In the Great Plains, just close your eyes and drive. When your toes get wet, turn off the ignition, climb out your window, and start fishing. It doesn't matter where you are, or at what time of the year you're fishing -- you'll be catching fish: I promise.

The Great Plains is home to some of the most scenic, most impressive fisheries in the entire country, and regardless of the month in which you plan to fish, you're sure to be pleased. From the southern edges of Kansas to the land of Devils in North Dakota, the region is once again home to a year's worth of fishing that you'll never forget.

JANUARY
Catfish
Missouri River
This section isn't limited to a particular part of the state or even a state itself -- not when we're talking about "the Mighty Mo." The Missouri River either borders or drives right through every state in the Great Plains area, and has great catfishing possibilities in each one. Here are a few:

Garrison Dam, N.D. -- Find catfish in this part of the river by paying attention to contour changes and water levels. Nemaha County, Neb. -- Using chubs and goldfish, fishermen have long caught cats in this area. At Indian Cave State Park, where the Nemaha and Missouri rivers meet, anglers can find both flats and channels in the shallow areas next to the inflows. Pierre, S.D. -- Look for deep holes and suspending baitfish with your depthfinder to locate catfish.

FEBRUARY
Mixed Bag
South Dakota
West of Watertown, a plethora of small lakes can be found to give anglers chances at great pike, walleye, and bass fishing. Walleyes are by far the most-harvested game fish at Lake Thompson, which not coincidentally provides some of the best walleye fishing in the area; the crappie there are beginning to make a turn for the better as well. Spirit Lake offers yellow perch and northern pike; Pelican is on its way to being one of the state's big walleye lakes. At this time of year, drop night crawlers and leeches through the ice.

MARCH
Rainbow Trout
Nebraska
Traditional anglers may hang me up by my bootstraps for lake-fishing for rainbows in Nebraska's small-water trout holes -- but this can be the time of year to get a kid interested in fishing throughout the state, and the thousands of rainbows stocked into state-managed areas during the year can help. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission publishes data on these stockings every year.

Talk to park officials in the following areas to find out when they will be stocking rainbows this year: Keller Park, Two Rivers SRA, Verdigre Creek, the Morrill Ponds, the Scottsbluff Zoo Pond, and a host of others. It's easy to get kids interested in fishing this month by letting them catch some fish, and there's no better way to do that than to let them see a rainbow come out of a patch of clear Cornhusker water.

APRIL
Northern Pike
South Dakota
Lake Byron, near Huron, S.D., is one of the area's hidden northern pike hotspots. Anglers are apt to catch big pike at the lake by means of a variety of techniques at a number of spots. Owing to the flood in 1997, many excellent spots for catching pike at Byron were created in the form of inlets, roadbeds, and flooded treelines. Fish these while looking for grassy areas near the back inlets of the lake in which pike like to spawn.