The Magazines - Outdoor Life and Field and Stream

Not a lot of material for bass or trout in either magazine this month.

Outdoor Life:

Good articles on fishing for Crappies as well as instructional tips on how to make a better roll cast.  Also has a fishing bonus section that covers walleyes and catfish. The fishing bonus section also discussed fishing tandem baits - something I had never considered.  Basically, you attach a plastic worm (Gulp! brand is my favorite) to the back of a topwater bait or crankbait and fish the leading bait the way you normally would.  Interesting idea - I'll try in very soon as the weather is starting to get warm.  Issue contained guidance on how to fish pork trailers as well.

Bottom line on the spring crappies is to look for the spawn and then use small curly tail grubs.

Field and Stream

This was their gun issue - focused on rifles and shotguns.

2 Fishing related articles -

"Stalking Early-Season Trout" - Nice article showed a diagram of a typical stream - pools, waterfalls, bends, etc - and provided advice on how to fish this different structure.  The first structure it pointed out was "pocket water" - small fairly deep pools that are scattered throughout a small stream that hold trout.  That's our experience here in Virginia.  Pretty much everything up in the Blue Ridge that I have seen is pocket water.  This is a good thing in that it requires the fisherman to actually walk away from the car.  Every step from a road reduces pressure, and climbing over the rocks as you work your way upstream makes this an even more demanding undertaking.  In this case, article pointed out not to overlook the tongues and the slow water near rocks - recommended working it using short casts. 

I've never fished for trout with worms - but the article pointed out that they are effective in every stream situation - interesting....  [no live bait allowed in the Shenandoah National Forest]

Article had other good advice for the rest of the common structure - quick two page read.

Other article was on perch fishing.  Not into that - until you hit a school when out bass fishing and work it - pretty fun!  I don't know if it was this article or another one I read recently that suggesting attaching a bobber with about 4 - 5 feet of line to a caught perch (or crappie) and letting it go.  It will return to the school and you can follow the school by following the bobber.  Next time I tie into this type of fish, I'll give that a try.

Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore

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