In Outdoor Life magazine's annual list of the Top 200 towns for the hunter/angler to live in, Ashtabula ranked 102nd.
The only other Ohio city to make the list was Portsmouth at 165.
Outdoor Life used the following indicators to do the ranking: fishable species (availability), huntable species (availability), public land access, trophy potential, and gun laws.
Number One in the ranking was Lewsiton, Idaho while second place went to Marquette, Michigan.
My personal favorite - Pierre, South Dakota - came in 8th.
To view the entire list of 200 best outdoor towns, visit Outdoor Life's web site at www.outdoorlife.com. You'll note that the majority of them are found in the West or the Upper Midwest.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Outdoor tidbits (perch fishing to ammo shortage)
Wildwood Marina in Cleveland is again planning to hook perch jerkers with its annual Battle of Lake Erie Perch Tournament.
This is the eighth year for the event which will be held June 13 and 14.
It will feature an adult category and a junior division and is designed for the advanced perch angler as well as the novice. Fishing can be from shore or a boat.
The adult division winner will be determined by the five longest perch while the youth category will be determined by the three longest perch.
There also will be a largest yellow perch category and worth either a $50 gift certificate for the adult or a $25 gift certificate for the youth winner.
The contest features an 80-percent pay-out of total entry fee and awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers.
Entry fee is $20 for those age 16 and older and $10 for those age 15 and younger.
Dick's Sporting Goods is the contest's sponsor.
For further information, call the marina at 216-481-5771.
PERCH JERK - The perch bite is on not only off the Wildwood unit of Cleveland Lakefront State park but also the "Hump" area off the Grand River. One lucky angler even managed to catch a 28-inch walleye on a perch rig while fishing for perch found on the Hump.
EYES ON THE PRIZE - The Ohio Division of Wildlife is asking people who sees wild turkeys or ruffed grouse to enter the sighting on a special web page just for that purpose.
The sightings need to be made from June 1 through August 31 and can be reported at www.ohiodnr.com/wildlfie and then go to the site's hunting and trapping page.
IS SHORTAGE EASING? - The National Shooting and Sports Foundation may be seeing a glimmer at the end of the ammunition shortage tunnel. A FEW reports are trickling in that outdoors stores and gun shops are restocking the shelves with ammunition, especially handgun ammunition.
However, the critical shortage is not over yet and it is too early to say when that will be, too, cautions a NSSF spokesman.
SAY CHEESE - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is looking to assemble a 10,000-photograph compilation that captures families discovering nature this summer.
This mosaic will be made into a commemorative poster. All digital photos submitted will be included and one that will - when viewed at a distance - be seen as a single image.
It is called the "Let's Go Outside" program is available at www.fws.gov/letsgooutside.
DOLLARS FOR DUCKS AND EVERYTHING ELSE - While on the subject of the Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency has distributed more than $61 million for state wildlife grant programs that benefit wildlife and their habitats.
Money is collected from taxes paid on firearms and ammunition.
Ohio's share for Fiscal 2009 is $1,744,566.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com
This is the eighth year for the event which will be held June 13 and 14.
It will feature an adult category and a junior division and is designed for the advanced perch angler as well as the novice. Fishing can be from shore or a boat.
The adult division winner will be determined by the five longest perch while the youth category will be determined by the three longest perch.
There also will be a largest yellow perch category and worth either a $50 gift certificate for the adult or a $25 gift certificate for the youth winner.
The contest features an 80-percent pay-out of total entry fee and awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers.
Entry fee is $20 for those age 16 and older and $10 for those age 15 and younger.
Dick's Sporting Goods is the contest's sponsor.
For further information, call the marina at 216-481-5771.
PERCH JERK - The perch bite is on not only off the Wildwood unit of Cleveland Lakefront State park but also the "Hump" area off the Grand River. One lucky angler even managed to catch a 28-inch walleye on a perch rig while fishing for perch found on the Hump.
EYES ON THE PRIZE - The Ohio Division of Wildlife is asking people who sees wild turkeys or ruffed grouse to enter the sighting on a special web page just for that purpose.
The sightings need to be made from June 1 through August 31 and can be reported at www.ohiodnr.com/wildlfie and then go to the site's hunting and trapping page.
IS SHORTAGE EASING? - The National Shooting and Sports Foundation may be seeing a glimmer at the end of the ammunition shortage tunnel. A FEW reports are trickling in that outdoors stores and gun shops are restocking the shelves with ammunition, especially handgun ammunition.
However, the critical shortage is not over yet and it is too early to say when that will be, too, cautions a NSSF spokesman.
SAY CHEESE - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is looking to assemble a 10,000-photograph compilation that captures families discovering nature this summer.
This mosaic will be made into a commemorative poster. All digital photos submitted will be included and one that will - when viewed at a distance - be seen as a single image.
It is called the "Let's Go Outside" program is available at www.fws.gov/letsgooutside.
DOLLARS FOR DUCKS AND EVERYTHING ELSE - While on the subject of the Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency has distributed more than $61 million for state wildlife grant programs that benefit wildlife and their habitats.
Money is collected from taxes paid on firearms and ammunition.
Ohio's share for Fiscal 2009 is $1,744,566.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Bass fishing not made so easy (for me anyway)
I don't want to give too much away but I had the opportunity on Saturday to again fish the Mentor Lagoons with a bass fishing pro. In this case it was Mike McCoy of Mentor, a former Marine Corps recruiter turned business head hunter and accomplished bass angler.
His intention was to demonstrate a unique twist on drop-shot fishing but also to help promote his professional standing as a tournament bass angler and the relationship he has with several product sponsors.
To say I had a good time was an understatement. We caught bass up to 4 1/2 pounds using his system.
I mention the Mentor Lagoons because nearly every local bass fisherman knows that the location harbors good angling for largemouth bass. It's really no secret.
What is something of a mystery is how one goes about consistently catching the lagoon's bass. As it fame spreads the bass are becoming more sullen and difficult to catch. And the fish are not always where you'd expect to find them.
They also are caught by different methods as the season progresses. These bass do move around the lagoons, too, specially as the water warms into the 80s during the summer, turning them off.
A key is properly working the structure and cover with pin-point casts, flips and pitches. Those are no easy tricks to master and require some degree of skill. Miss a prospective drop point by even several inches and it becomes a wasted cast. Pitch too much and you'll put the fish down.
You also have to be careful as the lagoons are filled with sunken tree branches, stone and broken concrete rubble that inhale lures, weights and line.
Yet for those fortunate enough to fish it regularly - and that is an important key - and be willing to adapt then the rewards can pay off. Just as they did for McCoy and me.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com
His intention was to demonstrate a unique twist on drop-shot fishing but also to help promote his professional standing as a tournament bass angler and the relationship he has with several product sponsors.
To say I had a good time was an understatement. We caught bass up to 4 1/2 pounds using his system.
I mention the Mentor Lagoons because nearly every local bass fisherman knows that the location harbors good angling for largemouth bass. It's really no secret.
What is something of a mystery is how one goes about consistently catching the lagoon's bass. As it fame spreads the bass are becoming more sullen and difficult to catch. And the fish are not always where you'd expect to find them.
They also are caught by different methods as the season progresses. These bass do move around the lagoons, too, specially as the water warms into the 80s during the summer, turning them off.
A key is properly working the structure and cover with pin-point casts, flips and pitches. Those are no easy tricks to master and require some degree of skill. Miss a prospective drop point by even several inches and it becomes a wasted cast. Pitch too much and you'll put the fish down.
You also have to be careful as the lagoons are filled with sunken tree branches, stone and broken concrete rubble that inhale lures, weights and line.
Yet for those fortunate enough to fish it regularly - and that is an important key - and be willing to adapt then the rewards can pay off. Just as they did for McCoy and me.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com
Friday, May 22, 2009
Friday's outdoor tidbits (fish to parks to gun club)
A fish species that is closely related to the ornamental carp and is a like member of the minnow family has been found in Ohio's waters of Lake Erie.
The invasive European rudd was caught by a commercial fisherman and is now alive in a fish tank at the Ohio Division of Wildlife's Sandusky Fisheries Research Station. In the words of a state fisheries biologist the specimen will be "sacrificed" for further research.
Rudds are an European and western Asia fish species and was introduced into the U.S. during the late 19th or early 20th century. It may be found in as many as 20 states.
The species has been living in Lake Erie since at least 1997 when it was first discovered over the line in Canada. It also thrives in the upper Niagara River and around Buffalo and has been caught over next door in Pennsylvania.
It looks like an over-sized golden shiner and can weigh up to four pounds and be as long as 20 inches. It lives up to 15 years.
The concern is that the rudd will compete with native fish species for living space and for invertebrates for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Noteworthy is that the rudd is considered a game fish fit for the skillet in Europe and Asia. Of course over there they eat carp, too.
At least the European rudd hasn't spread very quickly though it remains an exotic species, says Wildlife Division fisheries biologist Jeff Tyson.
PARKS - The Ohio Division of Parks and Recreation have given visitors one more good reason to take a stroll. At 19 state parks beginning May 23 the agency placed hidden caches for geocachers, a growing past-time for those who understand how to use a GPS device.
Among the local state parks with geocatch in the parks Division's Northeast Ohio Geochallenge are Headlands Beach, Geneva, Punderson, Pymatuning, Cleveland Lakefront, West Branch, and Mosquito.
Coordinates for the hidden caches can be found atwww.geocaching.com. After logging onto the geocaching web site, treasure seekers can find the necessary information for the Geochallenge on the Ohio State Parks cache page.
After visiting the site, however, I discovered that you must register and log in as well as even getting cookies if you want a more direct route. Far better would it have been had the parks system also given the information on its own, non-commercial, web site. Pity, too.
NEW OFFICIALS - The Lake County Rod and Gun Club in Madison Township has elected its new slate of officers and trustees.
The officers are: president - Doug McLean; first vice-president - C.J. Land; second vice-president - Michael J. Haas; Secretary - Michael J. Evangelista; Treasurer - G. Lynn Harley Jr.
Trustees are: Mary Rekus, Pete Gosline, Lonnie Sparkman, Larry Davidson, Henry Demeza, Mike Timko Jr.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com
The invasive European rudd was caught by a commercial fisherman and is now alive in a fish tank at the Ohio Division of Wildlife's Sandusky Fisheries Research Station. In the words of a state fisheries biologist the specimen will be "sacrificed" for further research.
Rudds are an European and western Asia fish species and was introduced into the U.S. during the late 19th or early 20th century. It may be found in as many as 20 states.
The species has been living in Lake Erie since at least 1997 when it was first discovered over the line in Canada. It also thrives in the upper Niagara River and around Buffalo and has been caught over next door in Pennsylvania.
It looks like an over-sized golden shiner and can weigh up to four pounds and be as long as 20 inches. It lives up to 15 years.
The concern is that the rudd will compete with native fish species for living space and for invertebrates for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Noteworthy is that the rudd is considered a game fish fit for the skillet in Europe and Asia. Of course over there they eat carp, too.
At least the European rudd hasn't spread very quickly though it remains an exotic species, says Wildlife Division fisheries biologist Jeff Tyson.
PARKS - The Ohio Division of Parks and Recreation have given visitors one more good reason to take a stroll. At 19 state parks beginning May 23 the agency placed hidden caches for geocachers, a growing past-time for those who understand how to use a GPS device.
Among the local state parks with geocatch in the parks Division's Northeast Ohio Geochallenge are Headlands Beach, Geneva, Punderson, Pymatuning, Cleveland Lakefront, West Branch, and Mosquito.
Coordinates for the hidden caches can be found atwww.geocaching.com. After logging onto the geocaching web site, treasure seekers can find the necessary information for the Geochallenge on the Ohio State Parks cache page.
After visiting the site, however, I discovered that you must register and log in as well as even getting cookies if you want a more direct route. Far better would it have been had the parks system also given the information on its own, non-commercial, web site. Pity, too.
NEW OFFICIALS - The Lake County Rod and Gun Club in Madison Township has elected its new slate of officers and trustees.
The officers are: president - Doug McLean; first vice-president - C.J. Land; second vice-president - Michael J. Haas; Secretary - Michael J. Evangelista; Treasurer - G. Lynn Harley Jr.
Trustees are: Mary Rekus, Pete Gosline, Lonnie Sparkman, Larry Davidson, Henry Demeza, Mike Timko Jr.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com
Thursday, May 21, 2009
No stopping gun sales (and ammo, too)
With firearms and ammunition sales continuing to streak toward space so too are the taxes that are collected on them.
In the forth calendar quarter of 2008 the excise taxes on firearms and ammunition rose to $98.1 million. That's a 31.3 percent increase over the same period in 2007, says the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
With handguns alone, collection of the excise tax was $27.6 million - up just over 70percent.
Ammunition excise tax collections jumped to $35.5 million, a 31.1 percent increase.
In all for 2008, a total of $345.2 million was collected in excise taxes. That's a nearly 14 percent rise over 2007 receipts of $303.2 million.
Nor will this money go into the federal government's general treasury to be squandered. Nope, the money is specifically ear-marked for federal and state wildlife management and hunter education purposes.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com
In the forth calendar quarter of 2008 the excise taxes on firearms and ammunition rose to $98.1 million. That's a 31.3 percent increase over the same period in 2007, says the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
With handguns alone, collection of the excise tax was $27.6 million - up just over 70percent.
Ammunition excise tax collections jumped to $35.5 million, a 31.1 percent increase.
In all for 2008, a total of $345.2 million was collected in excise taxes. That's a nearly 14 percent rise over 2007 receipts of $303.2 million.
Nor will this money go into the federal government's general treasury to be squandered. Nope, the money is specifically ear-marked for federal and state wildlife management and hunter education purposes.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Fish fry (time for perch jerking)
Without giving too much away since I'll be writing a story about the start of Lake Erie's spring yellow perch fishing bite I still wanted to share a couple of things.
On Tuesday I fished with two outdoor writing friends - Paul Liikala of Cuyahoga Falls and Bill Kiel of Doylestown. Our destination was the Wildwood unit of Cleveland Lakefront State Park.
That's where the party head boat Linda Mae operates. And it's often one of the finest go-to yellow perch fishing spots in the Central Basin. It certainly was on Tuesday where Paul, Bill and I caught enough perch to keep us steadily busy.
We never had to move once, anchoring up in 33 feet of water and north of the marina harbor area. Nearby was the Linda Mae, who clients also got into fish.
The nice thing was the size of the perch. In all, we caught six Fish Ohio qualifiers, each measuring at least 13 inches. Nearly all of the other kept perch measured at least 10 inches.
Our only problem was that the bite was light. Make that very light. The perch just pecked away at the minnows and wanted the bait resting flat on the bottom. This light bite appears to be a common thread this spring with other anglers reporting the same condition.
We did use sensitive Berkley Cherrywood rods and braided line and even would hold the line in one hand while clutching the rod in the other.
Once we figured out what the perch wanted we managed to reel up a good catch. And we only caught one round goby and one white perch.
Darn, I guess I gave away much of what I wanted to write for a future story. I guess that means I'll just have to go perch jerking again in the next several days.
Oh, yes, one other thing. While waiting to launch the boat I was visited by a marina shore angler who showed me his night-before catch: A large stringer of some truly respectable bullheads. I hadn't seen a stringer of bullheads like that in years which shows that the Wildwood harbor is a great place to fish.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com
On Tuesday I fished with two outdoor writing friends - Paul Liikala of Cuyahoga Falls and Bill Kiel of Doylestown. Our destination was the Wildwood unit of Cleveland Lakefront State Park.
That's where the party head boat Linda Mae operates. And it's often one of the finest go-to yellow perch fishing spots in the Central Basin. It certainly was on Tuesday where Paul, Bill and I caught enough perch to keep us steadily busy.
We never had to move once, anchoring up in 33 feet of water and north of the marina harbor area. Nearby was the Linda Mae, who clients also got into fish.
The nice thing was the size of the perch. In all, we caught six Fish Ohio qualifiers, each measuring at least 13 inches. Nearly all of the other kept perch measured at least 10 inches.
Our only problem was that the bite was light. Make that very light. The perch just pecked away at the minnows and wanted the bait resting flat on the bottom. This light bite appears to be a common thread this spring with other anglers reporting the same condition.
We did use sensitive Berkley Cherrywood rods and braided line and even would hold the line in one hand while clutching the rod in the other.
Once we figured out what the perch wanted we managed to reel up a good catch. And we only caught one round goby and one white perch.
Darn, I guess I gave away much of what I wanted to write for a future story. I guess that means I'll just have to go perch jerking again in the next several days.
Oh, yes, one other thing. While waiting to launch the boat I was visited by a marina shore angler who showed me his night-before catch: A large stringer of some truly respectable bullheads. I hadn't seen a stringer of bullheads like that in years which shows that the Wildwood harbor is a great place to fish.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com
Monday, May 18, 2009
Cold turkey sandwiches (Foiled again)
Looks like there will be a Butterball turkey for the Thanksgiving Day dinner and subsequent cold turkey sandwiches.
Last Friday I had an hour or so to spare before heading south to Marietta to attend an annual conference of outdoors writers. That presented to me one last opportunity at bagging a gobbler this season. It also would be my 12th very early rise-and-shine awakening during the turkey hunting season.
The final day caught me near Jefferson in Ashtabula County. Almost immediately a gobbler responded to the notes from an owl locator call. The bird was close and required a quick set-up and wait.
Unfortunately the cover was dense and most of the trees were small, affording little in the way of back support and concealment.
But, boy, was that gobbler a conversationalist. The turkey would double gobble, triple gobble and go on and on. It responded favorably to every call scratched from the push-pin call or mouth call.
And I suspected that the turkey couldn't have been more than 75 yards away; likely even closer.
The woods were very active, too. I saw a total of five deer that wandered about, and because of the lack of a good sitting tree, the animals spotted me though they did approach to within 35 or 40 yards. A raccoon likewise made an appearance.
When two hens came marching up the hill and stop within 30 yards or so I was encouraged. I figured they'd have the gobbler in tow. Nope. The gobbler never showed and simply and slowly strolled away.
After about 45 minutes the woods fell silent and I knew then and there that my turkey hunting season was over and not for the better. So I shook the kinks from my legs and back and walked out of the woods.
It had been a frustrating and confusing year. In none of the 12 trips (racking up more than 900 miles on the car) I never saw a single turkey and believed I had a good opportunity only two or three times.
I had given it my best and I at least walked away knowing that I could not have done more or anything differently.
Not being omnipresent I could not be in two places at the same time so I had to make a choice as to which spot to hunt each morning. And not being omniscient there was no way to know which location held a willing tom turkey.
Oh, well, there's always the fall turkey season. And maybe I'll be able to collect a frozen Butterball at a Crooked Creek Conservation Club turkey shoot this November.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com
Last Friday I had an hour or so to spare before heading south to Marietta to attend an annual conference of outdoors writers. That presented to me one last opportunity at bagging a gobbler this season. It also would be my 12th very early rise-and-shine awakening during the turkey hunting season.
The final day caught me near Jefferson in Ashtabula County. Almost immediately a gobbler responded to the notes from an owl locator call. The bird was close and required a quick set-up and wait.
Unfortunately the cover was dense and most of the trees were small, affording little in the way of back support and concealment.
But, boy, was that gobbler a conversationalist. The turkey would double gobble, triple gobble and go on and on. It responded favorably to every call scratched from the push-pin call or mouth call.
And I suspected that the turkey couldn't have been more than 75 yards away; likely even closer.
The woods were very active, too. I saw a total of five deer that wandered about, and because of the lack of a good sitting tree, the animals spotted me though they did approach to within 35 or 40 yards. A raccoon likewise made an appearance.
When two hens came marching up the hill and stop within 30 yards or so I was encouraged. I figured they'd have the gobbler in tow. Nope. The gobbler never showed and simply and slowly strolled away.
After about 45 minutes the woods fell silent and I knew then and there that my turkey hunting season was over and not for the better. So I shook the kinks from my legs and back and walked out of the woods.
It had been a frustrating and confusing year. In none of the 12 trips (racking up more than 900 miles on the car) I never saw a single turkey and believed I had a good opportunity only two or three times.
I had given it my best and I at least walked away knowing that I could not have done more or anything differently.
Not being omnipresent I could not be in two places at the same time so I had to make a choice as to which spot to hunt each morning. And not being omniscient there was no way to know which location held a willing tom turkey.
Oh, well, there's always the fall turkey season. And maybe I'll be able to collect a frozen Butterball at a Crooked Creek Conservation Club turkey shoot this November.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com
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