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Spencer Neuharth
Spencer Neuharth
Spencer Neuharth is the senior hunting editor at MeatEater, producer of Wired to Hunt, and founder of Rut Fresh. His writing has been featured in over a dozen magazines, including Field & Stream, Petersen's Hunting, and Men's Journal. His work is a reflection of his roots as a whitetail hunter and training as a biologist.

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Freshwater

Photos: The Worst Fish Hook Injuries to MeatEater Fans
Earlier this year, Pat Durkin enlightened us on the art of human catch and release. If you’re looking for poetics about how anglers so often get hooks in places they don’t belong, go read his article. But if your stomach can handle it, stick around here for 12 pictures from our fellow impaled MeatEaters. Be warned: You’re about to see some messed up stuff.
“First cast after shore lunch I hook into a 40-inch pike. As I...

Freshwater

Video: Angler Catches and Releases New World Record Paddlefish
Earlier this summer, we wrote about Kari Gentry and how her first day of fly fishing was better than yours. Well, now we’re declaring James Lukehart’s first day of paddlefishing superior to yours, too.
Lukehart booked a fishing trip for his wife and himself to their home state of Oklahoma’s most famed spoonbill waters, Keystone Lake. The first fish of the day was an 88-pounder that Caitlin caught and released.
“We just really wanted some...

Pike

Photos: Minnesota Angler Catches Same Giant Pike Twice in a Week
Mike Johnson, an avid angler from Crystal, Minnesota, has quite the fisherman’s tale to share this winter. Unlike most yarns that anglers spin, though, he has photos to back it up.
Johnson was ice fishing Mille Lacs last week when he hooked into a 40-inch pike on a rattle reel with a 3-inch sucker. After a quick picture, he slid the big female back into the hole and watched her swim off.

One week later and 100 feet away, he set the hook on...

Pike

Video: Anglers Stunned by Pike’s Stomach Contents
Roger Niesen was cleaning fish and watching MeatEater TV with buddies last weekend when they came across a hockey puck-sized object in a pike’s stomach.
The 38-inch northern was caught on the Mississippi River in Wisconsin and sat on the ice for 5 hours before hitting the cutting board. They noticed a hard object bulging in its belly and made guesses about what it was. When they sliced in, they were stunned to find a 9-inch bluegill still alive...

Freshwater

The Best Colleges for Anglers
In college, I always made sure to use every single “sick day” the professors gave us. I’d power through illness and hangover to be in class, but if the bite was hot anywhere within a few hours of campus, my desk was empty.
Some colleges are much closer to good fishing than mine, and I wonder if that would have made me a better or worse student. It damn sure would have made my college years better. If you’re about to finish high school and want...

Freshwater

Best Baits for Eater Catfish
Catfish are what not exactly selective when it comes to their diet. In fact, they’re some of the most opportunistic feeders in freshwater. But that doesn’t mean they’re always easy to catch. Water temp, clarity, current, time of day and time of year are all influence their willingness and ability to feed. They’re also factors you need to consider when selecting bait.
We’re not talking about breaking records here; we’re talking...

Freshwater

Potential World Record Muskie Caught and Released in Minnesota
The world record muskie is currently living in Minnesota’s Mille Lacs Lake—or so biologists think. In a recent press release, the Minnesota DNR announced that earlier this year they landed the largest muskie they’ve ever seen. It happened while biologists were electrofishing for walleye.
“We were not looking for muskie,” said aquaculture biologist Keith Wiggins-Kegg. “That wasn’t our objective.”
Biologists couldn’t resist getting a closer...

Freshwater

70-Year-Old Catfish Record Voided Over Misidentification
Roy Groves was one of the greatest catfishermen in history. His fishing prowess made him famous among fellow river rats in the Great Plains, and grainy photos of him with enormous catfish spread across two decades show why.
At one point, Groves held both world and state records for blue catfish and channel catfish. He claimed each in 1949 with a 94-pound blue cat and 55-pound channel cat from the James River in South Dakota. The blue cat world...

Freshwater

Duck Legs, Fish Eggs and a Persistent Myth
My first fishing memory involves pulling bullhead after bullhead from my grandpa’s stock pond. They outcompeted everything else in the shallow waterhole and would grab any bait as soon as it hit the water. It was the perfect situation for a budding fisherman who just wanted fish on the line. But I soon longed for greater challenge, something more sophisticated like bluegill, bass and crappie.
I asked my father as to why they put so damn many...

Freshwater

Stop Pouring Soda on Fish Gills
A couple years ago, I saw a blog post that encouraged bass anglers to keep a bottle of Coke with them at all times. And no, it wasn’t for the caffeine high.
Instead, fishermen were supposed to use this magical elixir as a healing agent for bleeding fish. The thought went that when a fish is gill hooked or gut hooked, you could pour Coke on the wound to stop the bleeding. The soda provided a combination of carbonation and acid to clean and...