Freshwater Fishing Archives - Page 172 of 292

July 11, 2026

Durham’s Ridgecrest Baptist Church puts on eight crappie tournaments as part of its Outdoors Ministry each year.

Outdoors ministry features fishing events, kids, icons

Craig Holt

Rod King began the Outdoor Ministry at Durham’s Ridgecrest Baptist Church nine years ago. […]

Strong cold fronts will send crappie deep into cover where fishing straight down to the fish may be the only way to get one to bite.

Cold-front finesse fishing

Phillip Gentry

The frequent cold fronts that wash over North Carolina in late February and through March can cause crappie to halt their progression toward the shallows, sink deep into brush or other cover and be hard to catch. […]

Side- and down-imaging technology can help crappie anglers find and orient to fish before even wetting a line.

Sonar on the side

Phillip Gentry

One of the ways that crappie pro Kent Driscoll has stayed on top of tournament leader boards has been by mastering the use of the newest sonar technology, and he relies on it as much as anything in his boat. […]

By trailing a length of logging chain behind the boat, anglers fishing from the bow can go slow even in strong winds.

Dealing with wind

Phillip Gentry

As a tournament crappie fisherman Charlotte’s Mike Parrott is no stranger to fishing when he has to. He doesn’t get the luxury of choosing when tournaments will be held and most times, unless a dire situation exists, it’s time to hit the water. […]

Ronnie McKee has turned a love of crappie fishing into a garage business hand-tying hair jigs.

Stump’s jigs and flies

Phillip Gentry

In a world full of soft plastics where innovation in crappie jigs are the equivalent of a clip-on tie, a dyed-in-the-wool crappie fisherman has a hard time finding a quality, hand-tied crappie jig. […]

Neal Osteen of Hendersonville landed this 51-inch muskellunge, estimated at better than 40 pounds, while fishing in the French Broad River.

Hendersonville man’s French Broad muskie that might have challenged record

Phillip Gentry

Neal Osteen of Hendersonville wasn’t exactly surprised when he landed a monstrous, 51 inch muskie from the French Broad River on March 8, but was still overjoyed at landing his best muskie to date. […]

This beautiful brown trout was caught in Hazel Creek in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which has more than 1,000 miles of trout streams.

A trout angler’s paradise

Robert Satterwhite

It is possible to fish a different trout stream every day for a year and cover only a fraction of the streams in western North Carolina. […]

College student John Duarte caught an 8.6-pound bass and 63-pound flathead catfish on back-to-back trips on the Cooper River last weekend.

Cooper River makes Coastal Carolina angler’s weekend a great one

Justin Kiser

John Duarte, who represented Coastal Carolina University in the recent Bassmaster College Classic fishing tournament, was rewarded last weekend for turning down a chance to head for Florida for spring break. […]

Eddie Watford of Easley caught this monster 61-pound blue catfish from Lake Wateree on a March 7 trip.

Easley angler doubles his personal best with 61-pound Wateree blue cat

Phillip Gentry

Back when Eddie Watford was a magazine courier, he used to deliver South Carolina Sportsman magazine to outlets across Oconee and Pickens counties, but he never imagined he might one day wind up in the magazine. […]

Despite unusually cold weather and water, Matthew Outlaw has developed a winning pattern for catching crappie on Lake Marion.

Upper end of Lake Marion producing some championship crappie

Terry Madewell

Crappie fishing on Lake Marion was slowed a bit by the recent extreme cold weather, but as usual, some fishermen figured out how to catch them. […]