Mike Jackson on the outdoors

I have been very fortunate to have fished freshwater lakes and rivers with the best of the best.

And over the past 40 years or so I have embraced the philosophy that I never claimed to be an expert but rather a person who has fished and learned a lifetime of tactics from that cadre of “the best.”

It was back in the mid-1970s when I was shown how big muskies can school up and sometimes suspend in very deep water. That was passed along to me by Minnesota angler Ted Kapra.

There I was, operating under the idea that muskies always hung out in the shallow weed areas. That lesson was worth its weight in gold.

I started fishing with Al and Ron Lindner in the mid to late 60s, in Wisconsin and Minnesota lakes as well as the Mississippi River. The big-river expeditions came when ice still covered much of the channels. We literally broke the surface ice and hunted walleye and sauger.

While Al was off fishing walleye tournaments, brother Ronald and I scoured a multitude of Brainerd-area lakes for largemouth and smallmouth bass.

He showed me how to work weed lines and mid-lake humps for schooled fish. When Al told me we would be fishing the dam area on the Mississippi in Brainerd, he suggested we check the smallies and even keep a sharp eye on the possibilities for big muskies.

He was right in both depart- ments.

Walleye maven Gary Roach taught me to use patience for both soft-water and ice angling. Patience is not my major suit, as my friend in McHenry knows all too well.

But Roach is a good instructor and knows his stuff when it comes to walleyes, panfish and perch. My education was moving along at a good clip.

When I decided to start a guide service on quite a few of the lakes in the Minneapolis metro area, an old-timer took me aside and showed me the ropes on Lake Minnetonka.

Not many people fished largemouth bass in the early '70s, but Pete and I were die-hard bassers. He showed me how to find schools of big bass starting right when the season opened all the way through to freeze-up.

Before those Minnesota years I lived in Madison, Wis. I spent many hours on Lake Mendota pulling my hair out because I wasn't able to locate big bass.

Another local named Harold, or Hal as he liked to be called, took me under his wing and showed me two dozen of his special spots that always managed to yield huge bluegills and largemouth bass.

Again, I have been very fortunate to have quite a few mentors who helped “educate” me in good angling practices.

And now I come to a modern day Greek philosopher. I refer, of course, to Spence Petros.

To those not familiar with his angling gifts, Petros is the most intuitive fisherman I have ever known.

I am not stating this because his annual fishing classes start next month, but rather these words are penned simply because I have personally experienced the Petros touch on a lake and river.

I have fished fresh and salt water with him, and every trip has been a mind-boggling adventure. Of course he always is ready to open the eyes of other anglers to the endless possibilities he so aptly reveals.

I won't fish muskies with him, though, because he can go 12 hours a day without taking a breather. His stamina is unreal, and his ability to find monster muskies is legendary throughout the Midwest.

I always enjoy our forays into bass land, when we slowly move around a lake searching for the one big sow that will make for a great photo.

I can remember one outing, very similar to the ones with Al Lindner, when Petros appeared puzzled for about 10 seconds, until he decided to move the boat to a drop-off and suddenly the problem was solved because that spot was loaded with bass.

I suggest you check his website, spencepetros.com, and get cracking so as to register for his March classes, or give him a call at (815) 455-7770.

ŸContact Mike Jackson at angler88@att.net and catch his radio show 6-7 a.m. Sundays on WSBC 1240-AM.