— by Steve vonBrandt

The variety of soft plastic baits for bass is mind boggling. The choices available just in worms alone, are enough to cause confusion with the novice angler, and hours of debate among the more experienced. What size? What color?, straight tail? curly tail?, salt or no salt?; what rig to use them on; Drop-Shot? Carolina Rig?, Weightless?, what are the best times to use each one? Then add in the endless variety of lizards, grubs, Jerkbaits, freakbaits, tubes, and creatures, and you end up with more questions than answers. In the following article I will try to list the most effective plastic baits and presentations that catch not only numbers, but big bass as well, whether it is in a lake, pond or river, just about anywhere in the country. There will always be a new type of bait that one person or the other claims is better than the others, but the following baits and techniques will cover most any situation that you are likely to encounter.

By Fred Kuzyk

Close to the big city but far from the crowds, the Sunshine Coast is a fisherman’s paradise. If you'd describe yourself as an avid fisherman, you really should check out this area during sport fishing season!

Bordered by snow covered Coastal Mountains, this protected coastline stretches 175 Kilometers (105 Miles) along the northeast shores of the Strait of Georgia, from Howe Sound to Desolation Sound. Clean sparkling Pacific waters, secluded sandy beaches, bays with Red Cedar and Arbutus trees sprinkled along the coast line. Canada Geese, Bald Eagles, Blue Herons and Osprey share the sky and shore.

Sent in from a BFT user.

As we all know, the primary law that governs our nations marine fisheries, The Magnuson Stevens Act, needs to be substantially revised. Since its inception in 1976, the Magnuson Act has rarely ever given credence to the conservation, economic, or quality of life concerns of America's 19million saltwater anglers.

This past year, the message from Capitol Hill was that the majority of the work for the Magnuson reauthorization process and final passage of the bill was not going to take place until 2003.

Late on Thursday, May 16th, Congressman Wayne T. Gilchrist, Chairman of the House of Representatives Fisheries, Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans

By: Mike Carey

One of the benefits of running a web site on this state's fishing lakes is that there is always a new lake to go explore. We are blessed with thousands of lakes in this state. You could spend your whole life fishing new lakes and still find another one just around the corner.

I'd heard of lake Roosevelt and it's monster rainbow a few years back. Triploids and naturally spawning fish that run to ten pounds plus. In the course of my travels to new lakes, I'd kept this one in mind. One day, I said to myself, I will fish this lake.

That day arrived November 6th. Guide Lennie Mayo (J.L. Fishing Guide Service) had invited me out to target the winter rainbows. I will admit, my first thought was who wants to spend a day on a cold boat catching rainbow trout? Well, I'm glad my first thought wasn't my last, because I'm here to tell you that lake Roosevelt ROCKS! The fishing wasn't just good, it was very good. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I will tell you this up front - if you have doubts about fishing lake Roosevelt in the winter, put them aside. Winter may just be the best time to hit this lake.

By: Eric Elshere

This time of the year, everyone believes that the bass are easy to catch and of course they are big. Well the bass aren't very easy to catch, as a matter of fact they are very difficult to catch. You have to use the most natural looking baits as possible, or live baits. My personal favorites are big swimbaits and live baits.

Live waterdogs are a very good choice for this time of year. I have noticed from watching a buddy of mine catching and landing 4 to 5 bass over 5 pounds in a day, when everyone else is shut down. Therefore I gave them a shot, and they are a great bait

By: Capt. Ray Kelly

Very few anglers know of the fantastic fishing in Riverhead, New York. The Peconic River is home to excellent fishing. Riverhead is undergoing major changes. One of the largest shopping malls, The Tanger Outlet Mall, is located in Riverhead. Riverhead town has refurbished the waterfront area. The town marina has dockage for large and small boats with electric, water and cable. There are picnic tables. It is really a great place to fish from the dock especially for children.

In August, snappers start to bite and any child or adult can catch them right from the dock. Anglers may also catch a striped bass, weakfish or bluefish. I am also glad to report that the Town of Riverhead has an Annual Snapper on the Saturday after Labor Day. So mark it on your calender and come out and fish this

By: Mike Simpson

Looking back over the years I have spent fishing, one thing may have kept me from catching more fish than anything else. I wasn't "on the move" when I needed to be. If you only fish from the bank and you only have access to one small area on your local fishing hole, read no further. If you only fish "your favorite spot" this article is for you!

In the past when I went fishing, I used to head to the last place I caught fish and set up camp. If I started to catch fish right away I would stay put and enjoy the day! If I didn't start catching fish

right away, I would stay anyway and spend the rest if day wondering why I wasn't "having any luck."

By Michelle Elshere

The time has rolled around when the cold front moves in and the bass usually go deep. What does it take to catch the hawgs that lurk in the 20'-35' water searching for something to eat?.....

......Well…you might fish the shallows (15'), or use a drop shot-rigged worm, or a jigging spoon. I've seen some large bass caught on a variety of the big baits; Castaic Swim Bait, Osprey, Basstrix, Stocker Trout, Optimum, or A.C. Plugs.

In last week's tournament my Dad and I found a few fish, and landed two that we had caught on Aaron's Magic Color Worms. We also did well on drop-shoting reepers. The ones we used were about 2" and they have a flat tail. It was our first time at using this rig. We found it to work rather well.

By Noel Gyger

This is a fantastic time to angle for both steelhead and coho salmon plus resident Cutthroat, Rainbow Trout and Dolly Varden Char in northwest British Columbia Canada. Let’s talk about the Coho salmon first.

You too can make this dream a reality if you come here to angle for these beautiful salmon. When hooked they jump, roll and tumble, wrapping themselves up in you line, like a pretty package. The rolling and tumbling is a Coho characteristic! The Americans know them as “silvers”....but we call them “Yo Ho”...the Coho!. The Skeena river and its many tributaries are fortunate to have many large runs of these “silver” beauties. The first migrating Coho are of average size but later, in October, the “larger” Coho start to appear. We call these larger fish “northerns” because, not only is their average weight higher, they also have the distinctive large “hooked” nose that we commonly refer to as the “northern nose”. Even the females have the hooked nose although not as prominent as the male. The regular Coho average between 6 and 12-pounds but the “northerns” average between 12 and 20-pounds with the odd fish weighing more than 25-pounds. Northwest Fishing Guides lodge record fish weighed an amazing 27-pounds. This fish was landed by a repeat guest, Mr. Jack Baikowitz, in middle October 1995 in the Kasiks river. Mr. Baikowitz now wants to be called “Mr. Coho” from now on. A 20 x 30 inch poster photo of this record fish hangs on the wall at the lodge. Yo Ho!...that’s the “battle cry” in the fall that most of us yell when the Coho start coming. This is a very exciting time of year.

— by Michael Lindquist

On the last weekend of March, most of the state of Minnesota is in transition from winter to spring...not the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Here, winter is still in full force.

Lena Resting from Pulling the Sled With the dogs harnessed with sleds full of gear in tow, we trekked our way across several lakes, over miles of rough beaver dams, and through five or six portages to our destination. After a sixteen-mile cross-country ski, amidst waves of heavy snowfall and chilling winds, we made it to our spot, deep in the wilderness of the Minnesota north country.