Editor's Note: Here at FRA, we are a small but aggressive team. We're like a race car that we’re building while it zips around the track. Extending that analogy, Matt Smythe is the wheels: He is the primary point of contact between our edit team and ...
Fish
Free Fly Fishing Video Series Sets Up Beginners for Success
If you’re one of the tens of thousands that tried fly fishing for the first time during COVID as something to do that also allowed you to social distance, or if you’re “fly curious” because you watched A River Runs Through It, there is a new series ...
Meet Justin Lee: Spearfishing Champ, Bowhunter, Cancer Survivor, Role Model
You’ve heard the saying “like shooting fish in a barrel.” When Hawaiian spearfisherman Justin Lee dove into Lake Powell for the National Spearfishing Championship held the last two days of April, fish in a barrel might’ve actually had a better chance ...
Joining The Spring and Summer Cobia Craze
Standing on the bow of a boat fishing for cobia through the hottest part of the day is no picnic. The sun is high and cooking you head-first through your hat. Clouds are thin and disappear too fast to offer any shade breaks. The breeze does nothing ...
Bull Trout: The Gravel Bar Brawler
If you were fishing on the Clearwater in Idaho, the Metolius in Oregon, or the Elk River in BC and left your sandwich on the shore while you walked off to take a leak, there’s a chance that a bull trout would take your lunch — probably your beer, ...
7 Ugly Fish and Why We Love Them
The perfect proportions and irresistible charisma of a trout will never be overshadowed by a catfish. Nor will a black drum ever outshine the prehistoric, chiseled-silver elegance of a tarpon. No, ugly fish are not heirs to the throne of “finest ...
Best of 2022: Killer New Fly Gear From IFTD
If you’re a serious fly angler, there is a shit-ton of must-have fly gear vying for your wallet for the 2022 season, from decals that will help your lost fly box and $250-worth of flies find their way home after a float trip out west to an absolute ...
New Can’t-Miss Fly Fishing Accessories
The American Fly Fishing Trade Association’s International Fly Tackle Dealer Show, or IFTD, has wrapped up after a three-day run for the first time since 2019. With the show came a host of new products unveiled to the fly fishing public. We covered ...
The Best New Fly Fishing Packs, Wading Boots, and Apparel
The American Fly Fishing Trade Association’s International Fly Tackle Dealer Show, or IFTD, is officially underway for the first time since 2019. With the show comes a host of new products being unveiled to the fly fishing public this week. We’ve got ...
New Fly Fishing Reels for 2022
The American Fly Fishing Trade Association’s International Fly Tackle Dealer Show, or IFTD, is officially underway for the first time since 2019. With the show comes a host of new products being unveiled to the fly-casting public this week. ...
New Fly Fishing Rods for 2022
The American Fly Fishing Trade Association’s International Fly Tackle Dealer Show, or IFTD, is officially underway for the first time since 2019. With the show comes a host of new products being unveiled to the fly-casting public this week. We’ve got ...
Striped Bass: The Phish of the Sea
Striped bass fishing is not an activity for those with addiction issues. The true striper faithful never fully recover from losing their minds during the season. The off-season is essentially one long hangover waiting for spring migration’s ...
7 Kick-Ass Fly Fishing Boots That’ll Get You There and Back
When it comes to fly fishing boots, most anglers’ first experiences with river footwear are wading around for summer bass in soggy sneakers or pulling on a pair of hip waders when the water temps run frigid in the early spring or late ...
Court Declares New Mexico River Access a Constitutional Right — Again
Anglers in the Land of Enchantment notched a big win in a stream access fight that saw private landowners attempt to bar the public from using waters that flow through their property. In a ruling on March 1, the state Supreme Court unanimously ...
Brown Trout: The American Badass Jekyll and Hyde of Gamefish
Brown trout in the US are two fish trapped in the same body, switching from one to the other, like Jekyll and Hyde, depending on their mood. One minute they’ll be gently sipping mayflies from the surface like they’re holding up their pinkies at ...
Rooster Fish: Get Tropical and Be Ready for a Fight
Out of the gate, I blew three shots. We rose and fell in and out of 8-foot troughs as the mate idled the boat parallel to the shore. We were about 200 yards outside the breaking surf off the coast of Todos Santos, Mexico. The captain had just cast a ...
Bonefish Junkies: Pharma Contamination Drugging S. Florida Fisheries
A recent study in South Florida discovered 58 pharmaceuticals in the blood and tissue of bonefish in Biscayne Bay and the Keys ranging from antidepressants and painkillers to blood pressure and prostate medications. OK, first of all, ...
Bill That Would Gut Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board Up for Public Comment
Next week, the Vermont Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy will hold a virtual public hearing on a trio of Senate bills that could reduce the size and power of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board, ban hunting coyotes with dogs, and ban ...
So You Want to Go Ice Fishing? Here’s What You Need to Get Started
To the uninitiated, ice fishing can seem like a masochistic endeavor: Drag a sled full of gear out onto a frozen windswept lake in frostbite temps, auger a hole through the ice, drop a line in the water, and sit on a bucket or in a small shelter and ...
Everglades Restoration Gets $1.1 Billion Boost, But Where’s it Flowing?
Marjory Stoneman Douglas’ beloved river of grass is getting a fresh bolus of support to aid in its recovery. Thanks to a nearly $1.1 billion allocation from Congress, the US Army Corps of Engineers will be able to expedite some projects in 2022 that ...
Homemade Ricotta and Cured Salmon: Easy to Make, Delicious Together
There are a million ways to preserve fresh salmon, but sometimes the best way is the simplest. All you really need is a little salt and sugar to transform your catch into orange gold. Many cultures have their distinct variations, like Scandinavian ...
Cold Weather Trout: 4 Tips and Tactics for Winter Trout on the Fly
Standing with a fly rod in a cold, free-flowing stream full of hungry trout without another angler in sight: that’s the beauty of cold-weather fishing. Fair-weather anglers are at home warming their toes by the fire. They believe winter trout fishing ...
Key West Bouy Burning Still Unsolved, Case of Rum Offered as Reward
The iconic Key West Southernmost Point buoy is a landmark that has attracted millions of tourists — some drunken, most sun-drenched — and generated a lot of cheesy photos since its official dedication in 1983. Two men participated in this ...
Reader’s Choice: The 10 Biggest Free Range American Stories of 2021
This was a good year for Free Range American. We grew by hundreds of percentage points in every conceivable metric and covered a wide range of topics (and controversies) other outdoor media sites were afraid to touch. We broke the news on an ...
How To Make a Perfect Bowl of Creamy Grits and Crispy Fish
Seafood and grits is a southern classic. Whether we’re talking shrimp or a fried or blackened fish filet, a bowl of cheesy, buttery grits is the perfect companion. Being an inland Yankee, freshwater fish such as panfish, bass, and trout are usually ...
Oklahoma Gov. Ends Native American Hunting, Fishing License Agreement
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is under fire for canceling agreements between the state and the Cherokee and Choctaw Nations over hunting and fishing licenses because “all Oklahomans should receive equal treatment under the law.” Tribal leaders in ...
Major Volunteer Effort Underway On The Upper Madison River
A malfunction at the Hebgen Dam on Montana’s Madison River crashed water levels this week and stranded thousands of fish. But thanks to a statewide volunteer effort, disaster may have been averted, though long-term effects on the fishery are still ...
Pennsylvania State Record Walleye was Almost a Filet-O-Fish
The new Pennsylvania state record for walleye almost went to hell in a bucket, literally. Richard "The Breeze" Nelson came home from a day of fishing with the giant fish in a 5-gallon bucket and was just getting ready to cut some big, fat fillets ...
Infrastructure Bill Includes Big Wins for Hunters and Anglers
President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) on Nov. 15, 2021, finally pushing the hotly contested bipartisan infrastructure bill over the finish line. But it’s not all about roads, bridges, and train lines. ...
Makah Tribe Could Resume 2,700-Year-Old Whale Hunting Tradition
Whale hunting is a tradition sacred to the Makah Tribe, an indigenous people who live on the Pacific Northwest Coast. But due to dwindling whale populations and a lengthy legal battle, the Makah have only had one whale hunt in nearly a ...
