fishing fanatic might experience.
So when cold weather wanes and the warm breeze blows, the conversation really heats up about fishing here in our corner of the world.
Who can blame us? We have much to enjoy when it comes to fishing. No matter how mild or severe, winter is simply too long to endure for those who love fishing around Youngstown.