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What’s a Bladed Jig? A bladed jig is also known as a Chatterbait. Chatterbait is the name coined by Z-Man tackle company that invented and named their bladed jig the Chatterbait. Since these baits have become a success story on the tournament bass trail, every bass tackle company has got one, but I still like the originalChatterbait and I prefer the 3/8 ounce size for most of my fishing. At first I didn’t think much of a Chatterbait,. I had one that sat around in my tackle box for 10 years, just waiting to make it to casting rotation on my old reliable St. Croix Premier casting rod …

If you want a Net full of fish...you got to fish around some junk! No matter where you fish, there is going to be junk in the water. Junk is good, junk is where the fish like to hide. “See that junk over there?” “Yeah, what is it?” “I dunno, but you better make a cast before I do!” Junk is cover, junk is structure, junk can be weeds, a pile of rocks, a pier, a fallen tree...you get the idea. If you’ve got a fancy locator, underwater camera, side-scan or live scope, you can really see some junk...and if you look closely, you will see game fish too! You …

Kids go fishing for one reason, to catch some fish. I guess I’m still a kid. I always thought fishing was supposed to be fun, so I really don't get it when fancy pants anglers in big shiny boats pull up, cut right in front of my path and turn their backs as if I wouldn’t notice. Sometimes, I lose my cool and yell a few obscenities. “We’re in a tournament”, they yell back. Watch out for these boys...they’re in a tournament, LOL Oh my...a tournament...I didn't know that being in a tournament was so important that a prerequisite was to wreck my fishing spot and be rude to me. …

The month of May has always been a great month for walleye anglers in the Midwest. River fishing is still in full swing and lakes that had been closed for game fish spawning season will now be open. My only problem is...where do I go? I like to go where the walleye are biting. I'd rather drive an hour or more to where the bite is hot then put the boat in closer to home and have to struggle. The same goes for when I am on the water. I find myself spending more time searching than actually fishing. Sidescan, Livescope and GPS mapping has a lot to do with that as I get carried away and los …

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 …