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 In case you’ve been living in a cave, you should know that getting up early and fishing as the sun rises, plus the next few hours, is often the best fishing of the day.  Even though it’s hot in the Summer, there will be plenty of active fish shallow.  When I’m fishing in shallow water, I like to make a long cast so as not to spook the bigger fish cruising around.  For bass, I focus on two presentations: a soft plastic pre-rigged worm and a Chatterbait with my favorite trailer.  Chatterbait is the ticket for aggressive fish To cover water quickly an …

Here are three areas where bluegill and bass will roam in Summertime. They can be up shallow around cover like piers, fallen trees and weed pockets. They could be along the weed edge or first drop-off or they could be suspended. Let’s go catch them!Fishing Shallow Shallow fish are easy, all you need is some good casting skills and a little luck. For bluegill, I like a little ice jig like a Custom Jigs & Spins size 8 Glazba. It is made from tungsten so it has just enough weight to pitch around piers and wood with a light line on a St. Croix Panfish rod. Slide on a redworm, give i …

If you are looking to catch walleye, sauger and white bass right now, you need to become a river fisherman. Rivers offer some of the best fishing for these species even while the lakes have closed seasons. Become “one with the river” and get in on the action!Learning to love plastics BFishN Tackle AuthentX plastic is specifically designed for river walleye fishing. Our line-up includes the Pulse-R in 2.45” and 3.25”, The Moxi in 3” and 4”, the 4.25” Ribb-Finn, the 4” Ringworm, the 3.25” Paddletail, and the 5” K-Grub. All these style and size combinations account for 194 different choices, …

Blade Baits and Jigging Spoons are the overlooked lures in your tackle box, they are just not very glamorous! But if you are a river fisherman or fish power plant cooling lakes in Illinois and other states you need to have a good selection of each and use them right now. When the open water season starts and the water is cold, it’s that time when the vibration of blade baits and drop speed of jigging spoons create a motion that walleye, sauger, white bass, striped bass, wipers, smallmouth and catfish can't resist! Fishing blade baits I like to think of a blade bait as a metal crankbait. …

One thing I learned about fishing is that if you want to catch fish, you have to go where the fish are...unfortunately it took me forty years to figure that out! First off, you need to fish a lake with a good population of fish. If a lake hosts a lot of bass tournaments, chances are it’s a good bass lake. On the other hand, if it holds a lot of walleye tournaments, then it’s a better walleye lake. Some lakes support bass, walleye and catfish tournaments...those are the good ones. Same with lakes with a lot of resorts on them, it usually suggests better fishing. Next, check out the guide …