Although throwing topwater baits is exciting, expecting those explosive blow-ups, reaction baits with better hook-up ratios will put more fish in your boat during Tennessee River reservoir shad-spawns ...

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 ...

To catch boatloads of big Tennessee River bass during a shad spawn, Major League Fishing Pro David Walker spends his mornings casting reaction baits and finesse rigs at freshwater mussel beds on the ...