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Many anglers believe the fishing season doesn’t start until bass move up in the early prespawn, but the heart of winter is a great time to catch bass. Here’s how to catch more bass when it’s too cold to be fishing.

Striped bass are schooling fish by nature, but when anglers talk about schooling stripers they’re usually talking about the melee that ensues when these predators push a school of bait to the surface. It’s a lot like a fireworks show, with explosions occurring in every direction. Fishing doesn’t get more exciting.

Bass anglers often fly wide open right past one of the best locations on almost any lake, and it’s so easy to see that even non-fishermen know where to find it. It’s riprap, those rocks and chunks of concrete stacked along shore to prevent erosion, and there are a bunch of reasons bass love it.

There are hollow-body frogs, hard-plastic frogs, frogs that pop and spit, soft-plastic frogs…so many choices that anglers may have a difficult time selecting the right one for the job. Here’s a brief rundown of when and where to use each type of frog lure to catch big bass.

B.A.S.S. Elite and FLW Tour pro angler Jason Christie learned the magic of jerkbaiting bass long ago and has been perfecting the art since. Here he outlines the keys to selection and presentation to put the jerk to work for you.

Many anglers can’t figure out the human spawning process, much less that of a largemouth bass, but understanding when and where the fish spawn is essential to bass fishing success in the spring.

During the summer, fall and winter, river bass can be pretty easy to locate and catch. But come springtime and it gets a little tougher. Here are four spots to check on your local river this spring.

Bass anglers can lose focus after the fish leave the beds. Anglers knew what to do as the fish went through the prespawn and actual spawn, but 10 days later these same anglers can be confused, zipping from one spot to the next like water bugs. It’s this postspawn period, prior to the fish setting up on established summertime areas, that throws a monkey wrench into bass fishing.

During late winter, white bass begin migrating up-lake to the river sections of impoundments and into feeder creeks. They’re traveling toward shallow, moving water to spawn. It’s Mother Nature’s way of replenishing a species, but this predictable movement also makes for some of the most exciting and anticipated fishing of the year.

Crappie are the kings of spring because they come to the bank and give everyone a shot at a limit. Plus, they’re bigger at this time than any other time of year. Whether you’re fishing from the bank or boat, you normally can find some spawning slabs, but some lakes are better than others. Whether you’re looking for sheer numbers of fish, size or easy access, chances are there’s a great crappie lake near you. Here are four awesome lakes to catch a limit of big, fat spawners.

Oklahoma’s Jason Christie rode a Rogue to a seventh-place finish in the 2013 Bassmaster Classic on Oklahoma’s Grand Lake O’ The Cherokees. Grand Lake has long been known as a great wintertime jerkbait lake and the perfect place and time to introduce Smithwick’s latest creation, the Perfect 10 Rogue. Here’s how Christie used it and the shallower-running Suspending Rattlin’ Rogue to finish so high among the best anglers in the world.

Slender, minnow-imitating stickbaits work wonders for a variety of freshwater gamefish. From bass to pike and walleyes, few predators can resist the tantalizing twitch, pause and rolling action of a well-presented minnowbait. Of course, as with any technique, a few tricks of the trade can mean the difference between catching two fish and 20 on any given outing. Following are three hot patterns to put more fish in your boat.