Fishing

There’s a special kind of satisfaction that comes from catching a pile of panfish through the ice. It’s a feeling of accomplishment, similar to picking a bushel of apples or finding a good patch of morels. Catching panfish through the ice is a fairly simple affair. You find a piece of likely-looking...

One adult and two children suffered severe burns this week when their ice shanty caught fire due to what local anglers say is a known problem of methane gas trapped beneath the ice. On the morning of February 1, 2025, three anglers were fishing on the Harriman Reservoir in southern Vermont when...

Ice fishing always feels a bit like a scavenger hunt. You can’t see what’s swimming in the water beneath your feet and unless you’re fishing with electronics or are fishing an area you know extremely well, having a successful day usually comes down to finding clues. It’s a game of seeking and...

As Americans and Europeans know, traditional fish taxidermy involves harsh chemicals to preserve the skins, which are later mounted on wood or plastic molds. And if you've ever spent time in a dusty barroom overlooking a lake or river, you know they don't age well. The modern version of fish...

Trout fishing is an obsession. While there are perhaps more popular species in America, such as bass, and more common species, like panfish, no other fish inspires more dedication and love from anglers than the trout. When trout season rolls around, it’s treated like a holiday where thousands of...

Ever wonder what’s it’s like to be a saltwater fishing guide?

Have you ever seen one of those movies where someone is lost in the desert? They wander aimlessly through miles and miles of seemingly identical landscape, struggling through deep sand and dramatically falling and rolling down dunes like a mortally wounded deer. These scenes are shot this way to...

If you type “fishing lures” and “tampon” into Google, you’ll find YouTube videos about anglers who’ve used feminine hygiene products as bait for bass, catfish, lake trout, and rainbow trout. You’ll also find comments from folks who consider the videos “LOL” and think those anglers are true...

Catching a big lake trout is one of the greatest challenges in the angling world. For most of the year, these fish live in sparse, constantly roving schools in the deepest, darkest parts of lakes and reservoirs. They’re hard to find, hard to catch, and many anglers go hours and even entire days...

A small fleet of fishing boats ranging from one-person kayaks to low-slung, rocket-propelled bass boats squeezed me from my preferred hole on a recent Sunday while fishing Idaho’s Lake Cascade. Rather than stress and feel aggrieved, I pulled anchor and rowed my cedar-strip rowboat 200 yards...

Large bodies of water, such as the Great Lakes, have fairly large populations of mostly stocked steelhead. Unlike their cousins found in western rivers, they tend to be much less picky, and getting a lure in front of them is often the most difficult part of the equation. While steelhead in rivers...

Everyone loves a good fight. From our early days on the playground when we’d gather in a circle around two fledgling combatants chanting, “Fight, fight, fight!” There’s just something about a scrap that mesmerizes us. It’s not about the violence but rather about the idea of a mono-e-mono contest...