By Tim Romano

I've added 25 new images to the slide show from my recent visit to Key West and Miami with the Holeman Boys of Key West Angling, Captain Russell Kleppinger, and the fine folks at Nautilus Fly Reels. They consist mainly of more shots of tarpon eating, night fishing, large sharks, a wee bit of nasty weather, and hand feeding the pet tarpon in the marina. Enjoy the show.

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By Joe Cermele

Adding four big split shot ahead of a nymph takes the sexy out of fly casting real quick. But when you’re faced with a deep, dark hole that might be home to a massive brown trout or steelhead, sometimes you have to suck it up and dredge. The drift is no different than with any nymph rig, but getting that much lead to the top of the pool without smacking yourself in the back of the noggin takes some skill. Master the old chuck-and-duck cast, and you’ll score more fish and suffer fewer welts. Just make sure you have plenty of back-cast room, because this isn’t for tight quarters. 

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By Chad Love

A British man who just landed the largest skate ever caught off the coast of Great Britain won't be getting the record because he refused to kill the fish.

From this story in the (UK) Daily Mirror: 
An ecstatic fisherman landed this huge skate after a 90-minute battle and set a new record – but it will not stand because he refused to kill it. David Griffiths, 47, hooked the 235lb monster at 500ft below the sea off Oban in Scotland. The publisher from Sarn, Powys, said: “It was an unbelievable feeling. It’s was a really beautiful fish. And the skipper said it’s a new British record.” But rules say fish must be weighed on land. And David said: “I won’t kill a fish for a piece of paper.” He was mobbed ashore when word spread of the 7ft by 6ft skate which he threw back in the sea. [ Read Full Post ]

By Kirk Deeter

Please read the rest of what I have to say here before you rush to answer this question. This post isn’t meant to instigate an opinion poll and I’m not trying to trigger an impromptu website debate on semantics.   

I just want to tell you a story about how fishing with a young man named Joey Maxim and his father Joe on Montana's Blackfoot River has forever changed my own perceptions of fly fishing. [ Read Full Post ]

By Steven Hill

Robert and Stefanie Stanley of Olathe, Kansas, managed a twofer that not many couples can claim: Both caught state-record blue catfish.

Stefanie and Robert with her tournament-winning Kansas lake-record blue catfish in April.

Robert caught his blue, a 102.8 pounder, August 11, 2012, on the Kansas side of the Missouri River. Stefanie reeled in her record—an 82.05 pounder thought to be the largest blue catfish ever taken from a Kansas lake—April 6 during a fishing tournament at Milford Reservoir.

His catfish was the stuff of dreams—literally. Fishing at 2 a.m., Robert dozed off while waiting for a bite. “My buddy gave me a smack and said, ‘Hey, you got a hit,’” Robert recalls. “About that time the rod bends double and the drag starts screaming. I was wide awake then.”

Robert Stanley with his 102-pound state-record blue catfish in August, 2012.

Hers was a white-knuckle ride, thanks to windy conditions that churned up whitecaps at the 16,000-acre reservoir near Junction City. “I have a fear of water, especially at Milford,” Stefanie says. “When the wind starts blowing there it’s like being in the ocean. I grew up on the water, watching my... [ Read Full Post ]

By David Draper

My girlfriend, T. Rebel, tried to kill me once.

Her weapon of choice? Exploding meatloaf. She claims it was an accident, but I know better. The whole scene went down like this.

She offered to cook me dinner, which should have tipped me off from the start. I do most of the cooking, so this was a rare occurrence indeed. As the meal was coming together, I was in the kitchen helping out, which generally consists of me saying, “That’s not how I would do it.” (I never said she didn’t have a good motive.) She pulled the meatloaf from the oven, sat it on the stovetop and asked me to stir the risotto simmering on the back burner. I started to lean over the meatloaf when I realized there wasn’t a spoon in the pot. [ Read Full Post ]