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Time seems to fly when fishing with friends

To those who proclaim time flies when you’re having fun, I say you are absolutely, positively 100 percent correct.

The 2019 fishing season is a case in point.

It seems as though I just yesterday hitched up the BassCat and rolled out of the garage to tow to Mosquito Lake to poke around for largemouths in the willows and buck brush flooded by early spring run-off.

Where did the time go? Now the boat is stowed for the winter and I look back on another great year here on the waters of northeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and New York.

Time flew, but from my first cast in April to my last cast a few days ago, I’ve had a blast.

Cold, hot, sunny or rainy, fishing around home here in the Youngstown-Warren area is never boring. I’ve fished on many of the United States’ lakes and rivers — including some that are legendary in the fishing world — but I am happiest when I’m on one of my favorite local spots.

My season started on Mosquito Lake in early April on a day that dawned gray and warmed nicely as the sun broke through the clouds. A productive pattern took shape as the sky brightened and soon I was able to predict bites from the spunky bass moving from cold water to the sun-soaked shallow cover.

On a particular stretch of 100 yards of Mosquito shoreline, I cranked in four bass in a matter of minutes, including one that broke the 4-pound mark.

A few weeks later, on super-clear Nimisilla Reservoir between Canton and Akron, I spied dozens of largemouths cruising a sand-bottom flat. It was fun just watching the fish as they went about their business.

As the season raced on, fishing with friends produced lots of learning and loads of laughter.

The action was incredible during an hour-long flurry when Ted Suffolk of Canfield joined me at Pine Lake for the Muransky Companies United Way Bass Classic in June. We boated nearly 25 pounds of lunker largemouths.

Laughs came fast and easy the day Steve Zarbaugh of Poland jumped in the BassCat for a May outing at Mosquito Lake.

Golf buddy Rich Getch of Rochester, Pa., fought and boated a 5-pound bass when he joined me for a scouting trip on Evans for the United Way Bass Classic. He was so excited you might have thought he’d holed a 50-foot putt.

An impromptu suggestion by Mike McCoy of Mentor resulted in the year’s most prolific catching. We turned away from the bank and worked offshore grass beds to haul in 65 largemouths before putting the boat back on the trailer.

Youthful enthusiasm is contagious when you spend a day in the boat with Tyler Woak of Niles. He’s not long in years, but he fished as well as any veteran during several outings this past season.

Ray Halter of Cleveland called the shot when he fired a cast with his jig to a rock pile in 12 feet of water where he predicted a big bass was waiting. Bingo — he was right.

They all were great days on the water, the making of memories that will help the winter pass. They all were days that ended too soon during a season that seemed to race from start to finish.

I’ll find time for a little bass fishing in Florida this winter, but for me the real fun will return when the ice thaws and I can break out the tackle for Ohio bass, crappies and walleyes.

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