Worth a watch.

A year earlier, Luke Combs went elk hunting with Jason Phelps and came home without filling his tag. This time, the two met in northern Utah for Leupold’s “Days Like These.”

Combs showed up 30 pounds lighter, still looking for his first elk, and determined, as he put it, “to hold my own out here.”

There are close encounters, bulls they pass, and plans that change as the hunt unfolds. Eventually, Phelps spots what he calls “a good six,” and Combs makes the shot. At the bull, he asks the group to pray with him. Then he calls his wife with the news and gets to the considerable business of getting an elk off the mountain.

Congratulations to @lukecombs on his first bull, and credit to @jasonglennphelps and the Leupold crew for putting a good elk story on film. “Days Like These,” is up now on the @leupoldoptics YT channel. ...

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At 8 pounds, 6 ounces, this smallie is his PB.

But its length—nearly 23 inches from the nose to the fork of the tail—was the real kicker for Daniel Caricaburu-Lundin. “I did all the measurements with a non-IGFA board, even though I had an IGFA-certified measuring board in the boat, because I had no idea the fish was even approaching world-record length,” says Lundin, who already has a world-length-record tiger muskie to his name.

“Then I got home and found out the standing record is over an inch smaller.”

The current IGFA record books show a six-way tie for the All Tackle (Length) World Record in the smallmouth category at 53 centimeters or 20.86 inches long, meaning Lundin’s fish would have easily taken the top spot if measured on a certified scale. The overall All Tackle World Record for the species weighed a whopping 11 pounds, 15 ounces, but its length isn’t listed in the record books. Angler David Hayes caught that fish in Tennessee in 1955.

Full story by @travishallmedia ...

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Worth a conversation.

After a rough tournament at Norfork Lake, Cole McAusland got in his truck, hit record, and made the case for a generation of anglers who have put thousands of hours into learning LiveScope and don’t much care for the suggestion that it takes less skill.

McAusland freely admitted he didn’t fish well in Arkansas. That wasn’t his point. He wanted to talk about skill, technology, luck, and what modern bass fishing ought to look like. Judging by the response, plenty of anglers had thoughts of their own. ...

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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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