By Dave Wolak

It wasn't that long ago when frog and mouse topwaters were “niche” baits used only in certain situations at certain times. But these days, frogs and mice (which continue to grow in popularity) are employed almost year-round in some areas, and anglers have found new ways to present them. They also cast them to a lot more structure types than just pads, mats, and grass. While it might be easy to say a frog lure and mouse lure are so similar, one isn’t better than the other, there are subtle differences, and understanding when to go with an amphibian, and when to tie on a rodent can really help you cash in on the hot topwater bite this time of year.

By Dave Wolak

Whether you're a Western angler chunkin' big swimbaits for ultra-fat, trout eating bass, or a Northern guy that loves to sling jerkbaits for bronzebacks, it's on like Donkey Kong in May, and some my most successful outings this time of year revolve around a fishing approach I like to call “stay high and fly.” In May, most bass are in some stage of the spawn, but regardless of the particular stage in a given area, the one thing that ties bass together across the country is that they’re shallow. To be clear, that doesn't just mean in shallow areas of the lake, but also shallow in the water column. One reason for this is that warmer May surface temps bring forage high, but another big reason is protection of fry. If you see a ball of bass fry flickering around the surface, you can count on momma lurking within striking distance. So the "stay high" part of the equation means stick to baits that work well in the shallows and the upper tier of the water column. Next comes the "flying" part.

By Dave Wolak

A few weeks ago, a reader asked a question that I probably get more often than any other: How do you figure out where to fish on new body of water? The truth is, there is a ton of detail that goes into breaking down unfamiliar water to find fish, but the initial steps are fairly concrete. In the tournament game, the process has to be sped up, because I need to find the right class of bass fast. Recreational anglers have the luxury of chipping away at a body of water over time. But if you’ve been hesitant to splash the boat in a new lake for fear of getting skunked, here are three key factors that I lean on every time I hit new water. They'll help make the decision of where to fish much easier.

By Dave Wolak

Over the years, I've fished with a lot of folks on my boat, and during those countless trips I've witnessed all kinds of common bass fishing brain lapses (and been the executor of said brain lapses, as well). The thread I've noticed that ties many of these common bass fishing foibles together is poor concentration-keeping practices during the mundane, monotonous times when the action isn't hot. It's easy to be on your A game when the bass are biting with regularity, but it's just as easy to lose focus when it's slow, which often causes you to screw up during those explosive moments peppered among the doldrums. These are the 5 mistakes I witness most often in descending order of criticality, and they're all easily fixable.