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Chances are, you haven’t given freshwater eels much thought. I mean, sure, they were a staple food of the native tribes that lived on the East Coast and fed the starving Mayflower voyagers upon reaching the New World, but for some reason these 4-foot-long, slimy, bug-eyed, snake-looking fish didn’t make the cut as iconic American animals. Say what you will about the drooping fleshiness of turkey heads and snoods, no one’s serving roasted eel at...

Long river trips might be my favorite adventures. They’re like backcountry pack trips without pack animals. Rivers can take you deep into some wild places aboard a vessel that will carry far more than the basic necessities, doesn’t require feeding, and never bucks you off—at least not intentionally. Exploring new rivers is particularly intriguing: not knowing what vista the next bend will reveal, what might swirl among the debris of the...

Revisiting a favorite fishing spot that you haven’t been to in awhile can be a fraught experience. What if it’s not as good as you remember? What if some yahoo buddy of yours blew up your spot on social media and everybody and their sister started fishing it? What if the fish are still there, but you can’t remember how to catch them?
So, should we leave favorite fisheries in the gilded haze of memory? Hell no. We should pack up the boat with our...

Most great cities are situated around water. But urban landscapes aren’t what most of us think about when we imagine great fishing trips. Cities have a history of polluting their adjacent waterways, but many American population centers have worked hard over the past generation to clean up their water. The assumption that all, or even most, urban fisheries are foul and unworthy of an angler’s time is outdated and inaccurate.
In episode two, Das...

Admitting you like antelope is a bit like saying your favorite college football team is the Miami Hurricanes or that Jeffrey Dahmer was just misunderstood. –David Draper
No self-respecting, true North Woods fisherman would be caught participating in such fishing debauchery as a festival celebrating lawyer [burbot] fishing. -Randy Newberg
Cultures orbit food. What sustenance we choose and refuse shapes our consciousness. Every culture deems...

My truck doesn’t have a temperature gauge. If the starter lags like an old-ass Labrador coughing itself off the floor, the air is probably below zero. This was one of those mornings, a good day for ice fishing. Thick ice is safe ice.
Rick’s truck does have a temperature gauge, and it glowed -8 as we drove north. The reservoir—flush with fat, pre-spawn perch—settles in a basin of foothills 60 miles up-country. After a mid-point stop for wax worms...