HUMOR: Kind of like my New Year's plans.

BASS: The "Super Bowl" of bass fishing is in Kissimmee, Florida this year.

VIDEO: Carp on the Spawn. Cool video of the "golden ghost" in the shallows, and a guy stalking a fatty with a fly rod.
(Link via Midcurrent, who got the link from Moldy Chum.)

ETHICS: When lying about your fishing actually gets you in trouble.
(Link via FlyFishMagazine.)

FLORIDA EAST COAST: Dolphin and sailfish can be found offshore, starting in 100 feet of water.

ONE THE WEB: A cool fly-tying resource.

FLORIDA GULF COAST: Speckled trout season opens on Sunday.

TRAVEL: The British Virgin Islands certify 15 fly fishing guides.

NEWS: China anglers make Guinness Book of Records.

SCIENCE: Predators stabilize fish populations.

TRAVEL: Trout fishing in Kashmir.

Here's some more information.

ICE FISHING: Some hot strategies.

CHRISTMAS LOOT: Thanks to my wife for supporting my fishing habit. I got some brand spanking new waders and another nice cache of flies--those big expensive ones that I don't know how to tie and will likely never take the time to learn. Hope everyone got some useful fishing gear this year.

FISH STORY: More on the smallmouth record.

MISSISSIPPI: Katrina won't take out fishing tournaments.

WISCONSIN: The most common ice fishing violations.

Happy Holidays

Back after the weekend.

ODD: The double-mouthed rainbow trout from Nebraska.

BASS: Go deep in cold weather.

TECHNIQUE: Using measurements to "weigh" your catch. (Explained through the recently reinstated record smallmouth bass.)

How should striped bass be regulated?
	With slot limits, similar to the snook regs in Florida.
	Keeper rules should be more strict.
	Keeper rules should be eased.
	Stripers should be given gamefish status.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

CONSERVATION: A group of California sixth graders work to save Mongolia's taimen.

MORE NEWS: The anti-PeTA.

NEWS: The cure for compulsive fishing?

BONEFISH: Stocks are on the rise.

(Link via Midcurrent.)

NON-FISHING ITEM OF THE DAY: The top 30 Random Facts About Chuck Norris.

SCIENCE: Is the Gulf Stream slowing down? There's also some history here.

FISH STORY: Got one? Like single malt scotch? Enter your best one at The Balvenie. Curiously, the lead fishing story on a whisky site is by a man named Beer.

(Link via Moldy Chum.)

GEAR: Last minute gift ideas.

ICE FISHING: A gear Q&A.

CONNECTICUT:New rules for saltwater anglers.

CONSERVATION: There are about 1,000 crocodiles in South Florida, meaning there are just 1,000 in the U.S., and these complete brickheads decide to torture one for kicks?

Angler's Photo Tip

Every fishing magazine shows photos of people mugging to the camera, holding up enormous fish cradled in what appear to be freakishly large hands. They're doing the old fish-depth perception photo trick. To make a fish appear bigger in a photo than it actually is, hold the fish out in front of you and extend your arms. On a tight shot, the camera won't pick up the depth, so your arms won't appear extended, but the fish will seem huge. (And you'll look like you've got some serious meat hooks.) The first photo above is done with the fish photo trick, the second without. The bottom one shows that some fish are too small to do anything about. (Click on the photos to view at a larger size.)

TRAVEL: Here's an article I wrote for GORP.com a few years ago about fly fishing in Cuba. (Sometimes being a journalist has its rewards.)

GEAR: New "ridge line" technology for fly lines will help with distance, accuracy.

PERSONALITIES: The guy who fished 1,500 streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes in California and Nevada, and wrote a book about it.

POLL: Don't forget to take my WEEKLY POLL.

TRAVEL: Take a Tahitian bonefish cruise.

KEY WEST: Capt. Mike's been playing with the barracudas.

TROUT: Kamloops rainbows in Tallahassee, Florida?
(Link via FlyFishMagazine.)

NEWS: Striper poachers busted. Glad they caught these two losers. Poaching 800 pounds of striped bass is unconscionable.

OREGON: Fish, anglers drawn to Sandy River.

THE FIRST FISHING JONES WEEKLY POLL

Heaven is...
	...a green drake hatch.
	...a roiling surface boil.
	...a singing International.
	...a popping downrigger.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

TRAVEL: Anglers flocking to Baja California in the midst of an historic tuna bite.

SALMON: Columbia River returns may not be very good next year.

NORTH CAROLINA: Giant bluefin tuna can be had offshore.

MORE ICE FISHING: Ice-fishing until The cows come home.

TECHNIQUE: Perfecting your fly casting.

SPECKLED TROUT: Like football, trout fishing is a game of inches

BASS: Record smallmouth reinstated. Outdoor Weblog has some analysis and additional links to the story.

VOTE: Heartland Outdoorsman is running an Outdoor Blog of the Year contest. In a bit of shameless self-promotion, I'm posting the link where you can cast your vote. Even if you don't vote for Fishing Jones, it's worth checking out this fine list of outdoor blogs.

Costa Rica Photos

MORE ICE FISHING: Test your competitive skills.

OBITUARY: Ernest Schwiebert, a giant in the world of trout fishing.
(NYTimes Log-in required.)
An excerpt: His literary pièce de résistance, "Trout," traced the sport to the ancient Greeks and Chinese, then meandered through 1,745 pages covering pretty much every conceivable topic of interest to anglers, from the anatomy of Salmoniform fishes to the idiosyncratic philosophies of those compelled to pursue them.
In reviewing the book, which weighs in at 7 pounds, 5 ounces and has a bibliography listing 999 sources, William Kaufmann wrote in The Washington Post in 1979, "Surely no fly fisherman in history can have fished more widely than Ernest Schwiebert has, and surely no one else has combined angling, artistic and writing talents to better advantage."

(Thanks to J.R. Absher of Outdoor Weblog and Outdoor Pressroom for the link.)

GEAR: Behold, the EZ Chummer.

TECHNIQUE: A page of animated fishing knots. No Bimini twist?

(Link via Moldy Chum.)

FLORIDA BASS: They're in pre-spawn mode.

ICE FISHING: It's that time of year again, when the ice fishing articles start to pop up.

STRIPED BASS: The Savannah River: A comeback story.
(Log-in required.)

Costa Rica Report

First off, Costa Rica is an inspiring country. Past leaders showed a tremendous amount of foresight, from abolishing the army in 1948 and redirecting that money into education, to protecting their rainforests and other natural resources for one of the best eco-tourism situations in the world. They derive a high percentage of their power from geothermal, hydroelectric, and wind sources. Even their coffee--when growers realized they couldn't compete on a quantity level with Columbia and Brazil, they concentrated on growing gourmet coffee, planting shade trees on their coffee farms so the coffee beans grow bigger and juicier.
We hiked in rain, dry, and humid forests, spying on howler, white-faced, and spider monkeys. We took a river tour and spotted crocodiles, green and black iguanas, and a laundry list of birds. (My favorite was the greenback heron, which catches insects and uses them as bait to catch fish--nature's fly fisher.)
I had several opportunities to fish while in Costa Rica. I brought down a four-piece fly rod and fished from a kayak in the large bay behind our hotel. I used a sit-on-top yellow two-person ocean kayak. I had a hard time chasing down the Pacific bonito that blitzed frequently in the bay, but twice found myself in on the action. It's breathtaking to be in the middle of a froth, little tunas boiling all around. I also had some encounters with jack crevalle and little green jacks, which remind me of blue runners.
I took one bottom fishing trip, where we anchored off a reef and dropped bait down for grouper, snapper, and triggerfish. And finally, I took one offshore trip, where we trolled for wahoo. Didn't get one of those, but hooked into more bonito, a dolphin (mahi), and a spunky little yellowfin tuna quickly became sushi.

FLY TYING: Tying the bunny split for northern pike fishing.
(Link via Fishspawn.)

GIFT IDEAS: How about a guided fishing trip? For the record, I'm all for it, but my wife doesn't read my blog.

KAYAK FISHING: A how-to guide. I did a little kayak fishing myself in Costa Rica last week, and will post more on that later.
(Link via Gadling.)

Greetings from Costa Rica

Chillin' in Guanacaste. I am constantly being teased by furious blitzes in the bay behind my hotel. Yesterday we went out and investigated--bonito, pods of them blitzing for sustained periods, and not boat shy. A local guy said small 8-10 pound yellowfin tuna are responsible for some of those blitzes. I hiked in the rainforest today--no fishing--but will be back after them tomorrow in a kayak. (As an aside, if you're from New York, and you happen to be on a hike along a tranquil and pristine rainforest trail, SHUT UP!) Wednesday, I've booked a guided trip, so we'll see what happens.

ALBIE VIDEO: I found this cool video on Reel-Time. Good stuff... Right click and Save Target As...

POLLUTION: Pollution in LA is causing some strange things to, um, evolve....

Thanks, Pete...

On two fronts...

A) For taking me and Stefan fishing a week or two ago... yeah, we only tangled w/ a couple of small blues, but such perfect weather in November was awesome...

B) Not to rub it in, however,how's about that Marlin them kids up in Boston caught a week or so ago?