As dark breaks into dawn, a huge cloud bank moving in from the west obliterates a sodden grey sky. The forecast is grim for my first trip of the year with Brian Hall and Evan Morse from Cleveland, but the wind is from the south, keeping the shoreline of Lake Erie relatively calm as small breakers wash over the beach and white foam forms at our feet. The air is electric as the underbelly of the low cloud bank illuminates with interior lightning flashes that transfer to the water’s surface, giving us strobe-like views into the lake's darkness. We see steelhead that are literally swimming right at our feet.
