Though it can get cold- make that, very cold – during the fall, you don’t need rocks in your head to chase late-season walleyes.

When it comes to walleye fishing, nothing is more exciting than tossing a jig into the shallows during springtime. But as early spring gives way to the post-spawn patterns of late spring and the big fish move deeper, I’m not ready to give up the jigs. So how can the dedicated jig fisherman stay at it all year? That is exactly the question that I took to seasoned walleye angler Ted Takasaki. His answers gave me all the information I needed for a full season of jigging in open water.

It’s not enough to know that giant, hungry muskies haunt weeds in fall. We all know they’re in the green stuff somewhere. Living weeds give off oxygen, cover and shade, and provide muskies with ambush points to snare baitfish hiding among the plants.

Football players learn a lot by analyzing film from last Sunday’s game.

The same goes for professional fishermen. Taking a close look at the last tournament teaches them plenty about what works and what doesn’t. Reflection is valuable not only for people with money on the line, but also for the average angler who can learn a lot and improve their next time on the water.

One of the main ingredients to finding and catching big summer walleyes is quite often found along a change in depth or drop off (a.k.a. break line). Breaks can help concentrate fish, like where shallow water flat drops into deep, op along the top or bottom edge of a big main lake hump, or even the bottom edge of a deep weedline can all be considered break lines. Break lines can concentrate fish, and concentrations are exactly what you’re looking for just about 100 percent of the time.

An easy-to-understand story about barometric pressure and its impact on your fishing

Todd Heitkamp still remembers the day his professor first explained the basics of barometric pressure in a Weather 101 class at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

As the second fish in as many minutes thumped a white jig head with a leech, there was a scramble as five hands reached into the open tackle box to find 3/8 ounce heads of the same color. In minutes, two more walleye are flopping on the deck and another rod is bent double – and they say color isn’t that important.

When you picture fishing educator and former Fishing Facts Editor Spence Petros, an image of man with a large grin holding a huge muskie will likely come to mind. After all, Petros has five 'skies over 40 pounds to his credit. He also loves to travel to places like Costa Rica for 150-pound tarpon. Pictures of him holding big fish grace the pages of every fishing magazine in the land.

A boat is a fisherman's tool chest. You can't grab the right tool at the right time if things are in the wrong place.

When thinking of spring time muskie fishing, it is hard not to think of muskies lying in shallow water in the back of bays recharging themselves by the warmth of the sun.