-Dunkirk to Cattaraugus Creek is HOT ZONE -Stratified Lake Helps Focus Forage and Predators The Lake Erie walleye fishery of Chautauqua County, New York, near Dunkirk Harbor, can be spectacular at times - times like right now. Late September, 2016. 1st mate Dennis Gullo hollered out, “Setting the starboard side outside diver to Index 1-1/2 with ring, 10 foot leader, 17 pound test fluoro, we are at 155 back Captain.” Captain Roger Corlett softly replied, “What bait is on that one?”...

My first forays into cooking anything other than scrambled eggs often involved ground beef and cream of mushroom soup. Those dishes weren’t sophisticated, but they were fast, easy and sustaining for a college student for whom “middle-age spread” was still several years away. Campbell’s got less and less of my business as my waistline expanded and my cholesterol level climbed. Until a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t remember the last time I heard the delicious slurp of a slug of condensed...

Ear Protection is Important! How to be “Ear Safe” in Moments Hear more When Not Shooting A group of us outdoor hunting friends from all around the Midwest get together every year and this time we went on a turkey hunting trip to Parsons, Kansas, this past spring. I’m not sure it was not the most important trip of my short six-decade long hunting career. I learned how to protect my ears and at the same time, learned how to hear game coming from an even longer distance away. It happened...

Trolling, Casting? Stickbaits or Live Bait? Depth, Direction, Lure Details and GPS Numbers The sky doesn’t fall in when charter captains meet, but secrets may be shared and debated. If you were a fly on the wall, you might want to be there. The knowledge of professional fishing guides and Great Lakes charter captains is one of those fishing resource elements that all who fish yearn to know more about – the guides know so many details. They understand the important elements of water...

Saturday, September 24, 2016 Kids and Adults Invited to Discover the Fun of the Outdoors Johnny Morris named 2016 Honorary Chair National Hunting and Fishing Day, formalized by Congress in 1971, was created by the National Shooting Sports Foundation to celebrate conservation successes of hunters and anglers. From shopping center exhibits to statewide expos, millions of citizens have learned to appreciate America's sportsman-based system of conservation funding. That system now generates more...

Ozarks Attractions Abound Above and Beneath the Water, and Below the Ground Too Leaving Alhonna Resort on the shores of Lake of the Ozarks was bittersweet. We felt we had only scratched the surface and we begged for more as we pulled away in our Chevy Tahoe. The Tahoe was made for this terrain. Every driveway seemed perpendicular along the lake, dealing with the tops of the hills that now surrounded the lake after the valleys below were flooded back in 1931. We were driving the 2016 LTZ version,...

My first forays into cooking anything other than scrambled eggs often involved ground beef and cream of mushroom soup. Those dishes weren’t sophisticated, but they were fast, easy and sustaining for a college student for whom “middle-age spread” was still several years away. Campbell’s got less and less of my business as my waistline expanded and my cholesterol level climbed. Until a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t remember the last time I heard the delicious slurp of a slug of condensed...

As our hot summer days of 2016 begin their change toward September, weather front patterns have provided chilling wind directions from the northwest with occasional daytime waterspouts over ports and shorelines along the Great Lakes. Waterspouts are startling and extraordinary to view. Such days are often closely followed by a clearing sky and pivotal sunset that tenders the incredible “orange-glow” of reproductive energy for the next day. The late summer sunset along the shorelines of...

-Small, Easy to Carry -Inexpensive, Effective While attending the fun-filled 2016 Annual Conference with the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers at Peek’N Peak Resort and Spa last week, I met several new outdoor friends including Ted Stender of Fallout Products. The useful and genuinely new innovations that this young man and his team have developed offer all of us an inspiring array for multiple uses for all of us that want to share our passion with others for fun in the outdoors. If...