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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.

Want to find hot fishing action this summer? Follow these tips formed from many years of wade-fishing in streams and learn how to catch more fish.

It’s never too hot to go fishing, especially when you are wade-fishing streams.
Even when the temps reach more than 100 degrees, stream fish will still bite. They were designed to eat!

Here are a few rules of thumb to help you catch fish during the heat of summer while wade fishing.

Choosing the right crawfish lure and presentation can trigger great days of catching many different types of fish from creeks and rivers.

“Cast across the creek and a little upstream and reel back steadily, reeling just fast enough to feel the crawfish wobble.”

I’ve given that instruction to all my children and to many friends over the years when we’ve stepped into a creek or river and I’ve handed off a lightweight spinning or spincasting combination. The instruction has been the same because the lure has been the same: a Rebel Crawfish.

Depending on the stream and season, the target species might have been rainbow, brown or brook trout or smallmouth, shoal or redeye bass. Or, we might have been fishing for whatever bit and expecting a nice variety. The Rebel Crawfish excels for all of the above. I commonly choose this bait when I’m taking someone fishing because of the ease of use and effectiveness. It isn’t only for teaching, though. It is also the lure I tie on for the broadest range of stream applications and species.

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.

You don’t need to fish from a boat to catch snook. You can wade fish the flats and take the “dog” for a walk, too.

Can you walk the dog? No, not the four-legged kind. I mean a cigar-shaped topwater lure that launches like an arrow and walks and talks to gamefish on the way back. The walk is twitch left, twitch right, twitch left, twitch right. The talk is clickity-clickity-click. It’s a dinner bell for predators. Florida’s saltwater snook come a runnin’.

This is far from “deep sea” fishing. It’s casting light tackle in mostly knee-deep water. You can use your boat to motor to the a, then hop out and wade. But you don’t even need a boat. Drive your car to a waterfront park. Hike to the shoreline. Put on wading boots. Wade in. Walk the dog. Map and satellite imaging on your devices are terrific for finding places to park-and wade