Latest mishap not 1st involving birds, planes

By Jim Morris, Cox News Service

I know, I know. People have been fishing for weeks now. But not me. I love to fish, mind you, but I have never been one to poke holes in the ice or even fish while wearing a heavy coat, hat and mittens.

Give me some reasonably warm weather and I'm ready to go. So instead of being out in the elements — which seem to be hanging on for a long time this year — I have been spending some time surfing. No, not standing on a board and riding a wave. How about sitting in a swivel chair and riding a mouse.

In my travels across the keyboard, I have discovered some interesting Web sites for us fishing folks. Here are a few:

• coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/ — This is a very neat site provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). You will find some terrific information, including satellite pictures, of the Great Lakes. This could be particularly interesting to those who frequent the shores of Lake Erie.

Walleyes

• walleye.com — Experienced Lake Erie walleye (and perch) anglers have told me about this Lake Erie Walleye site several times ... although I already knew about it and browse it from time to time. You will find current Lake Erie information on it as well as links to other pertinent sites. It is particularly good for up-to-date information on the spring walleye runs in the Maumee and Sandusky rivers.

• walleyecentral.com — The logo says "More Walleye Information Than You Can Handle!" and they're right. There are plenty of magazine-style stories about walleye fishing from throughout the Midwest, including Lake Erie. Currently there is a story on early-season walleye fishing. There are also reports, advice, links — everything about 'eye fishing.

Crappies

OK, enough about walleyes. But there are plenty more walleye sites out there. Moving on to crappies, you might want to check out:

• crappie.com — There is a wide variety of crappie stories, items, ads and links, including one to St. Marys guide Russ Bailey's midwestcrappie.com.

• crappiestuff.com — Here's a bright, exciting Web stop. Plenty of information and links galore. And how about this for a slogan: "Where Everything is Full of Crappie!" And when you get to the bottom of the home page, you'll find out: "We don't take no carp from anyone!" I love a Web page that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Bass

I put in all sorts of prompts in ol' Google and the first one for "bass tips" brought up a page — all in French — about how to play a bass violin. It never did say how to catch one.

Actually, of these three popular fish species, I found less on bass than the other two, by far. Most of the pages are about bass clubs and tournaments.

• bassresource.com — Not much to offer, but it does have some links for Ohio. That's about it.

• ultimatebass.com — This is one of the better bass sites I found, although there is little devoted to Ohio bass fishing. There are plenty of stories and tips.

• anglerworld.com — This is sort of a strange site. There are some stories and tips. The Ohio fishing reports are chat-room style, submitted by the average Joe ... or Peggy.

• smallmouth.org/Ohio.html — This is the Ohio Smallmouth Alliance page. There are a few articles and some links about smallmouth.

General fishing

• ohiogamefishing.com — This one is for all types of Ohio anglers with reports, stories, links and what seems to be a very popular chat room. I even saw a posting from Brad Jerman, the guy with the record buck from Springboro. What's a deer rack doing on a fishing page? Brad said he likes to fish, too.

• fishinfo.com — I ran across this Website that deals mostly with the upper Midwest, but with some information from Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Florida included. There is recent news, promotions and outdoor gear advertised, along with charters and resorts.

• ohiodnr.com — Of course, no Buckeye outdoors person should get too far away from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Web page. As an outdoor writer, it's the one I visit most often to find out the latest news, forecasts, regulations and information, or just to look at some great nature pictures. You can also buy licenses and boat registrations online.

I saw plenty of pages from the tackle shops and magazines, but for the most part, they're just trying to sell you something.

Now before you start firing in the e-mails and the phone calls, I know there are other good web pages out there for information-hungry anglers. I just haven't come across them. On second thought, go ahead and e-mail me what you think is a good fishing web page.