When you live on one of the Great Lakes, as well as a bay that's teeming with fish, you see lots of folks toting bait and tackle. In Erie, Pa., where you can check out a fishing pole at the public library, you see anglers of all ages trudging up and down the main streets. They're either coming from or going to their favorite places to fish.

Head down State Street in Erie to the harbor of Presque Isle Bay and it's common to find little boys and girls -- and sometimes big boys -- peering into a fisherman's bucket, checking out the day's catch. It's what Erie Times-News reporter Robb Frederick did recently as he researched his front-page story in today's newspaper on Bucket Fishing.

For years, the Times-News has covered the regular joes and jills -- old and young -- who fish off the piers and docks in downtown Erie. There are hundreds of anglers here, because, in Erie, you don't necessearily need a boat to go out and catch fish -- not until the lake and bay waters warm up to the high 60s, and the fish head for deeper, cooler waters.

One of my favorite pasttimes is to stroll along the South Pier, a half-mile-long concrete slab, about 20-feet wide, that stretches from the bay into Lake Erie. On warm spring, summer and fall evenings, dozens of anglers fish there for perch, bluegills, crappies and bullheads. Occasionally, they'll even pull up a bass or a lake trout.

For the most part, these are serious fishermen who consider this activity more than mere sport. Many are there to try to catch a meal for their families. As I walk along the concrete deck, I love listening to snatches of foreign languages and dialects, because this is a popular place for immigrants to gather and fish. Most are friendly, and they enthusiastically share tips about what's working as bait, which fish are biting, how they cook their catch, etc.

A lot of elderly anglers transport their gear -- pole, tackle box, buckets -- on makeshift crates with wheels. Almost every angler carries two large plastic buckets -- the kind you might purchase for a buck or two at a butcher shop or restaurant. I bought two myself last October. I think they'd been filled with lard.

You need two buckets, as Frederick explains in his story, because one is for the fish you catch, and the other is to sit on while you're catching them. It's why they call it bucket fishing.

Such activities and the people who pursue them are what makes Erie the place it is. It's why the Times-News covers such stories -- so that readers will have a sense of their community, of what makes it unique and pleasurable.

Frederick, who amasses journalism awards the way Jay Leno collects antique cars, excels at this type of story. He seems to have a special feel for the people, the activity, the scene and the region. It's what makes reading newspaper stories enjoyable -- even when you're reading them while sitting on a bucket.

-- Kevin Cuneo

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