If a donut without a hole is actually a Danish, then a reel without line is just a paperweight. In fact, I’ll take that one step further. A reel that’s not properly spooled with line of the proper type and size is going to make you want to pull your hair out. That’s why getting this right is so...

Walking down the dock on Day One of the 2014 Bassmaster Classic at Alabama’s Lake Guntersville, dodging fanboys, photographers, and jersey-laden anglers who looked like NASCAR drivers, I stopped at each boat. I didn’t need to talk to anyone, I just wanted to know what the fish were biting. Sure...

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a big glitter boat guy. Since buying my first in the fall of 1996, I’ve bought and sold five more. The fifth is about to leave for a new owner, and a sixth is on the way. I’ve tried to be careful, but I’ve done lots of stupid shit—run into logs, forgot to put the...

Sorry, I don’t mean to kill your dream, harsh your mellow, or pull the rug out from under you, but the title says it all: You’ll never be as good a bass angler as KVD. I hear it all the time from weekend warriors, aspiring pros, and people who can’t tell a crankbait from a crankshaft: “I could be a...

On my 2007 trip to Tokyo, I spent $36 at a tackle shop on an artificial shrimp in a cup. This was not a random purchase. My friend Matt Paino, president of Optimum Swimbaits, who had gone to college in Japan and subsequently imported several Japanese tackle brands to the U.S., took me on to the...

As we waded down a small creek near Bristol Bay, Alaska, trying not to fall over and fill our waders, Texas bass pro Keith Combs set the hook on a cartwheeling, hellbent-for-leather rainbow trout. It vaulted out of the water, and suddenly the unseen bears that he’d obsessed about minutes earlier...

You people in Florida and Texas shouldn’t stop reading now. Yes, I can hear your obnoxious laughter all the way over here in Virginia. “Winterizing? What the hell is winterizing?” If you’re going to use your boat 12 months out of the year, there’s likely no reason to take winter-specific precautions...

While most consumer dealings are relatively frictionless, there’s something about buying and selling a boat that turns people into lunatics. I’ve sold six fiberglass boats in my lifetime, and one Coleman Crawdad jon boat. I’ve also been on the buying end of an equal number of transactions, and I can...

Why bass? I felt a little bit dirty writing that, bordering on traitorous. After all, bass have been very good to me. They’re responsible for many of my greatest memories, they contribute to my income, and I’ve built a large part of my life around them. While they’ll occasionally disappear...

Three-time Toyota Texas Bass Classic Champion Keith Combs buried his face in the twin displays on the console of his boat, idling, idling, idling around a semi-private trophy fish factory in East Texas. Meanwhile, I was in the passenger seat stewing. Occasionally we’d see a fish blow up on bait or...