By Kirk Deeter

I was fishing in Slough Creek in Yellowstone National Park yesterday, aka bear country. My group saw two black bears while on foot, and two grizzlies from the car (thankfully). We didn't have any problems because the bears knew we were around, and that's usually the key. Letting them know you're in their neighborhood will help you prevent most potential problems with bears. [ Read Full Post ]

By Will Ryan

Hopper fishing should probably come with a warning label: Days spent drifting in clear water beneath a late-summer sky can leave participants disoriented and dazed. Longer exposure may impair concentration and general cognitive functioning. Anglers may find some images particularly disturbing.

Like this one: a walleyed grasshopper twitching and drifting on a flow, going nowhere other than down the gullet of a monster trout—flyfishing’s version of hunting tigers over a tethered goat. Up from the bottom swims a fish with dime-size spots, accelerating, mouth opening, slapping at the surface like an ill-mannered bank beaver.
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By Tim Romano

The 2012 drought and fire season here in the West will surely go down as one of the worst years ever, in terms of number of destroyed homes and acreage and money lost. And the scary thing is we're just over the halfway mark.

What many people don't think about is what that destruction can do to the habitats of fish and game. While fire can obviously have positive long-term effects for overgrown forests, it can be pretty nasty in the short term – especially to rivers. And the damaging effects might last for years or even decades later. [ Read Full Post ]

By T. Edward Nickens

Back in your grandpa’s day, skinning a catfish meant nailing the sucker to a backyard pine tree and stripping the skin with pliers. It doesn’t take much to bring the old-timers’ technique into the 21st century for the same results. Here’s how:

Score It: Place a 3-foot-long 2x6 board on a level, waist-high surface. A truck tailgate works well. Using a knife, score the skin all the way around the head, just in front of the cat’s gill plates. Make another slit down the fish’s back.

Nail It: Drive a 16-penny nail through the fish’s skull to secure it to the board. Cut off its dorsal fin. Brace the board against your waist, with the tail pointing toward you. Grasp the skin with Fish Skinning Pliers ($6; basspro.com) and pull it down to the tail and off.

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By Joe Cermele

Nothing ruins a bass bite faster than a personal watercraft ripping by at 50 mph. And nothing puts rising trout down quicker than a flotilla of tubers kicking and splashing their way down the river. There’s only one sure way to find tranquility on the water in summer, and it’s going to require a flashlight and some lost sleep.

But there’s a hidden advantage. Big fish that hunker down on hot days often go on the prowl after sundown, because that’s when bait species that have been lying low begin to move. Some guides specialize in chasing fish after dark, and we debriefed nine of them. Their tips and tricks are sure to help you become a master of the darkness.

Smallmouths: Black Light Special
According to veteran Tennessee guide Jim Duckworth, the biggest smallmouths in any lake head for the shoreline as soon as the sun sets. That’s because crayfish that have been hiding all day begin to stir now, and the bass know they can grab an easy meal. Duckworth quietly motors in on rocky banks and points, staying 70 to 90 feet away. Then he flicks on the black lights mounted on the sides... [ Read Full Post ]

Interview by Mike Toth

When people were driven out of Acadia in Canada in the 1700s, they eventually landed in Louisiana. Acadians became Cajuns. They were a bunch of misfits run out of Nova Scotia. You go up there today and it looks the same as here. Same people, fishing for a living.

I was born in New Orleans. When I was 4 years old, Daddy moved us out to the country, and I’ve been here ever since. I’m a wannabe Cajun.

Back in the late ’70s, early ’80s, I had a sporting-goods store, little bait shop. People would come in and ask for guides, but there were no guides around. So I said, “I’ll take you out.” Next thing you know people were calling me from all over.

Back in those early days, I would rent trailers for fishermen who were coming down so they’d have a place to stay. I’d always rent the two best trailers, but the rest were ratty, and the fishermen would get charged $10 just to take a shower. So I said, “I’m going to get my own lodge.” I bought land and opened up in 2000.

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