Latest Blog Posts

The elephant

No one will look at the elephant. No one will speak of it.
Photo: Mike Sepelak

No one will look at the elephant. No one will speak of it though it sits just outside the front window of the Dalwhinnie, all gray and dank and dour, staring in at us as we gather for breakfast. Heads down in our eggs, our coffee, our phones, we try to ignore it, knowing full well that every man around the table knows that it’s out there and that knowledge is killing us.

Fish that eat mice

Thoughts on fishing with mouse patterns, and why we don't use them more often
Photo: Chris Hunt

I’ve been thinking a lot about mice lately. And not just in the general vermin sense. Yes, it’s true that my girlfriend had one skitter across her foot on the stairs landing this week, which sent me to the garage to find traps and such. We’re now paying for an exterminator, mostly because it’s less hassle than trying to dig through the store room to find the tiny cracks and holes the shoulderless little rodents can squeeze through.

Photo: Kyle Schaefer

For the next couple weeks, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is soliciting public comment on Draft Amendment 7 to the Atlantic Striped Bass Management Plan. This is an amazing opportunity to improve several facets of management, leading to more striped bass in the water in the future. Today, striped bass are overfished, subject to overfishing (according to the most recent stock assessment), and at a 25-year low. It’s going to take all of us acting together if we want to improve striped bass management and restore the stock to abundant, healthy levels.

How to catch the biggest brook trout of your life, again

Another recipe for record-breaking success
Photo: Tim Schulz

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

—George Santayana

The first time I caught the biggest brook trout of my life, I was so excited I wrote a how-to essay called “How to Catch the Biggest Brook Trout of Your Life.” Although I thought I did the fishing world a much-needed service, the reactions to my accomplishment and advice were tepid:

That's the biggest brook trout you've ever caught? You have got to be kidding me.

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