The best fishing location is ...

Readers these days are tempted increasingly by headlines that tease in all manner of tricky tactics.

As the world tilts ever more on a digital axis, the competition for readers seems more and more dictated by editors whose best efforts are along the lines of “Top 5 reasons for …” or “Three things you never knew about …” or “The Number 1 …”

Fill in the blanks, if you will, as the subject doesn’t matter. The blogosphere is serving up lists of stuff, and readers are lured, but often disappointed because the promise of revealing the top five of whatever is superficial in substance.

Today, however, you’re getting substance. I’m revealing my No. 1 go-to, always fun, best-of-the-best fishing location.

As winter blew in again yesterday, I asked myself where I’d like to be fishing as soon as the next opportunity presents itself. I put some practical limitations to my choice, of course, since journeying to the Amazon for peacock bass is beyond my means at the moment.

So my No. 1 go-to, always fun choice is … Mosquito Creek Reservoir.

No surprise. Thousands of other Northeast Ohioans agree.

Despite the fishing pressure from anglers who live in Youngstown, Warren, Niles, Girard, Struthers, Campbell, Newton Falls, Ravenna, Canton, Akron, Cleveland and all the villages and townships in between, Mosquito churns out walleyes, crappies, largemouth bass, perch and pike by the boat loads.

The reasons are many, and I’ve written about them often: abundant shoreline cover, lush off-shore vegetation, the thriving forage base of shad and yellow perch, clear water and convenient access. Anglers can find a good fishing hole any and every day, whether they fish from shore or a $75,000 boat.

That Mosquito is a fish factory has been documented often, and the resulting pressure is a testimony to the kindness Mother Nature shows from time to time. In an era when anglers worry about the potential for declining opportunities to fish, we gain the gift of Mosquito right in our own backyards.

I go there often. Just a 30-minute tow from home, Mosquito has me fishing before the sunrise on many a day from April Fools Day to Halloween. And, if I am so inclined this winter, I can trek out with my auger and jig for walleyes in the frigid weeks still to come.

But I was looking for a winter break yesterday, ice fishing was the furthest thing from my mind. I closed my eyes and took a few moments to wrestle largemouths from the willows and buck brush that are so productive when the water is up in the bushes in the spring.

I recalled a horde of yellow perch pecking my swimbait on a hot August morning. Another trip produced a monster northern pike strike on a buzzbait. Countless days have been punctuated by impressive largemouth blow-ups on my topwater frogs.

A midsummer excursion with retired Plain Dealer outdoor writer D’Arcy Egan was another Mosquito highlight, as was the spring trip I made with Ranger-Mercury walleye pro Sammy Cappelli. After a day of flipping shallow cover with Ohio Division of Wildlife Fish Research and Management Executive Administrator Rich Carter, he was very impressed by the lake’s output even though fishing pressure was very high.

I have other favorites, places such as Pymatuning, Ohio River, Lake Erie and Shenango. But day in and day out, Mosquito is where I always know I’m going to catch a bunch of fun.

It’s my go-to place and a nice daydream location on days when the snow is flying.

jack@innismaggiore.com