Latest
Freshwater
Muskie Fishing Basics: How to Catch the Premier Freshwater Predator
Ryan Brod
Oct 4, 2019
When it finally happened, I was thinking about lunch: moose stew bubbling over the Coleman stove back at camp or turkey and cheese on a bulkie roll. I’d been casting since dawn, and both choices seemed tempting. Standing at the stern of my canoe, I gazed across the water into Canada. Large, spiky evergreens lined the far shore. The few deciduous trees were beyond peak foliage. When I turned my attention back to the all-black, foot-long streamer...
Wildlife Management
State of the Bait: Atlantic Menhaden, Lifeblood of the Sea
Ryan Brod
Aug 2, 2019
The Atlantic Coast’s most important fish aren’t stripers, sharks or bluefin tuna. In fact, they’re not gamefish at all. The most important fish on the East Coast are Atlantic menhaden: deep-bellied, silver baitfish of the herring family that grow to 18 inches and school en masse near the surface, feeding on various planktons. Their eyes are large and dull. Black dots crowd their gill plates. Dull spots line iridescent flanks leading to a forked...
Saltwater
The MeatEater Guide to DIY Tarpon: Part Three, Battling the Silver King
Ryan Brod
Jun 18, 2019
We’re on our first drift of the evening, my father and I, when I feel a distinct tap at the end of my line. Just as I register what’s about to happen, my line tightens and my float disappears. It’s as though I’ve snagged a bridge piling and we’re drifting slowly away—that’s what it feels like as the tarpon sucks in my crab and turns to continue swimming.
I set the hook with a hard sweep, low and to my left.
“There we go!” Dad shouts.
A huge boil...
I set the hook with a hard sweep, low and to my left.
“There we go!” Dad shouts.
A huge boil...
Tarpon
MeatEater Guide to DIY Tarpon: Part Two, Getting It Done with Live Bait
Ryan Brod
Jun 12, 2019
This is the second article in a three-part series that explains how to catch Florida tarpon without hiring guides or staying in expensive lodges. In case you missed it, read part one of the series first.
The first tarpon I ever hooked nearly knocked me into Florida Bay. My father and I were drifting live crabs beneath floats on an incoming tide when the tarpon ate my crab and leapt over our outboard like a pole vaulter, two feet from my head...
The first tarpon I ever hooked nearly knocked me into Florida Bay. My father and I were drifting live crabs beneath floats on an incoming tide when the tarpon ate my crab and leapt over our outboard like a pole vaulter, two feet from my head...
Redfish
Plan B in the Keys: Poor Conditions Don’t Have to Ruin Your Fishing Trip
Ryan Brod
Apr 17, 2019
After years of discussion and planning, we make it to the Keys for our dream fishing trip. We’ve dreamt of balmy weather and airborne tarpon all winter—my buddy Parker and I—while buried beneath piles of Maine snow. But the weather is against us here too. Mid-March cold fronts have water temps below optimal range for tarpon fishing. We’re disappointed, but we’re also about to find out what the Keys’ fishery offers to those willing to re-imagine...