Articles

Poppers in the salt might get you more than you bargained for

You can, and should, fish poppers in saltwater—but watch out

by Chris Hunt - Wednesday, Dec 29th, 2021

Photo: Chad Shmukler

Years ago, while fishing a giant flat in the backcountry of Long Island in the Bahamas, I came across my first “mud” — a busy conglomeration of jacks, snappers and barracudas, and a few bonefish — engaged in a mass of moving fish. SIlvery scales caught rays of sunshine and flashed them back into the heavens as they fed on a ball of bait. The larger fish, like the ‘cudas, were chasing the smaller fish that were probably chasing something even smaller, like bunker or shad.

Warming, toxic waters have devastated Pacific fisheries—is Big Oil to blame?

Union leaders say fossil fuel companies must pay for rising ocean temperatures, but not all boat captains are persuaded

by Chris McGreal - Thursday, Dec 23rd, 2021

Photo: Bob Renee / cc2.0.

Dick Ogg, a silver-haired former electrician who switched to making his living catching crabs two decades ago, is a staunch supporter of the union representing fishing boat captains along America’s western seaboard.

But when he heard that the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations was suing some of the world’s largest oil companies for causing the climate crisis, Ogg took stock of the barrels of diesel oil stacked on his vessel, the 54-foot Karen Jeanne, and wondered if the litigation was not only a mistake but hypocritical.

The Big Bang of trucker country

The story of 'Six Days on the Road'

by Tom Davis - Friday, Dec 17th, 2021

Photo: Jim McGuire / courtesy of The Grand Ole Opry

When you’re in college a long way from home, and you don’t have your own wheels, you take a ride from anybody who offers to give you one. This is a roundabout way of saying that I don’t remember whose car I was in when I heard “Six Days on the Road” for the first time, circa 1976-77. What I do remember, though, is that when those irresistibly propulsive licks exploded out of the speakers, I didn’t know whether to shit or go blind.

“Jesus Christ!,” I blurted out. “What the #$%* are we listening to?”

That's trout water, son

Snow, it's what trout crave

by Chris Hunt - Thursday, Dec 16th, 2021

Photo: NPS / cc2.0.

Some 40 years ago, I remember bemoaning the late-season snow that killed the first fishing trip of the year into the Colorado high country for me and my grandfather. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise–it was Memorial Day weekend, and, generally speaking, Memorial Day weekend was always pretty sketchy.

But for an 11-year-old tired of dunking dough balls in the local drainage pond for carp while winter retreated from the mountains, the chance to actually throw nightcrawlers at real trout in real trout streams was something I looked forward to for weeks. Maybe months.

Streamer tip: Speed kills in clear water

How changing the speed of your retrieve can yield to streamer fishing results, even in the least conducive conditions

by Matthew Reilly - Wednesday, Dec 15th, 2021

Photo: Matt Reilly

Listen to those who are in-the-know on the many tailwaters across the country that produce regular high water flows, and they’ll likely tell you that you can’t catch fish on streamers in low, clear water. They’re dead wrong. But, to their credit, they’re kind of right.