In-Fisherman

In-Fisherman is for the avid freshwater angler. Each issue provides detailed instructions and demonstrations on catching, cleaning, and eating your favorite species of fish, and reports on the latest scientific studies concerning fish and habitat conservation. This is the source for finding fishing hotspots, new tackle, effective equipment, and more!

In-Fisherman

Hank Shaw’s Fish Collars Marinade

Inside Angles • Culinary Horizons

Bits & Pieces • Blending Fishery Science with Everyday Fishing

ADVENTURES • Feature Travel Tips from In-Fisherman Staff & Friends

STAFF Noteworthy & New • New and Unique Fishing Stuff, as Reviewed by the In-Fisherman Staff

Crankbait Legends THEN & NOW • Among lure categories, crankbaits stand out for their colorful history and intricacy of design. They’re old, but always new; effective for catching bass in many depth zones. Today, dozens of companies in this country and overseas design, build, and promote a vast array of lures made of several types of wood, plastic formulas, and hardened foam. There are too many for an angler to test in a lifetime, or to describe even the most popular and effective models in article like this.

Smallmouth Geniuses • Explaining tactics and biology so fishermen can translate and use the knowledge is a kind of genius, I suppose. Developing a new technique that goes viral is certainly ingenious. Correlating environmental events that lead to smallmouth location should apply. Perhaps the brightest smallmouth anglers make observations of smallmouth movements or behavior that are later proven true by published science studies.

Shifting WALLEYE TOURNAMENT Perspectives • Maybe it’s all the years and the endless miles of trolling my boat endured while guiding anglers who couldn’t always cast so well. Certainly, it’s the one-on-one, feel-the-bite, set-the-hook sensory aspect of active casting that makes the choice for me an easy call. Today and most every day beyond, I want the rod and reel in my hands, interacting with fish and their surroundings from up in the bow of the boat.

No Mortal Muskie • Encounter With The Record

Summer Slabbin’ CATCHING CRAPPIES WHEN IT’S HOT • Everyone’s a rock star when crappies are shallow and hungry during the spring feeding fling or hunkered over beds during the spawn. It’s a different story come summer. Dialing in location and presentation becomes a bit trickier when schools of slabs vanish from their early season shoreline haunts. The good news is crappies are catchable all summer long in all kinds of fisheries across the continent. Best of all, you don’t need super-sonar and a boatload of tackle to catch them. Just an understanding of their habits and an open mind about location and presentation.

Along the Road to CATFISHING TODAY • In their legendary song, “Truckin’,” The Grateful Dead famously sang, “What a long, strange trip it’s been. ” Their lyrics definitely weren’t about the journey that cat-fishing has been on for the last 50 years, but the sentiments are appropriate. As our grandfathers sat at water’s edge in the 1950s and 60s, never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined that some of today’s catfish anglers would fish with $100 rods and $200 reels, from $50,000 catfish boats, hoping to catch 100-plus-pound blue cats and win tens of thousands of dollars in catfishing tournaments.

Insider Visions AND VIEWS • Observations of a Scan Man

North with Doc • Club Doc

Reflections • Fish Photos