Many anglers relish the arrival of spring, and crappie fishing is one of the reasons why. Black and white crappie are among the many species of fish that respond to the warming water temperatures of spring. In lakes all across the country, ...
Fish
Dead Drift: Fly Fishing Apparel You Want to Wear Off the Water
In fly fishing, a “dead drift” is the perfect float, where the fly drifts freely in the current. The current controls the fly, not the fisherman. The technique is central to the art of fly fishing. Dead Drift is also a kickass clothing brand that ...
Potential World-Record Lake Trout Caught in Colorado – First Look!
Scott Enloe caught what is likely the new all-tackle world-record lake trout in Colorado on May 5 — it’s almost certainly a state-record fish. The absurdly huge laker weighed in at 73.29 pounds and measured a stunning 47 inches long with a 37-inch ...
Watch Spearfishing Champ Justin Lee in ‘By Way of Black Sands’
Justin Lee knows precisely who he is: a spearfishing champion, bowhunter, conservationist, and dedicated family man. Studded with jaw-dropping images of Hawaii’s wild places and narrated by Lee himself, SITKA Films’ new feature By Way of Black Sands ...
Did the American Shad Save George Washington’s Colonial Army?
Shad often lose the freshwater spotlight to trout, salmon, and largemouth bass, but there is no fish more American than the humble shad. The American shad (and its hickory and gizzard shad cousins) have long played a vital role in American ...
New Yeti LoadOut GoBoxes: Rock-Solid Gear Haulers
Yeti, a company famous for turning coolers into status symbols, is expanding its GoBox lineup with two new heavy-duty storage containers to keep your gear as organized and protected as your food and drinks. The new LoadOut series of hard cases now ...
How to Make the Perfect Salmon Burger
When you hear the term salmon burger, you can’t help but think of some overpriced menu item at a pretentious restaurant or some flaccid, flavorless recipe out of a weight-loss magazine. Some of us can even still taste the metallic canned-salmon ...
How To Choose the Best Fish Cleaning Table
Beyond essentials like a filet knife and a scaling tool, a dedicated fish cleaning table should be in every angler's arsenal. Catching fish is a lot more fun than cleaning fish, and at the end of the day, when you grab your stringer or pull up to the ...
Angler Shoots Epic Vid of Breaching Whale Inches from Boat
A father and son were enjoying a successful day fishing for stripers off the Jersey Shore on Oct. 12 when they captured video of a serious lunker that almost took them under. Doug and Zach Piller of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, were fishing near Belmar, ...
Alleged Walleye Tourney Cheaters Charged With 3 Felonies Each
UPDATE Oct. 17, 2022: The two pro anglers who were publicly outed in a viral video for allegedly cheating in an Ohio walleye tournament late last month have officially been charged with a litany of crimes. On Oct. 11, law enforcement officers with ...
Meet Brandon Palaniuk: Hunter, New Dad, and Angler of the Year
Brandon Palaniuk, his wife Tiffany, and their 3-month-old daughter Kora were two hours from home in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, when we got him on the horn this week. They were on the road, traveling from Wisconsin, where Brandon had just wrapped up his ...
Behind on Utah Child Support? No Fishing or Hunting License
If you want to hunt or fish in Utah, you need to pay your child support. If hunters and anglers fall far enough behind in their payments, the state will revoke their hunting and fishing privileges. Period. The Utah law implementing this rule went ...
How Good Is The New Redington Trailblazer Travel Fishing Rod?
Since COVID hit and social distancing became the new norm for Americans coast-to-coast, the call to get outside has been an increasingly attractive alternative to suffering in separate personal bubbles. One outdoor activity that has seen ...
Insane Smoky Mountain Largemouth Bass Action
The second episode of "Fishing the American Dream" rolls into the Great Smoky Mountains, where Oliver Ngy and Austin Neary go big-show with big bait for big largemouth bass. Ngy has heard stories about trophy bass that haunt lakes in the Smokies ...
Hawaiian Cast ‘N’ Blast, Part 2: Hunting Hogs and Spearing Giant Trevally
The second chapter of our cast 'n’ blast adventure (check out Part 1 here) follows Free Range American editor Mike Shea through Hawaii as he does a little bacon harvesting followed by some epic spearfishing in some truly heavenly blue ...
Crushing Big Bass With Oliver Ngy, Brandon Palaniuk, and Roland Martin
Episode one of professional bass angler Oliver Ngy’s "Fishing the American Dream" makes a stop at the Harris Chain of Lakes in central Florida. The Black Rifle Coffee–sponsored pro is in town for his first Bassmaster Open tour stop, but first, he ...
Freedive Safe Hawaii: Saving Kids and Changing Lives
In Hawaii and many other ocean-centered cultures, freediving is a way of life. Learning to become one with the water and rely on it for sustenance — both physical and spiritual — is very much a rite of passage. But it’s also dangerous to the ...
Open Pit Mining May Be Banned in Bristol Bay — Permanently
For most Americans, Alaska exists somewhere between high school geography lessons and Nat Geo documentaries. The scale of its breadth and pristine wildness and why it's called The Last Frontier is beyond the understanding of those born and raised in ...
Cutts, Cutties, and Cutthroats: America’s Frontier Trout
There is a magic hour on the South Fork of the Snake River — maybe only a magic half-hour actually — when cutthroat trout seem to spontaneously appear in the long sweeping riffles that spill into the river’s deep emerald green troughs. The ...
Fatherhood, Sammy Hagar, and Salmon Fishing in Alaska
My son, Cam, had a pretty short list of what he wanted out of our trip to Alaska. “I just want to see one bear,” he said. “If nothing else happens and I see a bear, I’ll be happy.” Running a jet boat back down the Naknek River toward camp ...
Don’t Screw Up Father’s Day: Get Dad Cool Stuff He’ll Actually Use
Shopping for Father’s Day is hard. It’s tempting to just get dad a gimmicky barbecue tool that will be used once before getting hung in the garage for the next decade. Or maybe a new pair of Crocs. But, this year, you don’t have to be that lame. ...
Mahi-Mahi: So Strong They Say It Twice
In Hawaiian, mahi-mahi means “very strong” — but through a linguistic process called reduplication, the Hawaiian people say the word twice to signify greater intensity. In other words, these fish will beat you up. Mahi-mahi, aka ...
‘Revision of a Man’: Army Vet Tackles Modern Manliness With Poetry
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 ...
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 ...
