Freshwater Fishing

We’ll look at 2022 Bassmaster Classic site and its bass fishery and consider lures and techniques that are apt to prevail.

In two weeks, 56 of the top bass anglers in the world will compete on Lake Hartwell for title of Bassmaster Classic champion and the $300,000 first prize. It will be the fourth time the Bassmaster Classic has been held at Lake Hartwell, a 56,000-acre impoundment of the Savannah River that straddles the Georgia/South Carolina border.

We’ll examine bass fishing on Lake Hartwell, considering the lake’s makeup, the bass population and the forage base. We’ll also consider the timing of this year’s world championship and how that is likely to affect the fishing.

Some of the absolute best offerings for enticing strikes from trout seldom get seen by stream fish. Learn how to get an upper hand on other anglers.

Spoons work well for catching stream trout. That’s no secret. Not all spoons are created equal, though, and the best trout spoons I have found for catching trout have never been seen by most stream fish.

“Why is that?” you might wonder. The answer is simple. The Lindy Quiver Spoon and Rattl’n Quiver Spoon were designed for ice fishing, so few anglers associate either with casting to stream trout, and you’re unlikely to find them sold as trout spoons or even available on store pegs outside the Ice Belt.

Early spring can be a spectacular time to fish for bass, IF you choose the best approaches. Learn the lures Jason Christie considers essential for this time of year.

Early spring is Jason Christie’s favorite time of the year to fish. The bass tend to be shallow, and the pre-spawn is an outstanding time to catch big bass. Conditions can vary substantially, though, so it’s important to be equipped for the vast range of situations that might be encountered.

We asked Christie to share his top early spring bass baits. As importantly as revealing specific lure choices, Christie shared why he chose each of his top early spring bass baits and discussed the situations that call for each, along with sharing insights on fishing these lures for pre-spawn bass.

Learn how four crappie guides target deep-water crappie during late winter.

The evolution of electronics with live sonar has changed how many anglers catch crappie during winter. Now crappie anglers with live sonar chase roamers as they scan for the larger crappie scattered over deeper water.

Before you stop reading this article because you don’t have live sonar, Bobby Garland Pro Barry Morrow is going to explain how to catch crappie this time of year without those tools, but first let’s talk about catching roamers.

We’ve gleaned expertise from Jason Christie’s many years of refining spinnerbait knowledge to provide you a shortcut to spinnerbait fishing success.

Enjoying consistent success with a spinnerbait for bass is so much more than casting and retrieving. For Bassmaster Elite Series Pro Jason Christie, there is a right time and place for fishing a spinnerbait, and there are several variables to consider when selecting the right spinnerbait. Christie is considered one of the best spinnerbait anglers on the planet, having earned countless dollars in tournament winnings a spinnerbait on the end of his line. Let’s dive into his recipe for success fishing a spinnerbait for bass!

Hiring a crappie guide can be extremely beneficial and more cost-efficient than you might imagine. We spoke with several veteran guides about how to make the most of a guided fishing trip.

The start of a phone call once had crappie guide Brad Chappell wondering if he had unknowingly caused real problems. The caller said her husband had spent $6,000 on crappie gear and wanted to know why Chappell was “making” him buy all that stuff. Her husband, a fairly recent guide client of Chappell’s had been calling regularly since the trip to ask specifics about Chappell’s gear – one week about electronics, the next about rod holders, the next about baits… But Chappell hadn’t TOLD him to buy anything!

Then, with a smile in her voice that Chappell could hear, the caller said she was really calling to thank him because while her husband really had spent that much money, the two of them were truly enjoying crappie fishing together!

Learn the benefits of adding soft plastic lures to your ice fishing arsenal and how to use those baits effectively.

I can easily recall my first time ice fishing with soft plastic lures because it was my first time ice fishing. I fished with a couple of fishing industry friends, both veteran ice anglers from Minnesota. Jigs and spoons owned the ice fishing world at that time, and few ice anglers ever used soft plastic lures. To me, though, it seemed like the same lures I used for vertical presentations to cold-water crappie and bluegills on open water should work through the ice. So, I begin my ice pilgrimage by going against the grain, using a soft plastic crappie bait on a jighead that wasn’t even an ice jig.

Bait School Bite Spec

Lure: The Bandit 200 in Ember

When: Early Spring/Winter

Where: Highland Reservoirs, River Systems (Lake Norman, Buggs Island)

Choosing the right crankbait can be tough! The decision can be much easier when one of the choices is a custom painted Bandit 200.

Blade baits such as the Heddon Sonar and Spoons such as the War Eagle Jigging Spoon create flash, and flash is the key to catching lethargic bass in the dead of winter!

As we go through our blog today, I will highlight three factors of why these two wintertime lure selections create so much success. The first being the most obvious, the flash! The second is the subtle action in the drop or retrieve, and the third is understanding what bass and various types of shad are doing this time of year.