GEAR: Crafting bamboo fly rods.

TOURNAMENTS: ESPN still plans to broadcast the Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament.

Fishing the BassMasters

Takahiro Omori fishes in the BassMasters Classic in Pittsburgh. (Reuters)

OREGON: Fishing the Deschutes.

NEW YORK: Heat spell signals the end of trouting on the Delaware this season.

PERSONALITIES: The place to get a shave, haircut, and fishing report.

STUPID IS...fishing for trout right at the hatchery.

SCIENCE: Global pelagic "hot spots" are on the decline.

SCIENCE: Breeding sharks in a test tube.

COLORADO: Is the state killing off too many of its big fish?

EATING: How to grill your fish.

NORTH CAROLINA: The big fish are biting offshore.

TECHNIQUE: Fishing structure. This article deals specifically with coastal Texas, but it could apply to anywhere.

A Picture of Desperation

I went after the big bluefish under the menhaden today. I tried several different lures before settling on these nine-inch Storm Wild Eye Swim Shad. I prefer saving them for stripers, since they cost about $6 apiece, and with bluefish they're good for just one shot. But I was, to be honest, desperate to hook anything. So I swam the chartreuse one and on my first cast a bluefish ripped its tail off. With my second Shad I hooked a big blue, a 10-pounder that jumped like a largemouth bass. A great fight. So basically, it was a $12 fish. But compare it to paying $10 to see some awful movie, and I'm satisfied with my entertainment dollar.

Menhaden Thick in the Bay

FISH STORY: A Pacific blue marlin on 30-pound test.

FARM PONDS: A short article about farm pond management. I make my wife crazy because I can't drive past a farm pond without staring at it--not a good thing when you should be watching the road. But it is my dream to one day have a plot of land big enough to put in a stocked pond. All it will take is years of hard work and one lucky Megamillions ticket.

Simplicity Rules

I was out on the boat today for a photo shoot (not fishing) and the Western Long Island Sound was again rife with giant menhaden. In certain spots it seemed like there were football-field sized pods of bunker all over the place. Guys were pulling up blues here and there, but never gangbusters.
But here's what struck me. I've been reading striper books left and right lately, visiting message boards, talking to great striper anglers I work with, all in trying to get an edge and catch some bigger bass. So I get to the dock today, and the buzz there is some little kid flipped a bunker chunk off his parent's boat in the mooring fields, and instantly hooked up with, and landed, a 40-pound striped bass. 40 pounds! Maybe I shouldn't think so much.

FISH STORY: Fish bites man...yet more proof that they'll get you when they get half the chance.

BASS: Fishing at Disney.

WISCONSIN: Summer smallmouth fishing primer.

MICHIGAN: The state's best trout streams. I am going to Michigan in two weeks, and hope to have an excellent report, though I'm going for northern pike and smallmouth.
(Link via Midcurrent.)

Shark at the Boat

6'3" 220-pound Man vs. 9' 400-pound Shark

NORTHERN PIKE: Be careful they don't bite your fly rod in half.

KAYAK FISHING: Small boats, big fish.

CONSERVATION: Commercial and recreational interests collide in freshwater, too.

Bluefish Blues

The western Long Island Sound is thick with big bunker. My brother and I went out today, and you couldn't help but run into humongous menhaden pods wherever you turned the boat. Nevertheless, the fishing proved brutal. The air temperature hovered in the low 90s and the water surface temperatures fluxuated between 76 and 78 degrees, according to the fishfinder. Not ideal conditions to hunt fish.
We got a late start, around 9am, so we didn't even consider going after stripers. We did see some blues busting on the menhaden in one spot, where they had pinned them against a seawall. I hooked a decent one with a bunker chunk but the SOB broke me off. My brother snagged a menhaden on his fly rod and while he was reeling it in a monster blue nailed it and took off on a run before dropping the bait. That was it for the day. Regardless, I'm heading out tomorrow morning to get after them at first light.

TEXAS: The rise of private bass fishing clubs.

MORE SHARKS: Speaking of massive ones...Check out the ridiculous photo, and wonder what those anglers would do for an extra six minutes.

FISH STORY: What was retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor doing when President Bush announced her replacement? Fly fishing, of course.

(Link via Midcurrent.)

Watch Out, Frank Mundus

I went shark fishing off Long Island for the first time yesterday. My colleague Kevin took us out in his Regulator 23. We ran 22 miles off the southern coast to set up a drift for mako sharks. We set up a chum slick and drifted strips of mackerel and bluefish. The makos, which apparently rip off blistering runs and impressive jumps, never showed. But we did catch several large bluesharks--brutish fish but not quite the same fighters. I subdued a 300-pounder and my colleague Dan locked horns with a 400-pound beast.
On a smaller scale, towards the end of the trip, a school of 15-lb bluefish showed up in our chum slick. These blues proved to be the most finicky eaters, refusing bucktails, jigs, or anything other than a small piece of cutbait on a wireless rig. Needless to say, every one we actually hooked broke off. If only I had a fly rod and a chum fly...

MORE FLORIDA FISHING: Patience is rewarded offshore.

FLORIDA GOLD COAST: Anglers are catching redfish, tarpon, jacks, sharks, spanish macks...
(And you wonder why everyone loves fishing in Florida.)

FISH STORY: Illinois angler catches a one-pound piranha.

TECHNIQUE: How to detect the strike while nymphing.

Snook Release

NEWS: First flying fish caught off Britain.

SCIENCE: Fishing for mutants.

FISH STORY: Man catches same catfish five times in one day.
(Link via Outdoor Weblog.)

SPECKLED TROUT: And the joys of fishing when you're supposed to be working.

MORE STRIPED BASS: All striper flies are not created equal.
(NYTimes Login Required.)

STRIPED BASS: Searching for the fifty pounder.

Mike's Albie Release

Stefan's Okeechobee Bucketmouth

CALIFORNIA: Northern Sierras in peak fly fishing time.

CONSERVATION: Putting fish where they don't belong.

BACK FROM F-L-A

I'm finally back on the blog after four days in Florida. I can't go into too much detail since the trip was for an article I'm writing, but I can say that Stefan and Mike joined me for the ride, and we got into some fun fish. Here are some quick details.
--We went fishing off Palm Beach with Scott Hamilton on Monday and caught a bunch of false albacore on fly rods. Mike caught a huge cobia--we estimated it at 50 pounds--livelining a pilchard around the boat. I had a shot on it on fly first, but missed the hookset and the dumb thing swam to the other side of the boat where Mike got him.
--We also fished Lake Okeechobee, with guide Bobby Sutton out of Roland Martin Marina where Stefan got a tremendous 6 1/2 pound largemouth.
--We ended the trip fishing the back country and beaches south of Marco Island with guide Ryan Allen (239/253-2971). We caught a couple of snook, trout, jack, mangrove snapper, and even flounder. We had some shots site fishing for reds on a flat on a dropping tide, but the fish proved very skittish. I'll post some pictures when I get the chance.

OFF TO FLORIDA

Flying down to Palm Beach tomorrow morning to begin a four-day fishing odyssey in the name of work. Blogging will be light here until Friday, unless I can make a few audio posts from the water. Meanwhile, take a look at some of the other blogs and pages listed under "Fishy Sites."

CONSERVATION: Yellowstone cutthroat numbers continue to decline.

TRAVEL: Fly fishing in Arkansas.

LAKE ERIE: Smallmouth catch rate way down.

GOLIATH GROUPER: This is a diving story, but it's even more evidence, the fish will get you if the get the chance.

Money Quote: "I didn't realize my head was in his mouth until I was on the way to the hospital, and I saw the blood on the top of my head."

BOOKS: I'm giving a plug to my collleague's new book, Rudow’s Guide to Fishing the Chesapeake. Lenny lives and breathes fishing like no one else I know, and if you fish the Bay, you'll want this in your library.

FISH STORY: Fishing, the only time it's OK to lie.

IDAHO: Silver Creek, where trout anglers go to be humiliated. It is stories like this that make me realize why I will never be a great trout angler. Trout, for all their beauty, are sadistic. And they push people to the edge of sanity. To wit: "Larry was sighted one evening last week standing in the creek experimenting with a new gold-sequined vest that glittered like a supernova in the more modest beams of the setting sun. His rod wasn't bent. 'This isn't working,' he said."

(Link via Midcurrent.)

BOOKS: Are kids not spending enough time outdoors? And as a result, will the next generation even care about outdoor activities?

(Link via Shifting Baselines.)

FISH PHOTO: I just stumbled across this blog photo. I don't know who this dude is or where he fishes, but check out this pike.

WEIRD: (Or, rather, macabre) Not what you hope to find when you pull up anchor.

FLY FISHING: The subculture of competitive casting, a sport in which I am confident I will never be invited to participate.

ESSAY: Regardless of style or preference, every angler has one goal in mind--to hook the biggest fish he can possibly catch.

FISH STORY: Rhode Island fluke angler jigs up 10-karat ring.

NEW JERSEY: The spanish macks are in, and with them the advent of summer fishing.

PENNSYLVANIA: State to offer $1 fishing licenses to members of the military.

TUNA: Shark Fisherman Reels in Record Tuna. An 873-pounder on 80 pound test? Just ridiculous.

LAKE HAVASU: Using dead trees to create fish structure.

TROUT: The beauty of trout fishing, or, imagery vs. reality.

FISH STORY: A look back at the 50-year old smallmouth bass record, as well as an acknowledgement of the suspicion the record generates.