Work the Weedline

It’s summer.  Lots of people are fishing, and lots of fish are just waiting to get caught.  In the summer months, there are so many ways to catch fish.  They can be deep, they can be shallow, they can be suspended or they can be relating to structure.  One very good way to catch a […]

Spread Out for Fishing Success

We’re into the summer bite! For most species of fish, the spawn is over and the predator fish have one thing on their mind:  Food!  Their only concern for the rest of the summer is eating.  If we want to catch more fish, we need to be where they’re eating, and then we need to […]

Clear Line for Clear Water? Maybe Not

The line that we put on our reels when we go fishing is a very important consideration.  Your line is the only connection between you and the fish.  If your line doesn’t do the job, you don’t land the fish.  But the line you choose, in the minds of many, will also play a role […]

A Fishing Lesson

by Bob Jensen  I went fishing last week in eastern Wisconsin with smallmouth ace Mike Gottheardt.  The wind was blowing and it was chilly.  It felt more like hunting season, and for many outdoors-people it was.  We heard frequent gunshots.  A weather front was going through, and that can often create tough fishing.  But when […]

Shallow Water Largemouth in the Fall

By Bob Jensen When I moved to north central Minnesota waaaaay too many years ago, I liked to chase largemouth bass.  Many of my friends thought that was strange, as walleyes were the preferred fish of many anglers in the north during that era.  And while it was true that walleyes were available in many […]

A Mid-Summer Bass Trip

by Bob Jensen  Last week, my nephew Sam and I took our annual bass trip to west central Minnesota.  We’ve been doing this for about ten years and have only missed one year.  Sam was in grade school when we started doing this; this week he heads off to college.  Time flies. In all those […]

Planer Boards: Not Just for Walleyes

By Bob Jensen Planer boards have been a part of many a walleye anglers’ arsenal for a long time.  Salmon and trout anglers also employ boards frequently.  Planer boards do so many good things when a trolling presentation is called for.  They enable an angler to get lines and baits out away from the boat, […]

Mid-Summer Largemouth Bass

by Bob Jensen In the Midwest, the walleye is the favorite fish of many anglers, and for good reason.  They are abundant in many waters, they are susceptible to a wide variety of presentations, and they taste great on the table.  But as good as the walleye fishing can be in the Midwest, the largemouth […]

Summer Action Over and Around the Weeds

by Bob Jensen As summer progresses, the various vegetation in the lakes becomes a big factor in our fishing.  The different types of vegetation that live in the lakes will be home to a variety of fish species.  Some weeds will be in the shallow water, others will be deeper.  Almost wherever you fish in […]

My Four Favorite Lures for Summer Fun

By Bill Dance I love to wade creeks and fish small ponds and lakes. Fishing knee deep and casting for bass brings back memories of when I was a kid, and it is still one of my very favorite ways to spend a summer day. Light “finesse” tackle is perfect for this kind of fishing. […]

Key Tips for Catching More Fish This Season

by Bob Jensen  It’s the beginning of yet another open water fishing season and anglers have high expectations for fishing over the next few months.  Many have new rods, reels or lures that they’re anxious to try, and some have new or new-to-them boats, motors, depth finders and electric motors.  Some of the products that […]

Jig Your Way to More Fish

by Bob Jensen   Early in the open water fishing season, jigs are probably the Number One go-to bait for walleye anglers, and folks who fish for bass and panfish also use jigs early in the season.  There’s a reason for that:  Jigs are, plain and simple, fish-catchers.  In fact, many anglers, if they were […]

Three Ideas for Open Water Fishing Success

by Bob Jensen   It’s fifteen below zero outside, the wind is gusty, and the sidewalk needs to be shoveled.  What am I thinking about?  Open water fishing.  You know, that thing we do from a boat while wearing a tee-shirt and shorts and maybe sweating a little bit.  I am convinced that we will […]

Selecting a Line for Open Water Fishing

by Bob Jensen Another open water fishing season is closing in. It’s still a ways off, but it’s getting closer every day. Maybe the most important thing you can do to enhance your fishing is to use fresh line. Fresh line will help you enjoy your fishing and catch more fish. Here’s why. Line that […]

Small Details, Bigger Catches

by Bob Jensen Fishing in the fall can be good. Really good.  Really, really good.  If you pay attention to detail, you can be even more successful at this time of year.  As I think back on some of my fall fishing trips, I remember how we caught a lot more fish because we tweaked […]

The Finer Points of Punching Mats With Terry Scroggins and Jimmy Mason

Punching is a prime technique anywhere vegetation stays matted on top, and is normally most effective on sunny days when bass seek the shade of a roof overhead.

FISHING SEASON REMINDERS

Last of all: Do what you can to make this a safe and pleasant fishing season. Drive carefully and be patient at the boat ramp. If someone is having some trouble loading or unloading their boat, ask if you can help.

May Means Crankbaits On The Tennessee River Chain

The key to May crankin’ is to track post-spawn bass on their reverse migration from spawning areas to the main river channel

Jason Christie Gets Back-To-Back Wins, No. 1 World Ranking

No one is fishing as strong as YUM Pro Jason Christie. In the last two weeks, the Oklahoman won an FLW Tour Event, a B.A.S.S. Elite Tournament, and just hit No. 1 on the BassFan.com World Rankings.   Christie has been a strong FLW competitor for more than six years, but only started fishing B.A.S.S. […]

Two-In-A-Row – Flash Mob Jr. Takes FLW Tour Victory

Oklahoma’s Jason Christie threw a YUM Flash Mob Jr. for the win this weekend at the FLW Tour Event on Arkansas’ Beaver Lake. He also set the record for largest total weight for a Beaver Lake FLW event, and caught “big bass” of the tournament.

Georgia’s Bone Wins Southern Open On Flash Mob Jr.

These rigs, which feature multiple arms for the attachment of up to five jigheads rigged with swimbaits, have come under fire by many pro anglers as being too effective.

Erie’s Early Spring Bronze Hawgs

Today I’ve got a whole new and exciting perspective on bass fishing.”

LOOKING AHEAD TO OPEN WATER

I’m looking forward to casting topwater baits to largemouth bass in shallow water. This style of fishing is visual and exciting

Go Big in Late Summer

By Nick Simonson Everything gets bigger in late summer – particularly the servings of food we encounter.  16-ounce T-bones are on sale and perfect for the grill. The block party barbeque is loaded with jumbo wild rice brats and gallons of coleslaw and potato salad. County fairs and country music festivals crank out bags of […]

Summer Fishing Gear

by Bob Jensen When we go fishing, we always try real hard to remember to take all the things we need for a successful fishing trip.  It’s easy to remember rods and reels and tackleboxes and sandwiches, but there are some other things that are often forgotten that should be part of the fishing trip.  […]

Best Fishing Times

by Doug Leier “Best fishing times?” I’m the first to admit I’m not a professional angler. When it comes to tips and tactics on how to land a lunker walleye or fill a stringer in short order, I’ve got more questions than answers. At times, I casually refer to myself as the human cold front […]

Trolling Crankbaits

Our Outdoors By Nick Simonson In cooler waters of May and June the shallows can seem almost bare.  Nothing but the occasional waterboatman or roaming bluegill disturbs the water bordering shore.  Then as summer peaks, it seems the shallows are suddenly alive and teeming with small fish, as if the table was set for a […]

Time to Go Fishing

by Bob Jensen It used to be that anglers planned their fishing trips way in advance, and many still do. However, in conversations with resort owners and tourism people, more and more, anglers are becoming very spur-of-the-moment planners. They decide on Tuesday they want to go on a fishing trip for the upcoming weekend, maybe […]

Catch More Fish This Year

By Bob Jensen Although the lakes across the northern section of the Midwest are still covered with ice, anglers are fishing almost everywhere else. There’s a feeling in the air that anglers are anxious to get fishing. They want to be on the water chasing whatever it is that they like to chase, and nothing […]

Open Water Fishing

LOOKING FORWARD TO OPEN WATER FISHING by Bob Jensen Winter arrived in the Midwest early this year and has hung on pretty aggressively. Everything has looked clean and white for a good number of weeks, but now it’s time to move on. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still lots of ice-fishing to do. In fact, […]

Fishing Diary

By Nick Simonson There have been a lot of changes in my life over the past five years. I’ve lived in two states and three towns and have had six different jobs, with this one being the most consistent. In that time I’ve fished over 60 lakes and rivers, gaining some level of familiarity with […]

Building Fish Habitat

By Doug Leier More than 40 years ago the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, in an effort to create structure for fish and create artificial habitat within Heart Butte Dam (Lake Tschida) in Grant County, sunk some old car bodies into the reservoir. As you might expect, the practice of using car bodies for […]

Big Bang Baitfish

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson In cooler waters of May and June the shallows can seem almost bare. Nothing but the occasional waterboatman or roaming bluegill disturbs the water bordering shore. Then as summer peaks, it seems the shallows are suddenly alive and teeming with small fish, as if they exploded out of nowhere! This big […]

Summertime Bass Fishing Tips

Nick Simonson Slop, gunk, or matting, call it what you will, but by this time in the summer, the combination of weed tops and surface vegetation has sealed off water access for shoreline anglers and limited the area that boat anglers can work. But those anglers who overlook this green gobbledygook could also be passing […]

Simple Bass Fishing Techniques

PJ Maguire The first step I took as a fisherman was from catching sunnies off the dock to casting for bass along the docks. It is true that bass are a sunfish, so in theory this is a logical step. Most of my friends, like me, first started serious fishing for bass and then transitioned […]

Catch and Release 101

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson     A dead-weight tug on the end of my line signaled that the largemouth bass under the dock was indeed hungry. I swept the rod back and the four-pound fish rocketed up out of the water. She battled every foot of the way to my hand. I reached down, tweaked […]

Extra Hooks Bring the Sting

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson     In one of the best Simpsons episodes, Moe uses a punch-absorbing Homer to relive his glory days as a boxer. But when Homer ends up having to fight the heavyweight champion, the all too Tyson-like Drederick Tatum, Moe searches through his bag of tricks to find the weapon that […]

Fishing Laydowns

Joe Zentner  Bank sloping trees that have fallen into the water, known as lay-downs, attract fish throughout the Midwest. Long-time anglers are keenly aware of the value of immersed trees. The primary cover choice of freshwater fish is, in fact, submerged wood. A lay-down is a tree that has fallen into the water and is […]

Smallmouth By the Numbers

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson     What a surprise! A stretch of warm spring days shook winter’s chill off some bronze scales and more than a week earlier than last year, I landed my first smallmouth bass. There’s no better time than now, during the prespawn, to search for big brown bass for some spring […]

Carolina Rig Fishing

By Kevin Dahlke     The Carolina Rig is a technique that has been around for quite some time. It is used to cover an area quickly to find out what kind of structure you are fishing. Personally, I have put this technique on the back burner for the last number of years, but as […]