Jack Wollitz: Better weather means it’s time to wet a line

My favorite time of the year is here and I would guess if you are reading this today, it’s your favorite time, too.

Springtime means another season of on-the-water fun is ready for those of us who have been waiting out a long winter of waiting, wishing and prepping. It’s finally time to break out the tackle and hustle over to Mosquito, Pymatuning, Milton, Berlin or wherever you wish to make your first casts of 2019.

Improving weather and warming water have the Youngstown-area angling community sharpening hooks, tying on jigs, charging batteries and gassing up their rigs. It’s time to go fishing.

I love the first few fishing trips as March wanes and April progresses. It’s a fresh start to another year of outdoor adventure in a world that all of us who fish form to fit our personal style and preferences.

Whether you wish to fish for walleye, bass, crappies, trout, perch or pike, the dawn of April is your cue. It’s time to go fishing.

Stable weather will settle the streams that run into Lake Erie so steelhead anglers can score on the big bruisers that are getting ready to return to the big lake for their summer of feasting on the abundant baitfish.

Warm rain and sunny days will stir the brew around the perimeters of Mosquito and Pymatuning, activating the spawning urges of walleyes, the far-and-away winner in Youngstowners’ most popular fish polling.

Wading anglers already are stalking the shallows at both reservoirs, casting jigs and twitch baits for the walleyes moving up from their winter holes. Big females are reportedly rolling near the banks of causeways and breakwalls.

The river-run fish on the Mahoning system also are getting active. Anglers are catching walleyes moving up from Berlin into the Mahoning River near Alliance. They also are catching the first wave of walleyes moving up to the tailraces of Berlin and Milton.

Spring sun also pulls largemouth bass toward the shorelines. Two of the better early April lakes are Mosquito and Pymatuning. Both have hundreds of acres of shallow water that warm relatively quickly and the bass are quick to find locations where they can chow down on shad, crawfish, yellow perch and small bluegills.

For many anglers, nothing says “it’s time to go fishing” quite as definitively as when they hear word that the crappies are biting.

All of our local reservoirs have healthy populations of crappies, but Mosquito and Pymatuning are the most productive. Flooded bushes and treetops hold schools of early spring crappies and anglers gravitate to them like bees buzz to flowers.

I get a big kick out of watching a float dance on the ripples as it drifts to the strike zone with a minnow-tipped jig suspended at the perfect depth. It is a riveting experience. At any moment, the float may dip or dart – depending on the crappies’ moods.

Crappie anglers gain a sixth sense from their springtime experience. They know when a crappie is eyeballing their bait even before the bobber plunges. They notice something amiss – a change in cadence, a slide that defies the breeze or perhaps a stall in the drift.

It is a clue that the game is about to get very interesting – the very reason we are out there in the first place.

Yes, it’s finally time to go fishing.

Jack Wollitz is an avid angler who loves to write about fishing in Northeast Ohio. He appreciates emails about his stories and your experiences. Email him at jackbbaass@gmail.com.