Entries for July 2008

They are less wary than most other trout and will strike practically any kind of bait or lure that is the approximate size of their food. Cutthroat are not as acrobatic as rainbows, but a hooked fish usually wages a strong subsurface struggle.

There’s a lot that goes into lure selection—whether you’re talking flies for trout or plugs for stripers. Crank- baits, however, make for some of the toughest calls because there are just so many variables involved—running depth, roll, wobble, size, profile—and according to many pros, some factors we can’t even see or feel.

When planning your river strategy, always consider the water level, which dictates where the fish will hold. The fish respond to water-level changes of only an inch or two, moving into shallow backwaters when the water rises and out to deeper areas when if falls.

A postman would have fits delivering mail to a walleye; it never stays in one place long, and leaves no forwarding address when it moves. Yet, that’s exactly what we have to do each time we launch our boats...

McClellan works his way in and out of creeks and large coves, keeping an eye on his depthfinder and on the surface of the water. Often, he'll spot the telltale rings left by small shad flipping on top.

Brad Whitehead knows crappies. Though he’s just 30 years old, the Muscle Shoals, Alabama, guide grew up with a fishing rod in his hand. And he logs more time each year chasing crappies—about 225 days, conservatively—than some anglers do in a decade.

River panfish habitat is extremely diverse, so it’s best to rig three rods three different ways, so you’re always ready for what’s next.

Serious panfish anglers are always on the hunt for the hottest bite, which means looking for lakes jammed with bull ’gills, broad-shouldered ’crackers, slab crappies and sag-bellied perch.

Shellcrackers, as redears are commonly called because of their propensity to feed on snails, clams and mussels, are colonial nesters. So, where you find one ’cracker this time of year, you’ll virtually always find more—sometimes hundreds of tightly packed nests will fill a cove.

I was swimming a jig the size of a housecat and the color of peppermint candy, but it disappeared in gin-clear water a foot off the gunnel like it had been swallowed by a black hole.