I dont know what kind of water your fishing Mark or what your fishing for but here's the tricks I've used bass fishing in your area, in open water i keep 3 rods ready to go, the first 3 or 4 casts i make will be with a bone colored super spook, make the same cast every time, i then pick up a 5inch storm swimbait pulling it exactly where you pulled the spook, if you don't get bit move on but if one bites and misses have a black 6 inch Yum dinger to throw exactly where you missed that fish, if u cant get bit like that i usually keep the same tactic but down size to a Gun fish and a Super Fluke, be sure to rig the fluke on a swivel, you should also have luck trailing your topwater with a big spinnerbait. On the smaller rivers up there we went from laydown to laydown flipping brush hogs in them and throwing spinnerbaits on the open areas in between, I've always caught alot of pickerel that way as well as bass. On the big lakes, trust your electronics, find a school and fish em.