The swimmin' worm is an oldie, a real forgotten goodie, that kicks fish butt. It's especially effective for largemouths and smallmouths, but also at times for walleyes.

In the southern reaches of crappie and bluegill country, pole fishing is common. It includes from family groups on the pond bank hoisting bream and crappie tournament anglers spider-rigging over meandering creek channels with more than a dozen poles deployed.

Plucking crappies from fallen trees, brushpiles, and submerged timber is a common theme in spring. The shallows warm, drawing crappies to spots where they feel insecure without cover.

The worm boom took off in the 1960s as production of Fliptail Worms, Mann's Jelly Worms, and other designs tracked the meteoric rise in bass fishing popularity that lasted into the late 1980s.

Rigging tubes, worms, and shad baits in atypical fashion, Meyer creates unique actions bass can't resist.

A wide variety of metallic concoctions have metamorphosed out of the original basic rig-jig format, broadening the scope of heavy-metal walleye lures.

Get the basic color right, in conjunction with reasonable color patterning, and you go far in making fish feel comfortable enough to take another step.

Insights into particularly good times to catch outsize bass can help in planning trips to trophy lakes in Florida or Mexico, or help to decide when to trot down to a local farm pond.

Panfish, especially crappies and bluegills, tend to be sight feeders, which means they prefer to see it before they eat it.

Today, more anglers are experimenting with circle hooks for various species, based on their perceived benefits.