How to catch fish

Use the links below to help you target and catch the species of fish you're after.

• Channel catfish
• Crappie
• Flathead catfish
• Largemouth bass
• Muskellunge
• Northern pike
• Smallmouth bass
• Lake sturgeon
• Sunfish
• Trout
  • Stream trout
  • Ice fishing for lake trout
  • Trolling on Lake Superior
• Walleye

Looking for more skills? Browse our skills videos.

Not sure what fish to catch?

Use our guides to help identify them.

• Fishes of Minnesota
• Illustrated fish of Minnesota
• Fish illustrations

Trout fishing instructional YouTube videos

Are you interested in learning how to fly fish?

If so, Minnesota Trout Unlimited can help. The conservation organization has produced five educational videos. Watching these videos is a great way to learn the basics of fly fishing.

Intro to fly fishing
This 10-minute video provides helpful information on selecting a rod, matching it with the right reel, learning how to cast and more.

How to fly fish a trout stream
This four-minute video explains how to read flowing water, how identify the best places to fish and offers insights on successful techniques and strategies for catching trout.

How to choose a fly
This 10-minute video provides information on how to find and identify marcoinvertebrates, the small water bugs that trout commonly feed upon. The flies that anglers cast are largely based on the physical appearance of macroinvertebrates.

Intro to fly tying
This 15-minute video outlines basic fly tying needs – vise, bobbin, scissors, etc. – and demonstrates how to tie two popular flies, the wooly bugger and San Juan worm.

Minnesota fish identification
This seven-minute video provides information on how to identify common species of fish in Minnesota, including sunfish, bass, walleye and trout.