This year, Ohio's bass anglers have a number of good places to wet a line in. Many of these waters offer excellent numbers of fish from 12 to 15 inches, while others harbor lunkers in the 4- to 5-pound range.

A lot of credit goes to biologists with the Ohio Division of Wildlife for our bass-angling opportunities. District by district, they keep a watchful eye on local fisheries, accumulate data on catch rates and conduct electro-shocking and trap-netting surveys to find out what's actually lurking under the water's surface. Their work results in recommendations for slot limits, minimum size and bag limits designed to provide the quality bass angling that anglers have come to expect.

"We started a new standardized sampling program about three years ago that has allowed us to gather good data statewide," said Ken Cunningham, the ODOW's District One fish management supervisor in Columbus. "We'll be able to rate lakes on that basis and be able to predict how good they'll be."

The state's Inland Management System gives biologists the information they need to assess the fish population in a given lake. Trends, problems and successes can be identified, and scheduled surveys are conducted on a regular basis. Long-term results of today's management decisions will become much more apparent, due to a better system of keeping track of what's happening in our waters.

According to Andy Burt, a District Three fisheries biologist, the new system will be beneficial to his lakes. The system requires that biologists check their lakes at least once every six years to standardize the length of time between fish samplings. The best lakes will be checked two or three times during that time period.

At present, the IMS statistics are available to the public with a phone call to any district office. There are plans to link the information to the ODOW's Internet Web site at www.ohiodnr.com.

The ODOW enjoys an amiable relationship with bass anglers and makes it a priority to keep it that way.

According to Elmer Heyob Jr., a fisheries biologist with District One, there's often a testy relationship between our state's natural-resource agencies and anglers in other states.

"I don't know if it's because of agency management or what the problem is," said Heyob. "However, we have a good relationship with anglers. We listen to what they're saying and in return they cooperate with us and comply with rules about minimum size and bag limits."

But on occasion, there are disagreements between the ODOW and bass anglers. One such debate actually concerns the saugeye.

This hybrid, a cross between a walleye and a sauger, has been a feather in the ODOW's cap for the last several years. Lakes such as Indian Lake in Logan County have received hundreds of thousands of these hybrids that, within four or five years, are pushing lunker-class proportions. Many anglers love them, but bass anglers aren't so sure.