August 27 2007, Punderson Lake, Punderson State Park, near Cleveland
Jud Shelnutt and his wife Marty run the little marina and concession for this state park lake. They’re here via serendipity. Last spring Jud arrived and asked about boat rentals and was told that the concessionaire had quit and would Jud like to run it. He and his wife had recently retired and they said yes.
The lake is almost a mile long and about a quarter mile at its widest point. I learn that it’s a “kettle lake” formed when a large block of ice broke off a glacier and created a depression. It’s one of Ohio’s few natural lakes and the largest kettle lake. I do know that it’s beautiful and bassy looking with underwater grasses and lily pads in the shallows.
Jud introduces me to Gilbert, the resident Great Blue Heron who guards the point that I pass as I motor out onto the main body of the lake. The lake also has at least one osprey whose dive-bombing I at first mistake for breaking bass. I am in an aluminum boat with an electric motor; gasoline motors are prohibited. And I of course start off with my trusty Senko, tossing it to shoreline pads and overhanging trees.
A graduate of Ohio State, Jud had a career as a newspaperman – 40 years, all in this area. He was an assistant editor, and he worked on sports, wire copy, even at the picture desk. Martha was a project manager and V.P. with National City Corp. For her final three years she directed a computer project to update the trust department. They will have been married 45 years next month.
My Senko finally gets a strike and I set the hook and bring in a 14-inch largemouth. But that will be the last bite I get along this lake’s absolutely wonderful shorelines. I will finally crack this lake’s code with only 40 minutes left to fish.
Jud loves to fish – his favorite thing other than his family and fixing up his house. He and Marty bought a fixer-upper when they retired and have been doing a major project each year: the basement, the deck, cutting down trees. He has fished lots of places: Tampa Bay, Santee Cooper, Canada. One place that’s still high on his want-to list is Alaska. “I want to pull those barn doors off the bottom.” (Halibut!) “And I’d love to catch some of those king salmon.”
Crows fly over the far treeline and as I watch them I see a splash on the water. It’s not an osprey. And it was not a carp. It was a bursting of the surface – like that of a predator fish chasing minnows. I continue to throw the Senko along the shoreline.
Jud and Marty met because of a blind date at Ohio State. Jud had a car and a friend told Jud
that if he would drive him and his girlfriend he’d fix him up with Marty. He and Marty decided to meet in advance to see if they were compatible for the first date, and they were. “I impressed her,” Jud grins. “I had apparently used a multisyllable word on the phone that got her attention, and so when we met I presented her with a dictionary.” So they went on the date, and they married about a year later.
I drift along this shoreline and then spot a tight ball of small minnows dimpling the surface out towards the middle of the lake. I throw a long cast and reach them with the Senko. It sinks a couple of feet and then twitches. I set the hook and reel in a bass the same size as the first one. I scan the surface of this calm lake and see other schools of minnows and decide to spend my remaining time casting at them.
What’s the key to a long, successful marriage? Jud thinks, looks at me with his honest brow and pale blue eyes, and says, “I never really thought about it.” He pauses. “In my case I really honestly feel I’d be nothing without her.”
I throw the Senko at more schools of minnows without any more bites. I need something that will cover more water more quickly so I switch to a half-ounce Rat-L-Trap, blue-chrome. On the third cast to seemingly vacant water I catch another good bass. This one and the six more that follow will all be at least a pound, with one just over two pounds – all on the Rat-L-Trap. These bass really fight, and each one feels large all the way to the boat.
Jud doesn’t get to fish much with this job of renting boats and selling concessions. The best part of this work? “Talking to people. A kaleidoscope of interesting characters.”
He tells me one story from the kaleidoscope. “Just a few months ago a fellow stopped and asked if the fishing regulations had changed.” Jud tells me he looked like someone in the service, perhaps back from a stint in Iraq. Jud asked him where he’d been and he replied in prison – 16 ½ years. He then said he’d been convicted of murdering a young woman and it had taken him that long to clear himself. His name was Randy Resh, and a judge finally totally exonerated him and had just released him. And he wanted to go fishing. Jud asked him why he wasn’t showing any anger for being wrongfully imprisoned for so long. “I’m still overjoyed with being out,”was his reply.
The bass start cooperating big time on the Rat-L-Trap. My strategy is simple: keep casting and keep reeling as fast as I can. If I see minnows or surfacing bass, cast into them. If not, just pick a random direction. There are only 30 minutes left before I have to return the boat, so I can’t waste a second. At one point an eyelash gets into my eye, but I can’t spare a hand to remove it. At another point the boat swings around so that the setting sun is blaring in my eyes, but I don’t spare a hand even to adjust the bill on my cap. Just keep casting and reeling for these bass. As I said, I caught several.
I ask Jud what sort of fishing tips he gives folks here. “I ask the locals to see what’s working.” And does he have any fishing tips in general for the rest of the world’s locations? “Buy the oldest lures you can find; they’ve been around a long time because they work. Buy the best equipment you can afford. And realize that you’re never going to have the right lure for the next location, so allow some extra money to buy the lures that are best there.”
Naturally, as I bring the boat in with the bass still biting I mentally explore my schedule to see if I can possibly come back and catch more early tomorrow morning. No, I’ll have to wait until a future time.
Jud’s fishing these days is in bits and pieces around the dock area. Mostly he hears about it from others. “I’ve got five tackle boxes full of stuff, and about a dozen rods. And I’ve dabbled with fly fishing.” He says they signed a two-year contract here, and after that they’ll do something else.
Jud’s a nice fellow. You can tell that when you meet him. He’s tall and sturdy and straightforward and has warm eyes. I ask for some words to live by and he obliges: “Have a positive attitude. Believe in your fellow man. But carry that big stick from time to time. Most people will respect you if you’re honest and friendly.”
Jud Shelnutt and his wife Marty run the little marina and concession for this state park lake. They’re here via serendipity. Last spring Jud arrived and asked about boat rentals and was told that the concessionaire had quit and would Jud like to run it. He and his wife had recently retired and they said yes.
The lake is almost a mile long and about a quarter mile at its widest point. I learn that it’s a “kettle lake” formed when a large block of ice broke off a glacier and created a depression. It’s one of Ohio’s few natural lakes and the largest kettle lake. I do know that it’s beautiful and bassy looking with underwater grasses and lily pads in the shallows.
Jud introduces me to Gilbert, the resident Great Blue Heron who guards the point that I pass as I motor out onto the main body of the lake. The lake also has at least one osprey whose dive-bombing I at first mistake for breaking bass. I am in an aluminum boat with an electric motor; gasoline motors are prohibited. And I of course start off with my trusty Senko, tossing it to shoreline pads and overhanging trees.
A graduate of Ohio State, Jud had a career as a newspaperman – 40 years, all in this area. He was an assistant editor, and he worked on sports, wire copy, even at the picture desk. Martha was a project manager and V.P. with National City Corp. For her final three years she directed a computer project to update the trust department. They will have been married 45 years next month.
My Senko finally gets a strike and I set the hook and bring in a 14-inch largemouth. But that will be the last bite I get along this lake’s absolutely wonderful shorelines. I will finally crack this lake’s code with only 40 minutes left to fish.
Jud loves to fish – his favorite thing other than his family and fixing up his house. He and Marty bought a fixer-upper when they retired and have been doing a major project each year: the basement, the deck, cutting down trees. He has fished lots of places: Tampa Bay, Santee Cooper, Canada. One place that’s still high on his want-to list is Alaska. “I want to pull those barn doors off the bottom.” (Halibut!) “And I’d love to catch some of those king salmon.”
Crows fly over the far treeline and as I watch them I see a splash on the water. It’s not an osprey. And it was not a carp. It was a bursting of the surface – like that of a predator fish chasing minnows. I continue to throw the Senko along the shoreline.
Jud and Marty met because of a blind date at Ohio State. Jud had a car and a friend told Jud
that if he would drive him and his girlfriend he’d fix him up with Marty. He and Marty decided to meet in advance to see if they were compatible for the first date, and they were. “I impressed her,” Jud grins. “I had apparently used a multisyllable word on the phone that got her attention, and so when we met I presented her with a dictionary.” So they went on the date, and they married about a year later.I drift along this shoreline and then spot a tight ball of small minnows dimpling the surface out towards the middle of the lake. I throw a long cast and reach them with the Senko. It sinks a couple of feet and then twitches. I set the hook and reel in a bass the same size as the first one. I scan the surface of this calm lake and see other schools of minnows and decide to spend my remaining time casting at them.
What’s the key to a long, successful marriage? Jud thinks, looks at me with his honest brow and pale blue eyes, and says, “I never really thought about it.” He pauses. “In my case I really honestly feel I’d be nothing without her.”
I throw the Senko at more schools of minnows without any more bites. I need something that will cover more water more quickly so I switch to a half-ounce Rat-L-Trap, blue-chrome. On the third cast to seemingly vacant water I catch another good bass. This one and the six more that follow will all be at least a pound, with one just over two pounds – all on the Rat-L-Trap. These bass really fight, and each one feels large all the way to the boat.
Jud doesn’t get to fish much with this job of renting boats and selling concessions. The best part of this work? “Talking to people. A kaleidoscope of interesting characters.”
He tells me one story from the kaleidoscope. “Just a few months ago a fellow stopped and asked if the fishing regulations had changed.” Jud tells me he looked like someone in the service, perhaps back from a stint in Iraq. Jud asked him where he’d been and he replied in prison – 16 ½ years. He then said he’d been convicted of murdering a young woman and it had taken him that long to clear himself. His name was Randy Resh, and a judge finally totally exonerated him and had just released him. And he wanted to go fishing. Jud asked him why he wasn’t showing any anger for being wrongfully imprisoned for so long. “I’m still overjoyed with being out,”was his reply.
The bass start cooperating big time on the Rat-L-Trap. My strategy is simple: keep casting and keep reeling as fast as I can. If I see minnows or surfacing bass, cast into them. If not, just pick a random direction. There are only 30 minutes left before I have to return the boat, so I can’t waste a second. At one point an eyelash gets into my eye, but I can’t spare a hand to remove it. At another point the boat swings around so that the setting sun is blaring in my eyes, but I don’t spare a hand even to adjust the bill on my cap. Just keep casting and reeling for these bass. As I said, I caught several.
I ask Jud what sort of fishing tips he gives folks here. “I ask the locals to see what’s working.” And does he have any fishing tips in general for the rest of the world’s locations? “Buy the oldest lures you can find; they’ve been around a long time because they work. Buy the best equipment you can afford. And realize that you’re never going to have the right lure for the next location, so allow some extra money to buy the lures that are best there.”
Naturally, as I bring the boat in with the bass still biting I mentally explore my schedule to see if I can possibly come back and catch more early tomorrow morning. No, I’ll have to wait until a future time.
Jud’s fishing these days is in bits and pieces around the dock area. Mostly he hears about it from others. “I’ve got five tackle boxes full of stuff, and about a dozen rods. And I’ve dabbled with fly fishing.” He says they signed a two-year contract here, and after that they’ll do something else.
Jud’s a nice fellow. You can tell that when you meet him. He’s tall and sturdy and straightforward and has warm eyes. I ask for some words to live by and he obliges: “Have a positive attitude. Believe in your fellow man. But carry that big stick from time to time. Most people will respect you if you’re honest and friendly.”
Photo: Jud Shelnutt and John Bryan at Punderson State Park
