Field Notes Archives - Page 41 of 48

October 15, 2026

Picky trout can be fooled if you learn to fish your jig on a slack line.

How to jig finicky fish into biting

September 19, 2015 Patrick Bonin

Sometimes speckled trout can make you feel like the smartest guy in the class — or like the kid not paying attention way in the back row. […]

Field Notes

Treble hooks mean more trout in the box

September 14, 2015 Patrick Bonin

Capt. Tommy Pellegrin, with Custom Charters in Houma, La., is squarely on the treble hook side of the aisle when it comes to speckled trout. […]

Tips for better fish mounts

August 24, 2015 Darren Digby

Proper handling is critical for all fish from bass to reds, but it’s especially important if you’re looking to mount a thin-skinned specimen like a speckled trout. […]

Use this netting to hide your duck blinds

August 22, 2015 Patrick Bonin

It might be 95 degrees with almost 100-percent humidity now, but believe it or not, teal season starts next month — so it’s actually not too early to start thinking about taking care of your duck blind. […]

Hooking more fish is often a matter of tying the right knot, in this case the snell.

Snelled hooks result in more hookups

August 16, 2015 Patrick Bonin

Capt. Tommy Pellegrin firmly believes snelling circle hooks offshore has a direct correlation to the number of fish coming over his gunnels. […]

Quickly turning limits of trout into fillets is just a matter of understanding the best way to clean them.

7 steps to clean trout

July 22, 2015 Andy Crawford

Nobody likes cleaning the day’s catch. But you’ll burn through these 7 steps to clean speckled trout and get these fish ready for the freezer or dinner. […]

Cheap plastic containers filled with water and placed in your freezer provides free block ice.

How to avoid buying ice

July 21, 2015 Andy Crawford

Crappie killer Tim Bye has a solution that allows him to save the cost of loose ice without having to deal with those danged plastic jugs. […]

All topwater lures are not created equal; learn when to use big ones, small ones, heavy ones, light ones and ones that wobble wide or not.

Know how to pick the right topwater

July 20, 2015 Jerry Dilsaver

Using topwater lures to catch fish is a favorite technique of many fishermen. The lure wobbles across the surface, imitating a thrashing, wounded baitfish. […]

How to maximize Carolina-rigging

July 19, 2015 Andy Crawford

When bass are deep, there’s no better way to coax them into biting than dragging a big chunk of plastic on a Carolina rig past their noses. […]

Louisiana’s Tim Bye added a length of rubber tubing to protect his trolling motor pull rope.

Never break your pull rope again

July 18, 2015 Andy Crawford

Want to ensure the pull rope on his trolling motor lasts as long as possible? Here’s a way to do that using a piece of flexible rubber tubing. […]

Now is the time to start practicing for bow season.

Time to tune up for bow season

July 17, 2015 Dan Kibler

With archery season a couple of calendar pages away, there’s no better time to get your bow out and begin to get ready and practice. […]

Top 5 nighttime bass-fishing tactics

July 16, 2015 Dan Kibler

The weather is just too hot in July and August. That’s why we asked Bass pro Davy Hite his tips for night-time bass fishing. […]