Fish of the Day Bluegill (Sun Fish) Pumpkin seed, Green Eared Lepomis macrochirus (Scaled gill cover, big hand sized) It definitely pays to use light line and tackle when bluegill fishing. Not only do you catch more fish, but also you have more fun with light tackle. Many serious bluegill fishermen use ultra-lite graphite spinning rods and tiny reels loaded with 2 or 4 pound-test monofiliament line to pursue their quarry. Bluegill feed mainly on aquatic insects, which are slow-moving creatures. Rarely will a bluegill chase food items; therefore, it's important to fish very slowly. This is true whether you use artificial lures or live bait. Finally, there is practically no such thing as a lone bluegill. Once you catch one, quickly cover the area again and take as many as possible before moving to the next spot.

Fish of the Day Crappie (French name for sunfish) By day, crappie tend to be less active and to concentrate around weed beds or submerged objects, such as logs and boulders; they feed especially at dawn and dusk, moving then into open water or approaching the shore. Because of their diverse diets, crappies may be caught in many ways, including, casting light igs, trolling with minnows or artificial lures, using small spinner baits, or using bobbers. (French name for sunfish) Promoxis nigromaculatus (Sharp gill cover, black stains) Thought of by many as the tastiest fish!!!!

Fish of the Day Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides (small fin, trout like) The largemouth bass, lives in shallow water habitats, among reeds, waterlilies and other vegetation. It shares these habitats with muskies, northern pike, yellow perch and bullheads. Largemouth bass are adapted to warm waters of 80-82 degree F, and are seldom found deeper than 20 feet. They prefer clear waters with no noticeable current and do not tolerate excessive turbidity and siltation. In winter they dwell on or near the lake bottom, but stay fairly active throughout the season. Anglers most often fish for largemouth bass with lures such as plastic worms (and other plastic baits), jigs, crankbaits andspinnerbaits. 

Fish of the Day Small Mouth Bass, Red Eye. Micropterus dolomieui (Small fin, named for a friend) They have been seen eating tadpoles, fish, aquatic insects, crayfish, anything that they could swallow, they will. They have been seen eating frogs, small mice,small birds, and even French fries.[2] The smallmouth bass is found in clearer water than the largemouth, especially streams, rivers, and the rocky areas and stumps and also sandy bottoms of lakes and reservoirs. The smallmouth prefers cooler water temperatures than its cousin the Largemouth bass, and may be found in both still and running water. Because it is intolerant of pollution, the smallmouth bass is a good natural indicator of a healthy environment, though it can better adjust to changes in water condition than most trout species. In conventional fishing, smallmouth may be successfully caught on a wide range of natural and artificial baits or lures, including crankbaits, hair jigs, plastic jerkbaits, artificial worms, spinnerbaits, and all types of soft plastic lures, including curly tail grubs or tubes with lead head jigs. Spinning reels or baitcasting reels may be used, with line strengths of 2 to 15 pounds typically utilised. Rods are usually of ultralight to medium-heavy action. They may also be caught with a fly rodusing a dry or wet artificial fly, nymphs, streamers, or imitations of larger aquatic creatures, such as hellgrammites, crawfish, or leeches. Floating topwater popper fly patterns and buzz baits are also popular for smallmouth fishing.[7][8]For river fishing, spinning tackle or fly tackle has been the most popular angling tools for smallmouth in North America for many years.

Fish of the Day White Bass, Silver Bass, Striped Bass, or Sand Bass (Morone chrysops) Scottish for mouth of a River and Latin for Golden eye The white bass blue-gray to silvery, spiny-rayed fish with slate gray dorsal, caudal and anal fins, white belly and pectoral fins. It has 5 to 7 longitudinal dark colored body stripes. The dorsal fin is separated into two complete lobes; the first contains 9 spines and the second has a single spine with 13 to 15 soft rays. The white bass is common to abundant throughout the Mississippi River and in the lower reaches of its main tributary streams.  Typical white bass habitat is the deep, quiet pools of medium to large rivers and the mid-water environment of lakes and reservoirs. They are most frequently found utilizing locations with sand and gravel bottoms in clear to slightly turbid water. White Bass will bite on worms or minnows and artificial bait like spinners and plugs.

Fish of the Day Walleye, Walleye pike Sander vitreous German for “Tooth”, Latin for “glass like eyes” In the perch family Since walleyes have excellent visual acuity under low illumination levels, they tend to feed more extensively at dawn and dusk, on cloudy or overcast days and under choppy conditions when light penetration into the water column is disrupted. Although anglers interpret this as light avoidance, it is merely an expression of the walleye's competitive advantage over its prey under those conditions. Similarly, in darkly stained or turbidwaters, walleye tend to feed throughout the day. In the spring and fall walleye are located near the shallower areas due to the spawning grounds; and they are most often located in shallower areas during higher winds due to the murkier, higher oxygenated water at around six feet deep.[7] On calm spring days the walleye are more often located at the deep side of the shoreline drop-off and around shore slopes around or deeper than ten feet.[8] "Walleye chop" is a term used by walleye anglers for rough water typically with winds of 10 to 25 km/h (6 to 16 mph), and is one of the indicators for good walleye fishing due to the walleye's increased feeding activity during such conditions. In addition to fishing the "Walleye chop", night fishing with live bait can be very effective.

Fish of the Day Northern, Pike, Pickerel, Grass Pike (looks like a spear) Esox lucius From the Greek for “big fish” and Latin for “light”. Only Genus of the Esocidae family. Depending on what season and what part of the country you are in the locations where northern pike will be located will vary. In the early spring and summer months, pike fishing is best around spawning areas of other fish, which is closer to shore and in a bit more shallow water than the northerns’ typical location. They are in the more shallow water to follow their food source, smaller pan fish. During summer, they are more likely to reside in deeper weed coverage. 

Fish of the Day Rainbow Trout, Steel Head Oncorhynchus mykiss Oncorhynchus is Latin for hooked snout and mykiss is what the fish is called in Russian. To identify a rainbow look for square tail with spots all over it. The mouth and gums are white. There is a red “rainbow” stripe down the lateral line from gills to tail. Catching a rainbow is fairly easy. They will eat almost any thing from worms, to minnows, to spoons, or spawn. Use a small hook or small jig with light line and you can use a bobber or not.

Fish of the Day German Brown Trout Salmo trutta Salmo is from Latin, meaning to leap. Trutta derives from the Latin trutta, meaning, literally, "trout“ a fighting fish. The single most outstanding distinguishing feature of brown trout are their dark spots on the sides of their body that are surrounded by light halos along with x’s on the top half of their bodies. (Identify salmon by mouth color, these are white.) How to fish for Brown trout A brown trout's natural forage includes a variety of insects and larvae, as well as terrestrial invertebrates when available but when they get bigger, they prefer a fish diet.  They will readily take worms and other bait, such as Powerbait.  Spin casting from the shore or a boat can be effective as well as well as trolling.  Spoons and rapalas work well because they mimic forage fish for the larger browns.

Fish of the Day Brook Trout, Speckled Trout, Squared Tailed Trout Salvelinus fontinalis Salvelinus from the German for a Char and fontinalis from the Latin for fountain meaning cold water stream. Has an elongated and compressed body Squared-tail with wormlike markings on back and head red spots along the side of their bodies with blue halos lower fins have a white leading edge, followed by a black border. These fish are not true Salmon or trout but are related to Lake Trout and Char, the only native stream trout. They need very clean water so stocked fish are more silt resistant. Brook trout thrive in smaller streams of good water quality, occupying pools and riffles that seem quite shallow when compared to the pools brown trout frequent. In-stream vegetation provides adequate cover for the Brookie. They are very aggressive and relatively easy to catch. They normally are smaller than browns and rainbows, a 14 inch brook trout is a trophy. In large and medium sized streams you will find them near the headwaters and in major springs. Catch them with light or Ultra light tackle using flies, streamers or live bait.