By John Merwin

Over at The Trout Underground, where blogger Tom Chandler often writes very cleverly about flyfishing, was a post the other day about visiting his dermatologist and changing his fishing headgear as a result. Since I likewise just paid a long-overdue to a skin doctor, this is very much on my mind.

Like many others, I am on or in the water for long periods, day after day, often in bright sun. I am also fair-skinned and especially susceptible to skin cancers. Sure enough, the good doctor found a half-dozen spots on my head and neck that will have to be sliced and diced.

By Joe Cermele

I found a story in the New York Times this morning about Jake Lawrence (photo) and Jacob Hardy that has me shaking my head. Hardy and Lawrence are the first two students in America to receive athletic scholarships for competitive bass fishing. The duo fishes for Bethel University. Also joining the team this season is Lauren Stamps, who is the first female angler to earn a scholarship for largemouth hunting. On one hand, all these kids deserve a pat on the back for such achievements. On the other hand, the whole thing is just not fair.

By John Merwin

This thought occurred to me the other day while fishing a no-kill area of a major trout river: Should it be “artificial lures only” or should it be “fly fishing only?”

That’s not a simple question. Artificials-only allows spinning tackle and lures to be fished side by side with all the fly anglers who most commonly populate such areas. That’s democratic and, I think, generally a good thing.

By Joe Cermele

I take a lot of people fishing every year, but for the most part they're folks I know well or perhaps friends of friends. If we strike out, I say "too bad." Last weekend, however, I took complete strangers out for the first time. A fishing club I belong to offered a guided day on a private stretch of river to an auction that benefited foster children. I volunteered to play guide, and Steve Gilbert and his 17-year-old son Alex were the lucky bidders. Was I nervous? A little.