Species

Catfish fishing at night works because the water cools, boat traffic disappears, and catfish move shallow to feed where daytime anglers rarely cast. The bait, gear, and timing below reflect…

To fillet a bass, cut behind the gill down to the backbone, slide the blade along the spine to the tail, lift the fillet clear of the ribs, then skin…

To fillet a catfish, skin the whole fish first, then cut along the spine from tail to head and lift each fillet off the ribs. Handle the pectoral spines with…

Carp get a bad rap in a lot of American fishing circles, treated like a rough fish that clogs up the water column and doesn’t deserve a rod bent over…

Carp fishing gear ranges from a repurposed bass rod to thousands of dollars of European-style bite alarms and rod pods, and the gap between those two extremes is bigger than…

Getting into carp fishing does not require the mountain of specialized gear that European carp fishing culture can make it look like it does. Starting with a rod already sitting…

Carp get dismissed by a lot of American anglers as a trash fish, which says more about how carp fishing developed here than it does about the fish. In Europe,…

Every tackle box eventually fills up with lures that looked great in the store and produced nothing on the water. Trout fishing rewards a smaller, sharper selection more than a…

Steelhead are rainbow trout that decided the ocean was worth the trip. Same species, wildly different life, and that difference changes everything about how you need to fish for them.…

Trout reward anglers who fish light and pay attention to water temperature more than almost any other freshwater species most people target. Ignore either one and you can fish good-looking…