Clockwise, from top left: minnow, crayfish, sunfish, shad, frog, and grasshopper. Fathead minnows, leeches and worms are mainstays in bait-shop refrigerators across the country. These old standards ...

This story, “Getting the Bait’s a Bail,” appeared in the May 1970 issue of Outdoor Life. The morning sparkled as bright and shiny as a new dime. The river was clear and purling along, its voices ...

Every topwater strike makes bass fishing more fun. But there’s something about topwater frog fishing—watching that almost comical-looking bait hop and sputter and then get suddenly obliterated—that ...

When you absolutely, positively have to catch a fish, live bait is the only way to go, period. While artificial lures are variously new, improved, or otherwise hyped worldwide, the lowly worm and its ...

I love to catch bass no matter which lure I use. But there still has to be a best way, right? On my way up to a recent Northwoods bass fishing week, a friend asked if there was some specific bite I ...

Fishing a frog over the pads and slop is one of my absolute favorite ways to catch bass. The visual strikes are absolutely explosive. When the bite is on, a day of frog fishing is a great day. It’s ...

Unbelievable fish catch using live leopard frogs as bait today.

Fathead minnows, leeches and worms are mainstays in bait-shop refrigerators across the country. These old standards have pro­duced stringers of game fish for decades, and they’ll continue to produce ...