You know what they say, "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will never go hungry" or something like that. I personally prefer the ending that goes "… and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day."
There is another way to end that quote "… and he will earn college credit." College credit for learning to fish? It's true … and it's nearby.
Actually, in about half the time, you can learn about how to fish the lake without earning college credit.
This is the second year in a row that Ohio State University has offered its week long, three-credit course on how to fish Lake Erie.
But this year, OSU also has set up a three-day sport fishing workshop you can take for no credit.
Both the workshop and the credit course are held at the F.T. Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island in Put-In Bay.
The credit course will take place June eleventh through the seventeenth. It is described as an in-depth class aimed mostly at folks who are experienced fishers (fish- erpersons?). It includes both lectures and hands-on work. However, you don't really have to have a lot of fishing experience.
To take the three-day workshop, you just have to be a high school graduate, eighteen or over, with $350.00. The fee includes two nights' lodging at Stone Lab and three days of meals.
It will be held July twenty-first through the twenty-third. The OSU brochure describes the workshop as "intensive" and designed to give the class members "a background in technical concepts used by anglers with a focus on fishing experience."
Fishing boats owned by Stone Lab will be used to teach walleye and smallmouth bass fishing. Lectures will cover the behavior of gamefish and techniques for catching them.
They also have rowboats for off-hours fishing for largemouth bass and panfish. That must be what they call homework.
They recommend you bring your own fishing gear but it's not required. One thing that is required is that you have an Ohio fishing license before you get there.
You can sign up by calling Fred Snyder at 419-635-1022.
The NFL Draft was held last weekend. Not much in the way of fireworks for the Cleveland Browns, but often that's a good thing. They took Kemerion Wimbley, a Defensive End from Florida State in the first round.
But this week the Browns' website is touting a pair of lower round picks with the same bejeweled metaphor.
Fourth round pick Leon Williams, an Inside Linebacker from Miami (Fla) is described on the website as a "Diamond in the Rough"
Apparently real rough. The scouting report says Williams showed good athleticism in 2004 but wasn't too productive and lost his starting job in 2005. The report says, "He probably never will develop into anything more than a backup linebacker and special teams player."
He is said to be a good athlete with good closing speed and the ability to make plays all over the field and to hit hard.
Weaknesses include a lack of instinct, reactions that are "a beat late" and a habit of reading plays wrong, as well as an inability to shed blockers.
Also on the Browns' website is the report on sixth round pick Babatunde Oshinowo, a Defensive tackle from Stanford. He's described as "A Lost Gem."
His strong points include athleticism and speed, natural strength. Weaknesses listed include a lack of height, explosiveness and consistency.