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Like most over-the-hill 60-year-old anglers, one of my first lures was a white Mister Twister tail on a jig.  I caught a ton of fish on that combo as a kid.  It was cheap, virtually indestructible, and very versatile.   Times were simpler back then; I’d ride my bike to the Skokie Lagoons, ditch it in some bushes, and spend hours casting repeatedly, hoping for something pulling on the end of my line.  I snagged more trees than I caught fish, but I was doing it!  A private pond nearby was full of nice bass and bluegill, but expensive houses surrounded it.  …

Steep breaklines are a favorite spot for Fall walleye and pike to feed. These are areas where schools of bait will huddle up. Active gamefish travel along the break line, corralling that school and scarfing them down or spooking them up shallow where they slurp them up. Deadsticking with plastic presentations I’ll approach these fish with my one-two punch, which is dead sticking with rods in holders and casting jig-n-plastic presentations. Basically, dead sticking is baiting up, lowering down to the fish zone, and then setting your rod in the holder, waiting for a bite. When a fish bites …

When I first started fishing with plastic for walleye I was amazed at the fact that I could catch them on a plastic tail and a jig, often better than when using live bait. While walleye and sauger would mouth a large fathead or nibble on a half crawler, those same fish would slam a 4-6" Moxi like my dog grabbing his rawhide chew bone!While a jig and plastic is still my top way to approach these walleye on both rivers and lakes in fall and spring, I've since added a few more plastic presentations to my arsenal like a weedless jig, Chatterbait and the Tokyo Rig. Each has their time and place, re …