As fathers stand proud on this, their most special day of the year, it is appropriate that a fishing dad gets a special pat on the back from his namesake son. After Norm Cappitte Jr. and brother Greg won a walleye tournament sanctioned by the Western Reserve Walleye Association at Lake Milton recently, Norm Jr. was quick to thank his dad. "We owe our success to our father," the junior Cappitte said. "He knows the local waters very well and he taught us everything we know."

The Cappittes, Youngstown residents, hauled up more than seven pounds of Lake Milton walleyes to win the 40-team Western Reserve Walleye Association tournament and bag the $515 first prize. What's more, the brothers also won the Cabela's national qualifier at Mosquito Creek Reservoir May 5, topping 70 teams and claiming $1,540.

Norm Jr. reported the Milton fishing was tough until he pulled out a venerable Erie Dearie - invented by long-time Lake Erie fishing skipper Capt. Dan Galbincea of Mecca and now manufactured by the company run by his son, Dan Jr. "I tied on an Erie Dearie and my brother just sort of laughed, like 'what the heck'," Cappitte said. "But it produced three of our four walleyes that day." The brothers trolled the south side of the lake in shallow water near Route 18 causeway to nail their fish. Junior also proudly announced that Norm Sr. has an 11-pound trophy to show for his years of walleye experience. He caught the hog at Pymatuning Reservoir.

Bob Wollitz is an avid angler, too. He loved to work Lake Milton and Berlin Reservoir for walleyes and crappies. Among my earliest recollections, in fact, are memories of evening fishing trips under Berlin's railroad trestle, with Coleman lanterns hissing from hangers off the side of the boat and zillions of minnows flitting in the yellow glow on the water.

We always took a mid-summer family vacation up in Michigan's north woods, where dad and I fished every day for walleyes and northern pike in Burt Lake and Indian River. We trolled Rebels, Rapalas and Flatfish or drifted with crawler harnesses. At dawn and dusk we anchored over a big sand bar and dragged the bottom with live bait rigs.

Years later, he bought a Starcraft Islander and we ventured out over the reefs and flats in Lake Erie's western basin. We caught the early wave of the then newly booming walleye fishery. We'd drift with the white caps, casting and winding Erie Dearies and me regularly throwing up as I fought off seasickness, much to his amusement. Retired from Delphi Packard Electric, he and mom moved to Florida, where, you guessed it, he fishes just about every day. Today, instead of Milton and Berlin, he's dabbling around in Charlotte Harbor's bays and backwaters. Rather than reeling up walleyes and crappies, he's into snook, jacks, speckled trout and, lately, black tip sharks. "They're everywhere right now." he reported last week

So here's to much more great fishing for all the angling dads. May the fish be "everywhere" for you.

Lake Michigan Coho

Joe Danzl of Chicago Fishing Links shows off one of his Cohos

Silver Snack

Mike Loper of Magnolia, Ohio proudly displays this awesome Saugeye.

The two bass featured in this photo weigh in at 5 pounds 8 ounces and 3 pounds 11 ounces.

The fine looking bass in this photo weighed in at 6 pounds 3 ounces.
Uncle Herk told us he was fishing heavy weeds in the shallows making long casts over vegetation and retrieving the AmBASSadear over the weeds, letting the lure drop into any holes. All three bass took the AmBASSadear as it dropped into the holes.

I am in Alaska and HAVE TO HAVE some more Erie Dearies.... When we moved up here several years ago (I'm originally from Indiana) I had my old tackle from Ohio, which included a small assortment of Erie Dearies. Well, while fishing for Silvers and Chum Salmon that first year I finally broke off all my salmon tackle, lost every lure and resorted to digging into the bottom of my box (how many of us have had to do that a time or two!)... and what did I finally find but an Erie Dearie. Well, without going into all the stunning details, let me just say that I had several other folks on the banks of the Susitna River (about 60 miles North, out of Wasilla) begging me for one of those lures. I hooked and released at least 20 fish that day, until my last Dearie was broke off by a monster Coho. I cried, not at losing the fish, but the lure!

Favorite colors: Silver, Red & White, and Lemon/Lime

Recommended sizes: 1 ounce, 3/4 ounce, and 3/8 ounce sizes

I use a 25 lb. line with 30 lb. leader, a Penn 965 bait caster and a Lamaglass Keni King 8'6" rod in rivers since you often have to fight current as well as fish.