He came for the fishing.

Captain Mike Allen first came to Sitka to fish when he was 12. He kept coming back. Eleven working seasons ago, he returned as a deckhand. After years of working for the lodge’s previous owners, Mike got the chance to buy the place himself. Today, Cast Alaska can host up to 28 anglers at a time. Mike and his crew run the boats, process the catch, and feed everyone back at the lodge. Depending on the day, they might be after king or coho salmon, halibut, rockfish, lingcod, black cod, or tuna. What you can take home depends on the fish, the season, and Alaska regulations. Around Sitka, there is plenty to be grateful for before a fish ever hits the deck.

Mike’s biggest halibut went 83 inches and roughly 290 pounds. He’s caught plenty at 78 and 79 inches. He approaches halibut much like a hunter approaches game. Find good ground. Read the current. Set up. Wait. And once you’ve fished a spot enough, leave it alone and find another. Mike calls it a patience game. “The ocean will humble you,” he says.

We went fishing with @monstamikea and got the full @cast_alaska experience; we came home with 30+ pounds of halibut to remember it by. We’ll be back 🫡 ...

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Last year, Austin New let him walk.

The Kentucky buck was already a 150-inch 10-point, but New figured he was young enough to see what another year might do. This summer, the buck came back as a main-frame 12 with split brows, a kicker, and enough mass to push the tape toward 200 inches. New got permission to hunt a little 30-acre hayfield, patterned the buck on trail camera, and waited for opening day.

Then, in 90-degree September heat, the buck walked past his stand at 7 yards. New eventually got his bow drawn and made the shot at 19. The 5-year-old buck green-grossed around 200 inches, with 26.5-inch main beams and 48 inches of mass.

Full story by @travishallmedia ...

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Two Average Joes are about to fish in a $3.25 million bass tournament.

Eric Giessing and Kyle Carr won spots in WBE’s inaugural The Champions, where they’ll fish Old Hickory Lake against some of the best bass anglers in the world. Same water. Same rules. Same money. And there is quite a bit of it: $1.25 million goes to first place.

WBE founder Brian Bird joined Field & Stream on our YT channel with Randy Moss recently to explain what sets this tournament apart and his ambition to put anglers first. Full video is out now, drop a “Champions” comment & we’ll DM you the link. Now the Average Joes just have to catch fish. ...

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Nobody’s caught a bigger lake trout on rod and reel since.

Lloyd Bull caught this 72-pound giant on Great Bear Lake in 1995, after years of making the trip north. He was trolling a Husky Dardevle when the fish hit.

It measured 59 inches long, carried a 32-inch girth, and weighed exactly 72 pounds. For perspective, guides on Great Bear estimate an angler might put in 1,000 to 1,500 hours just to encounter a lake trout over 50 pounds.
Bull found one considerably bigger.

More than 30 years later, it remains the IGFA all-tackle world record on this Old School Sunday. ...

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Morgan Wallen knew the Iowa 8.

With the season ‘26 season coming down to the wire, Morgan and Mark Drury put in sit after sit this past January. They hunted through fog and slow movement, watched the buck appear without offering a shot, and went back to the blind to try again.

On the second to last night, the tall eight stepped out. Morgan said he’d never been more nervous with a deer.

He got it done. “This deer means a lot to me,” he said. “Thank you, Iowa.” Mark and the @druryoutdoors crew captured the full hunt for Deer Season 26. Watch the episode [out now] on the Drury Outdoors YT channel. ...

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He was already trying to paint rivers when he floated an idea to his brother:

What if he used a fly rod? His brother laughed.

Ben Miller went outside, made a cast, and watched the paint hit. It clicked.

Miller is an angler who studied art in college and went on to teach high school art for 12 years. Now he studies a river’s currents and seams, then changes the speed and force of his cast to turn what he sees into strokes of paint.

He paints on plexiglass because it has the depth of water. As Miller puts it, looking through the clear surface feels a little like looking into a river. He works in his studio and on the riverbank, where an A-frame easel can stand up to the wind that once sent his old easel flying.

A slow river calls for a softer cast. A waterfall takes more force. Speed, distance, and even the brush at the end of his line change the mark. A painting may take five hours of work, though the deeper Miller gets into a piece, the longer it seems to take.

He wants to be excited by the color, the cast, and the moment paint strikes the surface. “Because if I’m not excited by it, why would anyone else be?”

Interview + media by Cameron Evans @camevansmedia for @fieldandstream featuring @benmillerpaints 🎣 🎨 ...

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Nice caribou, Sam. And congrats.

For anyone meeting him through this photo: Sam Barber is a country singer from southeast Missouri whose song “Straight and Narrow” helped put him on the map. He grew up hunting and fishing, which makes the Alaska caribou photos he posted a little less surprising than the comment section might suggest…

Some called the hunt “gross” and “disgusting.” Others wondered how a country singer posting a hunting photo had managed to catch anyone off guard. ...

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Five generations don’t happen by accident.

When Dick Yuengling took over the family brewery in 1985, he faced a simple choice: grow or fold. What followed was four decades of big bets, hard decisions, and a brewing legacy that helped carry America’s oldest brewery into a new era.

Presented by @yuenglingbeer ...

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His 72-hour adventure starter kit ➡️

Dillon Lamon floated 40 miles down Maine’s St. John River, camping along the banks, fishing for musky, and cooking his way through whatever he picked up at roadside farmstands. Then the weather turned, his tent snapped, and the duct tape and paracord started earning their keep. Here’s everything he packed for the trip.

The full Field & Stream Adventure is on our YT channel. Drop a “PACK” comment & we’ll DM you the full video.

#FSMaineAdventure feat. @dilllfish ...

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A Las Vegas company called Rhea Data is proposing a 4-million-square-foot data center complex across roughly 3,700 acres of BLM-managed public land in south Ada County near Boise, Idaho.

The project is still in its very early stages. Initial plans include a natural gas power plant and a transmission line right-of-way extending into an adjacent county. The proposal will undergo environmental analysis, with a Notice of Intent kicking off the NEPA process and a public comment period.

Full story by @travishallmedia ...

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One last hunt.

On November 30, 1942, Edward Dodge headed into a snowy patch of Erie County, Pennsylvania, timber known as Jumbo Woods. He came out with a 28 point buck that would eventually score 233 1/8 inches, one of the great whitetails in Pennsylvania history.

The next morning, Dodge reported for active duty with the U.S. Army. More than 80 years later, that buck still stands out. From Old School Sundays, an archival series presented by Yuengling. ...

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