By Ben Romans

While everyone was focused on the potential world record mako caught last week in California, another mako off the New Jersey coast also made headlines.

On June 4, two Garden State anglers got more than they bargained for near the Manasquan Inlet when they hooked an 8-foot, 303-pound mako—and it leapt into their 31-foot boat.
 
Clint Simek of Brielle, NJ and Tom Rostron Jr. of Wall, NJ described the incident in the Asbury Park Press, saying they were simply in the area on Rostron’s boat, TNT, scouting for potential areas to hold shark fishing tournaments later this month. By mid-afternoon, the men had caught and released 14 blue sharks, and as the wind calmed and conditions improved, they were eager to see what else they’d find. That’s when the big mako showed up. [ Read Full Post ]

By David Draper

If any time of year begs for surf and turf, it’s early summer. The fish (or in this week’s case, crabs) are in season, and there’s usually still a bit of venison in the freezer from last season. Those steaks will slowly disappear as summer wanes on, so two of our readers took advantage of the larder in this week’s Food Fight with a couple wet and wild dinners. [ Read Full Post ]

By Ben Romans

Earlier this week, Jason Johnston reeled in one of the largest sharks ever caught with a rod-and-reel—a 1,323.5-pound mako that could shatter the 12-year-old International Game Fish Association (IGFA) record of 1,221 pounds. In the few days since he made the catch on June 3, he’s gained both celebrity status—even appearing on CNN’s Piers Morgan Live—and been attacked by animal rights advocates, but so far, he says he wouldn’t change a thing.

Johnston, a resident of Mesquite, Texas, will be the first to tell you he feels more at home in the woods than on the ocean. After a 25-year career in the hunting industry, most of it spent as a big-game guide, the notion of instant fame from a record-setting fish of any kind was completely unexpected.

In fact, when we spoke on the phone, he mentioned that he was sitting outside his hotel, drinking coffee, looking at his picture on the front page of the Los Angeles Times with a Texas-sized grin and a pocketful of quarters, ready to purchase every copy he saw for posterity.

Johnston was in California fishing on an... [ Read Full Post ]

By CJ Lotz

A German angler fishing near Norway will go home to a happy spouse. Christian Johannsen's wife told him to come home with fish as he left for his trip. He responded by landing a 427-pound halibut this week.

"Oh she'll get a big piece," he told the newspaper Die Welt.

Johannsen needed the help of two friends in the four-hour figh to reel in the huge fish.

“Every fisher dreams about this, it’s like winning the lottery,” Johannsen said.

This is the second monster fish caught in Norway by a German angler in recent weeks. Remember that pending-world-record cod?
[ 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 Ben Romans

On April 28, 2013, Michael Eisele of Heiligenhafen, Germany was enjoying a beautiful, albeit slow day off an island in Norway, fishing for Atlantic cod. Just before calling it quits, Eisele felt a tug on his line, set the hook and endured a 30 minute battle with a 103.6-pound cod—a fish currently poised to eclipse the International Game Fish Association’s (IGFA) 44-year-old world record by nearly five pounds.

News of Eisele’s catch spread fast and the ensuing days have brought him newfound fame, especially in European fishing circles. He’s no stranger to fishing or the possibility of catching a big one on any outing. Thirty years ago, his father, Dieter Eisele, started a fishing tackle firm, Dieter Eisele Sea-Fishing, in Bruchweg, Oldenburg Germany. Even at a young age, Eisele began accompanying his father on big-fish quests.

“I felt like I was involved in my father’s company from the beginning. He took me to the sea, often to the Baltic or north of Norway to fish for Atlantic species,” Eisele says. “When I finished school 25 years ago, I started working with him, and it was great to mix my passion with a professional job. Now, our... [ Read Full Post ]