Hooked on Fishing

Vacation Fishing

Hooked on Fishing is on the road again this week. The family and I are vacationing on one of the ten most beautiful lakes in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior: Lake Vermilion in northern Minnesota. This is the fourth largest lake in Minnesota; it is 42 miles long and has 365 islands and more than 1,200 miles of shoreline.

The reason I love this lake however is the wide variety fish available: muskie, northern pike, walleye, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, crappie and bluegill. The lake is well-known for its walleye fishery and its smallmouth bass, but in the last few years the word has been spreading among fisherman that the lake holds some of the best muskie fishing in Minnesota.

A typical day's fishing for me begins with an early morning run for smallmouth and northern pike. Both species like to prowl the shorelines for food in the early morning light. In particular, the rocky shorelines harbor smallmouth in 4'-15' of water. The weedy shoreline is the place to find the northerns, as they search for bluegill and perch for their food. Then it's back in for breakfast and some reorganization on the boat for the afternoon fishing.

After lunch it's time for us all to go out for bluegill and crappie, locating large weed beds in 5'-10' of water. We fish with slip floats and small jigs tipped with wax worms, small leeches or a piece of night-crawler. The best tactic is to cast to pockets on the weeds and then try and get the fish out of the thick weeds as quickly as possible. Fighting a three-quarter-pound bluegill in heavy weeds is no fun. Get them into open water as soon as possible. Yesterday afternoon, in a matter of two hours, we caught more than 100 bluegills and kept the largest 25 for dinner. After dinner is time to fish for walleyes. Most evenings I go out around 7 and come in by 9:30. This week has been a great week, catching some very nice large walleyes between 21" and 25" in length, but it has not been so good for catching the smaller (14"-16") eating-sized ones. I hope to correct that before we leave next weekend.

Well, back to vacationing, we'll bring you a final report on Lake Vermilion when I get back. Until then, keep a tight line.

-- Dick
hookedonfishing@comcast.net

ETHS's Redeem Team

By Sam Yigar

ETHS varsity football players going through one of many drills to get ready for their season opener on Aug. 29.

A year after one of the most disapointing seasons in Evanston Township High School football history, some people may find a welcom change in this season's program. Following a 1-8 record in 2007, athletic director Chris Livatino knew the program needed a complete overhaul, starting with the firing of former head coach Anthony Johnson, who led the Wildkits to only one playoff trip in eight seasons at the helm.

The next on Mr. Livatino's to-do list was to announce that the stadium would undergo construction and would go from a grass surface to a brand new field turf surface, which promises to outlast regular grass and is built to be used 24/7 with any sport. In January it was also announced that a new coach would be named who would bring the good old days of Evanston domination back to the Chicagoland area.

Clouds of speculation hovered over who the new coach would be; it turned out to be none other than Mike Burzawa, or Coach Buzz as he is used to being called. Burzawa comes from a spectacular football background that includes having been a state champion player at Driscoll High School, where he later went on to coach. As coach, he won an outstanding four straight state championships and an almost unheard of 41-1 overall record. He is credited with having created one of the most powerful offenses in Illinois history.

But these days a new chapter comes to ETHS, where, according to Coach Buzz, pre-season and training camp are going smoothly: "We had a good preseason and we are just getting started with training and learning the fundamentals and the new offense, and the effort has been great along with the enthusiasm." Many have known the talent in ETHS has been around and Coach Buzz thinks the talent pool is just fine. "I think we have a great talent pool. We just need to develop more guys in certain positions and that's going to take time, repetition on both sides of the ball," he said.

Coach Buzz started his job officially in July and has worked just over a month. He has already pinpointed the team's biggest flaw -- something this team lacked and which every team must have. "The biggest thing," Coach Buzz said, "is to develop our mental toughness, because this game is as much mental as it is physical. We need to understand there are a lot of battles within a football game, and you need a short memory on the field more than anything."

Coach Buzz also is seeing camp as a competition for almost every position, especially for quarterback, where three players -- David Hirsch (senior), George Sorenson (junior), and Kevin Rosinski (junior) are competing for the starting spot, although it is expected that Hirsch will be the favorite throughout camp.

According to Burzawa, the players who need to step up the most will be the seniors, not only bringing in their skill, but also their experience. Some seniors looking to step up will be John Tinkham (linebacker), Anthony Dufek (defensive tackle), Lacory Cork (defensive back), Marcus Lang (safety) and Ben Levine (wide reciever). And if the Kits want to make a statement that they are officially back, it will be at the first game against West Chicago on Aug. 29, to whom Evanston lost 23-3 last season. It will be there and then that the Kits will try to show everyone that not only do they have a new coach, a new staff, a new stadium and new uniforms, but they are a whole new kind of squad.