Introduction

Welcome to the SEO Angler blog. I’m new to this blogging business, but I spent almost 30 years writing a weekly outdoor column in the Zanesville Times Recorder. Since leaving the newspaper, that’s one of the things I’ve missed.

Why didn’t I start this sooner? I suppose mainly because I didn’t realize how easy it was. Also, I suppose I was afraid I wouldn’t attract enough readers. Whether that is true I’ll just have to wait and see.

Anyway, those who read my column before probably know what to expect -- Club and open tournament results as I can get them (not just bass, other species as well), fishing reports, news items anglers might be interested in, fishing tips and techniques and personal fishing experiences (both success and failures).

I don’t claim to be any kind of fishing “expert,” but in some 50 years of plying Ohio waters I’ve picked up a few things that might be worth passing on. Besides, I love to talk and write about fishing almost as much as I love to fish!

I’ll be trying to develop contacts to send me tournament results and other reports, but that will take time. If you belong to a club in the Southeastern or Central Ohio areas, send me your tournament reports or other news you wish to announce at seoangler@gmail.com. If you’re running an open or circuit tournament, send it as well. If you run a bait or tackle store and you want anglers to know what’s happening in your local waters, send me a report. Personal contact information will not be divulged.

If you send me a report, be sure to include a name and a way to contact that person if I need to check something. If it’s a tournament report, give me the name of the club, open or circuit, the lake fished, names and hometowns of the top three or five finishers (whichever you prefer), the number of fish they had, total weight, big fish for the contest and the total number of fish weighed in. If the winners are willing to share information on what they used to make their catch, that will be welcome as well.

I also intend to compile a list of website links you might find useful or interesting, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers site where you can check current water levels at Corps impoundments, the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, the ODNR Division of Wildlife, the Ohio Game Fishing Community, club websites or even other blogs.

I welcome comments on material I report (there is a comment section provided), but this is not a general discussion site. OGF already provides a great forum for that. This is also not intended as competition for the Ohio Outdoor News. I’m not trying to cover all Ohio outdoor news; just to cover fishing news on a more local level. Besides, I sometimes write for OON and I don’t want that to change.

For that matter, I'm not even trying to cover all of Ohio. Most of my efforts will be concentrated on the Muskingum River watershed and lakes around Central Ohio. In other words, roughly the areas encompassed by Wildlife Districts 4 and 1 although, again, we’ll see how things develop.,