Ice Fishing River Backwaters for Slab Crappies and Other Top Stories from Fishing on SI

These 3 stories captured our Sports Illustrated fishing reader’s attention on Fishing on SI this past week.

Ice Fishing River Backwaters for Slab Crappies; California Beaches, Redwoods & Big Fish on the Fly; Why My Longtime Goal to Bass Fish Okeechobee Keeps Sending Me Somewhere Else | Kaleb Brown | Jasper Taback | Kurt Mazurek

In case they slipped by you, following are the most read fishing stories of the week. Ice Fishing River Backwaters for Slab Crappies; California Beaches, Redwoods & Big Fish on the Fly; Why My Longtime Goal to Bass Fish Okeechobee Keeps Sending Me Somewhere Else.

1.) Ice Fishing River Backwaters for Slab Crappies

This is the day a small New England river finally revealed a reliable winter crappie pattern. | Kaleb Brown

I’d ice fished rivers for crappie before, but never did very well. Then, during an impromptu trip with lifelong fishing buddies to a small river system in southern New England, we hit a crappie bite that changed everything. It all made sense. These frozen backwater slabs are predictable and pattern-able once you understand what to look for.

River crappies, and many other species, move into slack, backwater areas, preserving their energy during the winter months while their metabolism is slow. These backwater spots often hold quite a bit of life. All levels of the food chain tend to congregate in these areas—everything from zooplankton to numerous species of aquatic invertebrates and small bait fish…GET THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.

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2.) California Beaches, Redwoods & Big Fish on the Fly

There are only pretty steelhead in the Smith River. | photo by Jasper Taback

There’s a lot to love about California. I’ve been lucky enough to see plenty of it — from the bars and restaurants of San Diego and San Francisco to the rugged landscapes of Joshua Tree and Yosemite, and powder snowfalls of Mammoth and Tahoe.

I recently had the chance to explore a part of the state that was new to me, up near the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, where the real draw is the fly fishing.

It was steelhead that brought me out to Northern California; I had heard and read stories about the big, ocean-bright fish that run up the coastal rivers, and I wanted to check it out.…GET THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.

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3.) Why My Longtime Goal to Bass Fish Okeechobee Keeps Sending Me Somewhere Else

Fishing in central Florida offered a reminder that timing, conditions, and local knowledge often matter more than reputation. | Kurt Mazurek

For bass anglers from all over the world, Lake Okeechobee is sacred ground—a bucket-list destination. Okeechobee has a reputation for producing more trophy-size largemouth bass, and hosting more iconic bass tournament history, than almost any other fishery. As a bass geek growing up in Northern Illinois, so far removed from any of the images I had seen on T.V., fishing this legendary water has been a lifetime goal I’ve chased more than once.

For the second time now, I’ve arrived in Okeechobee prepared to check it off my bass fishing dream list…and been guided to fish somewhere else…GET THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.