Serving up swimbaits

The news, when it happens, is nearly always the same: a 15- to 20-pound bass, caught in California, on a swimbait.

Practice Makes Perfect

I'm on my way to fish Lake Murray after a short break with my family. We — my wife Sherry, the kids and I — went to New York and visited the Natural History Museum and Ground Zero.

Santee Cooper: How They Did It

The second Southern Open, abbreviated by the threat of severe weather, was a study in versatility. The top three places in the event were claimed by anglers throwing different baits to different types of targets. The only thing their Santee Cooper bass had in common was a shallow water home.

The View from the Hill

With winning catches of more than 70 pounds the past two years, Clarks Hill Reservoir has become one of the favorite Bassmaster Elite Tour stops, and if the pros have good weather this week, I won't be a bit surprised to see another winning total in that same range.

How-To

Wet and Wild

I have to admit that I do the great majority of my smallmouth fishing from a nice, big Ranger bass boat, but every so often — right around this time of year — I get an irresistible urge to leave the boat at home and find a creek or small river that holds lots of brown bass.

Looking Back on a Legend

Bill Dance was professional bass fishing's first superstar. After a second-place finish in the first modern bass tournament the 1967 All-American on Beaver Lake in Arkansas the former furniture and hardware salesman from Memphis, Tenn., never looked back. He parlayed his tournament success into Bill Dance Outdoors, an immensely popular television fishing show that is still in production and still one of the most popular in the world.

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