Fishing

The Texas Rig is an ultimate classic setup for catching bass, and the beauty of this presentation lies in its simplicity. The length of the rod you choose will depend on where you’re fishing, but it’s important that the rod is medium-heavy with a fast taper. This means your rod will be a little...

Go ahead and banish that VHS memory of “Grumpy Old Men.” Forget what you’ve heard about shanty beer can piles and lazy, lost days hiding from responsibility. Boredom is a choice on the ice or off. As the old saying goes, if you’re bored, you’re boring. I wasn’t always interested in ice fishing...

As a life-long angler, I always thought being a capable fisherman meant also being a boat owner. So, when I got the cash for a 15-foot outboard, I bought one. Then, just a year later, I sold it. I quickly learned that the two qualities don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand—just because you love to cast...

Warm blood oozes from the eye sockets of a mouse clenched in the hook jaws of a big brown trout. Have you bought that T-shirt yet? There are plenty of similar rodent-themed wearables and stickers and Buffs out there now, because over the last five years or so, fly anglers have become obsessed with...

It wasn’t like in the movies with a spiderweb of cracks slowly forming beneath my feet, but rather a sharp loud “CRACK!” like a pistol shot. I knew I was in trouble right away. I was 17 years old, playing hooky from school to go ice fishing on the Connecticut River, which flowed near my small...

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...

It was the first time Alex Dietz got out on the water after the birth of his first child, a daughter named Willow, a month prior—certainly an auspicious moment for any angler. Dec. 19 brought a chill over Oregon’s hallowed Deschutes River, where he and friends were nymphing for the river’s native...

Most bass fishing lures are designed for relatively shallow water. That makes sense in the context of the fishes’ typical habitat but fails to acknowledge their seasonal movements as the water chills in the winter. In many southern waters, once the surface temperatures drops below 60 degrees or so...

The Drunk & Disorderly is one of my all-time favorite trout streamers. It’s also one of the most complex patterns ever created. The placement of every feather, the order of each type of body material, isn’t simply cosmetic nor accidental. It has a reason. The mallard flank tied in flat over the tail...

I’m generally old school and like to keep things simple. But the first time I used electronics for ice fishing, I knew I'd never fish without them. There are things you can fight, and then there are things you have to accept because they make a job so much easier you’d be crazy not to utilize them...

Catching a big lake trout is one of the greatest challenges in the angling world. For most of the year, these fish live in sparse, constantly roving schools in the deepest, darkest parts of lakes and reservoirs. They’re hard to find, hard to catch, and many anglers go hours and even entire days...