Several months ago I had a business trip that took me to a really cool place called Honey Lake Plantation (www.honeylakeplantation.com).  The plantation is towards the southern end of the Red Hills region that spans South Georgia through North Florida.  The towns of Thomasville, Monticello and Tallahassee are well known to sportsmen as well as athletes.  Although it needs no introduction, ACC powerhouse Florida State University is in Tallahassee. I had a number of meetings…

I’ve learned that sometimes, in order to know more about catching fish, it’s worth taking a little time to actually “be the fish.” And so I’ve been known to scuba dive or snorkel with trout, bass, walleyes, pike, and other species. This has led to some interesting “Going Deep” stories for Field & Stream magazine, but to tell you the truth, the real value has been that it’s made me a better angler. So what…

There are many reasons to enjoy boating. Laird Durham, a freelance writer and avid boater, has assembled his Top 10 Reasons, and there are many others.   Fishing, of course, is a major reason.  Access to all depths and locations of a body of water is a huge plus for fishing from a boat.  For some, so is avoiding contact with snakes. Unless it is steelhead season and very cold, many fishermen, like my fishing companion…

We all know that fishing and boating are two of the best activities going.  Some days we don’t catch ‘em up as much as we’d want to, or other days the rain or chop foils our plans for a smooth boat ride.  Those tough days make the other ones even more enjoyable, but so does riding in the vehicles that get us to where we’re going. Now that fishing is fully underway in my area…

I received a wonderful email the other day. It showed a photo of a young boy with a trout. Now, as you might imagine, I get plenty of photos from readers/friends showing off the fish they catch (always fun to see). This photo wasn’t of a particularly big trout, though it was a nice rainbow. But it was one of the most special fish photos I’ve ever had sent to me. You see… the boy…

Bassmaster Elite Pro Gerald Swindle might call them “peanuts.” Pro Casey Ashley just calls them “babies.” But personally, “Dink” has always been in my vocabulary.  Whatever you call them, little fish are worth appreciating too. For example, from thousands of eggs, only a few bass, will survive and grow large enough to earn the title of “whopper.” Despite the lack of photographic evidence and the stories anglers may tell, small fish are sometimes caught.  Too…

Many of us are blessed to have outstanding fishing close to home.  In fact, many of us choose to live in areas that are near great fishing!  Others of us are required to live closer to work, and if a major metropolitan city is on your horizon then you may find a good amount of competition for space on the water. Take, for example, Concord, Massachusetts. It’s a significant American city for a lot of…

Some of the best safety devices don’t cost a ton of money, don’t take up a lot of space, and aren’t that hard to operate. Take for example, the simple whistle, which I believe is the best “self rescue” tool other than a personal floatation device (PFD). I carry a whistle wherever I go in the outdoors. When I’m fly fishing on the river, even when I’m walking and not rowing, I have a whistle…

Ah, the worm. That iconic, time-honored, never-fail bait. I recently overheard a fisheries graduate student admit, “If I want to catch fish to eat, I’m going to use a bobber and a worm.”  To obtain this bait, most people usually grab a shovel and turn over half an acre.  But, there just may be a better way. The practice of “fiddling” has been around a while. Outdoor writer and photographer, Theresa Sutton, wrote that anglers…

Fishing in my adopted home state is open all year long.  I am thankful for this when the migratory saltwater fish pack their bags and head south; there are trout, bass, pickerel, and panfish to catch. I am also thankful for this when the mercury in the thermometer is consistently below freezing, and there is enough ice on the ponds and lakes we can dig some holes and add a few tip ups. If we’re…