By Joe Cermele

Since I have been fishing, I have had hooks past the barb in the following places: big toe, wrist, both thumbs, thigh, shoulder, elbow, every finger, neck, heel, and calf. But never have I had one in the face...until a few weeks ago.

Now, I'm not going to give you the entire backstory, because the gentleman who was casting the streamer was mortified I think, and I like him way too much to reveal his name. The way I look at it, I didn't lose an eye and hey, if you cast sink tips and big bugs around on drift boats long enough, eventually dog poop happens. No big deal. As for the removal, you can always tell when a guide is well-versed in the line-pull method, because they say "on the count of 3," but they yank on the "1." Who else has caught one in the face?

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By Kirk Deeter

Thanks to those of you who have been reading my dispatches from Russia and the Ponoi River. It was, in every sense, an epic trip of a lifetime.  

But there is some backstory worth sharing. KLM airlines lost my luggage in Amsterdam before I could fly from Helsinki to Murmansk. I cleared Russian customs with my computer, camera, and a plastic bag filled with six pairs of underwear, two pair of socks, and a bottle of scotch I bought at Duty-Free. The perplexed customs agent stared at me for a bit, and I simply stared back, implying only "I'm here to party." I got stamped through...and I think even Hunter S. Thompson would have been proud. (Fortunately, the guides at Ryabaga camp outfitted me for the week with everything I needed, clothes and all, which I think is further testament to what a top-notch operation they run on the Ponoi.)

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By Tim Romano

A couple of months ago I wrote a post about the Thompson Divide here in Colorado. It's an undeveloped backcountry area just west of the Roaring Fork Valley and is home to many productive and pristine native cutthroat trout watersheds as well as one of the most productive elk habitats in the state. Unfortunately for hunters and anglers here as well as out of state visitors, energy development is creeping in.  Almost half of the 220,000-acre area has been leased for natural gas development. I'll be blunt and say that I'd like some help working out a reasonable solution to development in the area.

The video above was made by my friend Josh Duplechian and features two of my friends and colleagues that depend on this wilderness area to make a living. [ Read Full Post ]

By Kirk Deeter

Greetings from Ryabaga Camp on the banks of the Ponoi River in northern Russia. 

The Ponoi has certainly lived up to its reputation as one of the world's greatest Atlantic salmon fisheries. Prior to coming here, I fished for Atlantic salmon in Canada and Ireland for a total of eight days, and only landed one fish. I landed nine on my first day here, and I did even better yesterday. The 12 anglers who covered this section of the river accounted for 205 caught salmon, the largest being around 20 pounds.  [ Read Full Post ]

These 20 fishing secrets will help you catch trout, bass, bluegills, cats, walleyes, and more—and have the time of your life—all season long.

When rivers heat up in late summer, smallmouths can get downright lazy. The same fish that charged fast-moving streamers and poppers earlier in the season often take to feeding at night, and if your river is loaded with late-summer shad or herring fry, getting bass to eat fur and feathers becomes even harder.

Delaware River smallmouth guide Joe Demalderis (cross​current​guide​service.com) gets around this by leaning on bugs tied with synthetic fur and fiber for the salt, such as a Mushmouth. Flies tied with Angel Hair or Puglisi Fiber retain more buoyancy and a wider profile when wet compared with flies using feathers, bucktail, and rabbit fur, which take on water and sink faster.

Demalderis casts those artificials on the outside of bait schools or in the deeper, slower runs summer smallmouths frequent, and lets them fall broadside with the current. Whereas a Zonker or Clouser would sink away quickly, these synthetic baitfish imitators flutter down slowly, presenting a more accurate representation of a dying baitfish—and an easier target for... [ Read Full Post ]

By CJ Lotz

Recreational sport fishing of bonefish, tarpon, and permit in the Florida Keys brings in about $427 million annually, according to a study commissioned by the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust.

The study says fishing has provided a huge economic boost for jobs and taxes in the state, and the Trust is citing the survey as an example of why fish conservation efforts are so important in Florida. [ Read Full Post ]