Freshwater Fishing Archives - Page 152 of 292

July 10, 2026

Warmer weather might move crappie up and into brush piles, where deep-jigging with a single curlytail is productive.

In January, think cold for long-lining Badin Lake crappie

Although long-line trolling is the goal when suspended crappie are the target, it is always possible that a mild December or a series of warm fronts could cause crappie to hang up in the deep brush they’ve been calling home rather than transitioning to open water. […]

Vertically tight-lining minnows and jigs from the bow of the boat allows anglers to target in extremely deep water.

Tight-line for tough Badin Lake crappie

Dusty Wilson

“l’ll do whatever I need to do to catch crappie in winter,” said guide Maynard Edwards, and if January turns off bitter cold, that might just mean chasing them all the way to the bottom of Badin Lake. […]

Guide Joe Dennis seines shallow water on Lake Moultrie for big crappie, paying close attention to cover that may hold fish.

Not all shallow water is created equal

Terry Madewell

Guide Joe Dennis consistently catches crappies in shallow water in January, but he said not all shallow water is productive. […]

Tagging fish helps Jeff Manning and other fishermen follow the growth and movement of catfish.

Tag big catfish for tell-tail information

Terry Madewell

Jeff Manning and Dieter Melhorn are staunch believers in tagging and releasing their larger catfish. The tags, obtained through the Catawba Catfish Club, are numbered to identify the fish and have contact info to report recaptures to share information. […]

Lake Wylie’s population of blue catfish is expanding in terms of numbers and the size of fish being caught.

Lake Wylie’s catfish from a biological perspective

Terry Madewell

It’s one thing to have fishermen tout a lake as being great for a certain species, but taking a look from a scientific and biological perspective adds depth to that analysis. […]

The catfish graph shows all

Terry Madewell

Dieter Melhorn said the above graph represents 13-pound and larger catfish caught each year, depicted in different colors. […]

Lake Wylie’s catfish from a biological perspective

Terry Madewell

It’s one thing to have fishermen tout a lake as being great for a certain species, but taking a look from a scientific and biological perspective adds depth to that analysis. […]

Shooting docks is an effective technique for getting crappie jigs in hard-to-reach places, and it's now easier and safer with Pull Tabs.

Shooting docks now easier for crappie anglers

Brian Cope

The term “shooting docks” might sound like a duck hunting term, but it’s actually a well-known fishing technique among crappie anglers throughout the Carolinas. Despite the name, no firearms are involved. […]

A trout fisherman casts a fly on the delayed-harvest section of the Tuckaseegee River in Jackson County.

Don’t you dare delay – Delayed-harvest is a winter angler’s dream

Robert Satterwhite

If you want to catch good numbers of trout in the winter, head for a delayed-harvest stream. These streams are heavily stocked in October and November, and fishing remains good throughout the cold months. […]

Fishing with spoons the right way covers the entire water column, and results in stripers in a variety of sizes.

Catch stripers by covering entire water column with spoons

Brian Cope

Spoons are some of the oldest fishing lures in the book, and they’re still around because spoon fishing is so effective. While many anglers use them for jigging around brush piles with a process known as “perch jerking,” Capt. David Hilton uses a different technique that allows anglers to cover more water than is possible when perch jerking. […]