By John Merwin

Among many thousands of fishing-related web sites, I’m always surprised at how few there are that have really solid, useful information. So I was happy to fall upon one such over the weekend from Anglers Resource, which is the sole North American distributor of Fuji rod components. If you’re about to buy a spinning or baitcasting rod, Anglers Resource is a must-read.

The section on five rod-buying tips is really excellent. They demonstrate how to match a spinning reel to a spinning rod, for example. Take the reel you plan on using with you when you go to a tackle shop. Then check to be sure the reel’s centerline axis matches the guide set-up on the rod you might buy. In the accompanying Anglers Resource photo, the match is marginal at best.

Importantly, the company is not touting any particular rods or brands. It’s just that the physical configurations of spinning reels and rods are widely varied. Some match well together. Some don’t. And the only way to get peak performance is to check that match before you buy. This is just as true if you’re planning on spending $50 as it is if the price tag were $500.

There’s lots of detail, also, about guide size and spacing on both spinning rods and baitcasters. Maybe more than you want to know. There are plenty of people who don’t care about this sort of thing. As in “Here’s my money. Just gimme a rod.” But there are plenty of others (like me) who obsess over the smallest details. For those, the Anglers Resource sections on static loading and guide spacing are truly enlightening.

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By David Draper

For this week’s Food Fight Friday we have two wonderful photos that would be just at home in an art museum as they are here at Field & Stream. In subject matter they are similar—but they couldn’t be more divergent in style. Who wins will all come down to a matter of taste, and I’m not talking about flavor. Instead, it’s the clean and simple lines of F&S Copy Chief Donna Ng’s baked brown trout versus the intricate detailing done by chef Charlie Krause in his poached salmon display. Which one will get your vote?
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By Chad Love

It looks like Oklahoma has a new state record largemouth bass, and unlike Arkansas' recent non-record, it appears that this fish was caught legally, by a person with a current fishing license, one he bought before catching the fish...

From this story on Examiner.com:

A new Oklahoma state record largemouth bass was caught Friday, March 23, at Cedar Lake in southeast Oklahoma. The fish weighed 14 lbs. 12.3 oz. and was caught by Poteau angler Benny Williams, Jr. while on a camping trip at the 78-acre LeFlore Co. lake.

Williams caught the bass at 11 a.m. on a ¼ oz. Striker King jig. This fish measured 26 inches in length and 22 3/8 inches in girth.
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By Chad Love

UPDATE: This record has been invalidated. Click here for the full story.

Arkansas' 36-year-old largemouth bass state record was recently broken, but just barely. The 16 lb., 4 oz. record, which was set in 1976, fell to a 16 lb., 5 oz. hawg pulled from Lake Dunn.

From this story on todaysthv.com:


Almost 36 years to the day, Arkansas's largemouth bass state record has finally been broken. On Tuesday, Paul Crowder of Forrest City set the new record on Lake Dunn near Wynne. Crowder's lunker weighed 16 pounds 5 ounces, breaking the old record by just a single ounce. Aaron Mardis of Memphis had held the state record since March 2, 1976. Mardis' 16 pound 4 ounce fish was caught on Mallard Lake near Manilla in Mississippi County.
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By Chad Love

Two years ago the discovery of radioactive fish near the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant caused an uproar (and some "Simpsons" jokes. Sorry, Vermont...)

At the time there was speculation that proximity to the power plant was the cause, but in a nod to the old saw that "correlation does not necessarily mean causation" a new batch of radioactive Vermont fish have been discovered - 150 miles away from the power plant.

From this story on wptz.com:

A new report finds fish in the northern part of Vermont are radioactive like the fish living in the waters near the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The significance of this finding is not just that these fish have radioactive elements in their bones, it's that the ones found up north have no physical connection to those in the Connecticut River by Vermont Yankee.
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By Kirk Deeter

John Merwin's blog post the other day referenced a book by Pat Dorsey (Tying and Fishing Tailwater Flies). So I thought I'd follow up with an "On The Spot" interview I did with Pat at the recent International Sportsmen's Expo in Denver.

Pat and I are old friends. In fact, back when we were in our early thirties, I was co-authoring a book on fishing guides, and Pat was one of our first "volunteer" subjects. He showed me Cheesman Canyon, the Williams Fork, and Dream Stream section of the South Platte in South Park. And he did it for gas money, despite the fact that we didn't have a publisher committed or anything (it was an excuse to go fishing). The book turned out to be Castwork, which boosted my outdoor writing career. It's out of print now, but you can read excepts at MidCurrent.
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