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Walking the banks of ponds or wading creeks and throwing topwater lures is a fun and easy way to find great summer fishing action.

Bank fishing, creek fishing and topwater bass fishing rank among my favorite ways to fish, and during summer I often get to combine those things. It is a wonderfully simple approach, walking the bank of pond or wading up a creek and using topwater fishing lures, and good opportunities continue throughout summer and well into autumn.

Because I’m not launching a boat or running anywhere and the approach is very basic, this type of fishing lends itself to outings of any length. I can go for a few hours in the morning or close to dark and have plenty of time to find good fishing action.

Wading a creek or river for bass and other species is a fun and highly effective way to catch fish during summer and autumn. Follow these tips to find great fishing adventures.

With only a couple of hours available, a buddy and I went for maximized efficiency. We parked my car near an Ozarks creek just before daylight and then rode in his truck to another access point, a mile or so downstream. We had tackle packed in light backpacks and topwater lures tied on, and as soon as we had enough light to see where we were walking, we moved streamside at the lower end of a long pool and eyed our first casts.

My Teeny Pop-R disturbed the slick surface first, and the first gentle pop prompted a not-so-gentle attack. The fish missed twice and didn’t come back, but we were underway. Two hours later, just in time to get to where we needed to go, we left fish biting and walked to my car, a few hundred feet away. We’d caught several smallmouths, a couple of spots and largemouths and a handful of mixed panfish. An amazing start to any day!

If you have wadable streams withing reasonable reach that offer public access and support a population of smallmouths, spots, largemouths, shoal bass or other black bass species, there are few simpler or more enjoyable ways to find fishing action than by wading-fishing with a light spinning outfit and modest arsenal of small lures. These tips can make your wade-fishing outings extra productive.