Weather and Water
How Water Temperature and Clarity Change Where Fish Sit
Temperature sets the pace of a fish's life and clarity sets how far it is willing to travel for food. Read both before you choose a depth.
4 min readRead guide
Fishy LipsFishing guides
The reference shelf
Every guide we have written, filed by species and by problem. Straight reading, no filler — start with the shelf that matches the water you are fishing.
Eight shelves
Browse the shelves
Five species, plus tackle, technique and water conditions. Pick the one that matches today.
Bassbass fishing tips · largemouth bassOpen shelf
Walleyewalleye fishing techniques · walleye tipsOpen shelf
Crappiecrappie fishing tips · how to catch crappieOpen shelf
Trouttrout fishing basics · how to fish for troutOpen shelf
Pikepike fishing tips · northern pikeOpen shelf
Fishing Tacklefishing tackle guide · crankbait diving depthOpen shelf
Techniquesfishing techniques · retrieve speedOpen shelf- Weather and Waterwater temperature and fish · fishing water clarityOpen shelf
TheMightyFINN — Your Fishing Guide
Read the shelf for tomorrow's water
FINN points you at the guide that matches the conditions you are actually fishing, not the one that is trending this week.
- Read the shelf for the water you are fishing next. One shelf studied properly beats all eight skimmed.
Latest first
Every guide
Techniques
Matching Retrieve Speed to What the Fish Want
Retrieve speed and pause length are the two controls you always have. Learn how to read a fish's mood and change one of them at a time.
4 min readRead guide
Fishing Tackle
Choosing Crankbaits by Diving Depth, Not by Color
Crankbait depth is the one specification that decides whether a bait is in the strike zone at all. Here is how to build one bait per depth band.
3 min readRead guide
Pike
Pike Fishing Tips for Weed Edges and Points
Pike are ambush predators, so the edge is everything. Work the weed line, cover water with spinners, and handle fish so they swim away strong.
3 min readRead guide
Trout
Trout Fishing Basics: Reading a Stream Before You Cast
Trout live where the current gives them food without costing them energy. Learn to read seams, riffles and pools, and where to stand so you stay unseen.
4 min readRead guide
Crappie
How to Catch Crappie Around Brush Piles and Docks
Crappie fishing is a game of finding cover and holding still over it. Small jigs, accurate counts and quiet presentations do the work.
3 min readRead guide
Walleye
Walleye Fishing Techniques for Low Light and Deep Structure
Walleye feed on the edges of light and dark. Here is how to use that habit, keep bottom contact with a jig, and cover water when the fish are spread out.
4 min readRead guide
Bass
Bass Fishing Tips for Beginners: Where Bass Actually Hold
A starting point for bass: the difference between cover and structure, how the seasons move fish, and the three lure families worth learning before you buy anything else.
4 min readRead guide
Before you read
Test the theory first
Read a shelf, then take the lure challenge and see whether your instincts match the water you just studied.