Wade's World Fishing: Stream fishing is a simple pleasure, but it comes with a few inherent dangers. Wading anglers should always exercise common sense and obey simple rules of safety to ensure their trips won’t result in unnecessary risk and/or injury.

One ever-present danger in wading is slipping on a slick rock and falling. Wading shoes with felt soles are the best option for a good grip. Sneakers with an aggressive sole pattern would be next. Also, a wading staff will provide stability for walking on slick or uneven surfaces or where current is strong.

Wade's World Fishing: A popping cork is the main element in a surface-fishing rig designed to make a splashy noise and attract feeding fish by both sound and sight. It is normally used to catch speckled trout and other inshore marine species. However, it is equally effective on white bass, black bass and striped bass in freshwater lakes. Here is how to tie a popping cork rig.

Wade's World Fishing: A bottom bouncer is a trolling rig designed to present live bait at a controlled depth just above a lake or river’s bottom. It consists of an L-shaped piece of wire with a weight molded around the longer wire arm. A worm harness, live bait rig or spinner rig is attached to the non-weighted (shorter) arm of the wire. Used primarily to catch walleye, the bottom bouncer rig is highly productive on crappie, catfish, white bass, black bass and other pan- and sportfish that dwell near bottom. Here is how to tie a bottom bouncer rig.

Wade's World Fishing: Jigs are extremely popular baits among modern bass anglers, most of whom use flipping jigs, football jigs and casting jigs adorned with a plastic crawfish trailer. However, a few decades back jigs were used mostly with curl-tail grubs. These lures “don’t get much respect” today, but they were deadly in their time, and they still produce for anglers who use them.

Wade's World Fishing: Soft plastic topwater frogs are the rage now in bass fishing, but these lures are only the latest in a progression of baits meant to skim over thick vegetation. Before soft plastic frogs came hollow-body rats, and before rats came spoons, including the Heddon Moss Boss. This vintage lure will swim over/through the thickest slop without hanging. It also has a well-deserved reputation for attracting strikes from giant bass. It is one of the best lures ever invented for fishing thick cover. It is especially good for working over moss and lily pads.

Wade's World Fishing: They are called “alphabet plugs” because of their names: Cordell Big O, Norman Big N, Bomber Model A, among others in the famed category. These fat, wide-wobbling, medium-running crankbaits are made for covering water and fishing for mid-depth bass in many areas where spinnerbaits would be traditionally used. Their short, square bill deflects off rocks and woody cover, making this bait surprisingly weedless.

Wade's World Fishing: The Arbogast Jitterbug could rightfully be considered the forerunner to the modern buzz bait. This “surface wobbler” introduced in 1938, is a floating plug with a concave metal lip. When the lure is retrieved at a steady pace, the lip catches water and kicks the lure back-and-forth with an audible pop-pop-pop-pop noise. This action and noise attract bass’ attention and results in some explosive strikes.