With a few specialty tools, turning scrap metal into leadhead jigs is easy and fun and will save you a few bucks to boot.

The first thing you need is lead. There are two types. Soft lead is nearly pure and available at scrap metal dealers. (My local dealer sells it for 35 cents per pound.) Hard lead is less pure and available at most tire shops in the form of wheel weights. Each has its pros and cons: Soft lead is easier to mold into jigheads, especially for smaller sizes. Hard lead is cheaper. (My local tire shop, like most, happily gives lead wheel weights away.)

In this first-ever Field & Stream "Hook Shots" episode, Joe Cermele chases American shad with local guide Dieter Scheel on the Central Delaware River in New Jersey during the annual April run. These shad fall to flutter spoons held in the current at different depths behind an anchored boat. Females, or "roes," can actually hit the eight-pound mark. Interestingly, American shad do not feed on their journey upriver from the Atlantic Ocean. Theories abound, but most believe they strike out of aggression or simple curiousity.

THE TYPICAL SPRING CRAPPIE APPROACH is a no-brainer. You head for the backs of reservoir tributary arms, anchor, and drown minnows in sunken brushpiles, waiting for finicky spawning crappies to bite—all the while rubbing bows with scores of other anglers doing the same thing. Kentucky Lake guide Garry Mason (731-593-5429) takes a more proactive tack. He hits the water several weeks ahead of the crowds, casting lures along sunken highways that fat pre-spawn crappies travel to reach their shallow spawning grounds.

When water temperatures range from about 40 to 55 degrees, bass will snatch a speeding shallow-running crankbait, yet ignore just about anything else retrieved at the same pace. These crankbaits let you quickly probe lots of water to locate largemouths that have moved from deep winter haunts to shallow prespawn staging cover, including submerged wood, rocky banks, and early-season grassbeds. This illustrated guide tells you how to choose the right shallow-running crankbait for each type of cover and how to make it irresistible to the spring lunkers lurking there.