Freshwater Fishing Archives - Page 134 of 293

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August 27, 2026

Pro angler Matt Arey fishes only suspending jerkbaits; to add weight to make them suspend, he’ll change out hooks for ones a size larger.

Suspending jerkbaits more common than in the past

Deep inside my tackle box, there is a Rapala floating minnow that’s a victim of a late 1980s how-to article. Above the front hook, I drilled three holes and inserted a split shot in each, then sealed the wounds with epoxy. At the time, it was one of only a few ways that anglers could make their jerkbaits suspend. […]

Bass pro Andy Montgomery catches his best jerkbait bass on the lower end of Lake Wylie, where the water is less stained.

Catch more bass by understanding Wylie’s shad

Pete Anderson

Find the shad, and you’ll find the bass. That well-worn wisdom is true on Lake Wylie, especially in the winter. But to find the shad, it helps to know a little about them. […]

Black nose crappie

Dusty Wilson

Without a doubt, the Eno River presents a unique crappie fishing experience, in part because it offers the opportunity to catch a unique crappie. […]

Tiny jigs with built-in spinner blades can make a big difference in the number of crappie going in your cooler.

Blades of glory

Dusty Wilson

Ask guide Eddie Moody what the difference is between a long-liner and a tight-liner, he’ll quickly tell you that a tight-liner is more of a finesse or presentation fisherman, while a long-liner is putting his money on a reaction strike. […]

Lake Wylie bass bite jerkbaits when the water cools

Pete Anderson

When fishing Lake Wylie during late fall and into the winter, jerkbaits perfectly mimic the population of shad struggling and dying in the cold. […]

Eddie Moody of Roxboro finds all the fall crappie he needs in the Eno River, the largest of the three tributaries that feeds Falls of Neuse Reservoir.

For fall slabs, Eno is enough – Fish this North Carolina river for fall crappie

Dusty Wilson

In the cool, morning air, Eddie Moody’s passenger boarded the Roxboro guide’s boat and brushed aside the life jacket placed on the seat for him. […]

Jason Bowen of Durham had to call for reinforcements when he hooked this 101-pound blue catfish at Buggs Island on Oct. 15.

Durham angler catches 101-pound catfish

Dusty Wilson

Undeterred by a broken trolling motor, Jason Bowen of Durham had to make all his drifts for blue catfish with the wind on Kerr Lake last Saturday. After changing spots once, he hooked up to the biggest fish of his life, a 101-pounder that required reinforcements to land. […]

How to tie your own trout flies

Robert Satterwhite

Seeing a trout rise to a fly is always a thrill, no matter how often you fish. Having a trout rise to a fly you’ve tied yourself is a greater thrill. […]

Change strategy when you’re catching only small Santee Cooper stripers

Jeff Burleson

The fall striper bite on the Santee Cooper lakes is a must-see event for anglers. Typically, hundreds of birds hovering over the water in fall are prime indicators of a surfacing school of stripers. Sometimes, anglers may want to consider leaving fish to find other fish. Here’s why. […]

Santee Cooper’s Diversion Canal can be a striper hot spot on bad-weather days

Jeff Burleson

The Santee Cooper lakes, Moultrie an Marion, span more than 170,000 surface acres of water. While they include many coves, blackwater ponds and creeks where anglers can hide on windy days when the surface gets rough, the best schooling action is usually in open water where there’s no where to hide. […]