Articles

Pogy are knocking, will you heed the call?

The future of gamefish from striped bass to tarpon are on the line this autumn
A silver king blasts a ball of menhaden off Jacksonville, Florida (photo: Zsolt Takacs).

It's not every day you are greeted by the smell of bait at your doorstep and is rarer still to revel in such a fishy odor wafting through your neighborhood. But there I was, following my sense of smell from my house in Melbourne, Florida to the ocean, several blocks away. I climbed the boardwalk steps and just past the shore break was a mass of pogy, swimming south.

The keepers of secrets

The dark fish—the most obvious and compelling—cannot be caught
Photo: Matthew Reilly

Ankle-deep and frozen in the reed-stagnated shallows of Lake Michigan, Brian Pitser stood alert, deep-bagged net crossed valiantly over his shoulder. His eyes—hopeful, calculating, and resigned—scanned a backwater bay for answers. For fishy shapes, movement, and lumbering shadows. For carp.

Solitude

There's something to be said for fishing alone
Photo: Chris Hunt

There’s a bridge over a tumbling bedrock creek near the south entrance to Yellowstone National Park. It’s a good place to stop—if you walk a bit downstream, there’s an impressive set of waterfalls where the creek dives off of a plateau and dumps into the Lewis River just before the latter meets the humble beginnings of the mighty Snake.

Review: Cheeky Tyro Fly Reel

Cheeky's entry-level reel offers much more than entry-level quality and performance
Photo: Chad Love

I am a cheap bastard. Whether this condition is the natural by-product of a lifetime of lower-to-lowest middle-class purchasing power or an inherent part of my genetic makeup, I cannot say. All I know is I’ve never paid more than $200 for a rod or reel of any iteration (fly, baitcaster, spinning, whatever), and considering the current depressing arc of my income level, I probably never will.

Sage tops IFTD 2017 with its second straight 'Best of Show' award

The new SALT HD fly rod helps Sage repeat at IFTD
The new Sage SALT HD fly rod (photo: Chad Shmukler).

The annual IFTD (International Fly Tackle Dealers) show came to a close last Friday in Orlando, Florida. Each year, the culmination of the show's exhibits is the the 'Party at the Pond' where the winners for 'Best of Show' in 30 different categories are announced. This year, Sage was awarded with the show's highest honor for the second year in a row, with its new SALT HD fly rod.

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