Best Trout Fishing Lures, Flies, and Baits

Trout are inarguably among the most popular game fish family worldwide, if not the most popular. Perhaps one reason for that fondness among anglers is the myriad lures, flies, baits, and techniques that can be employed in pursuit of these fish. There are the standard standbys that will likely work for almost any species in any place, and there’s regional peculiarity tackle that might only function is highly specific environments. Trout and char...

Best Lures and Baits for Lake Trout

“Uh, I think we’re out of gas.” I was 13 years old, finally old enough to take the boat out on the lake at my family’s cabin. My 10-year-old brother and I had decided to celebrate this newfound freedom by going out to catch a limit of walleye and were on the return trip when the engine sputtered to a stop and we were left drifting in an ominous silence in the middle of the lake. Without a paddle and long before the days of cellphones, we were...

Where Trout Eat Ducks and People Eat Horses

I just rolled my eyes when I saw the lure. Logic and conventional wisdom are no match for my father’s fishing hunches. My irritation belonged elsewhere anyway—with the wind, the miles of unproductive lakeshore, and the omnipresent gnats trying to slurp all the liquid from my eyeballs. At 11 p.m. in the subarctic summer my sunglasses remained on to keep the demon insects at bay, so Dad couldn’t register my look of disapproval. He walked off...