In a letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway wrote, “To me a heaven would be a big bull ring with me holding two barrera seats and a trout stream outside that no one else was allowed to fish in.” I like to think this version of heaven does ...
Fish
Fly-Fishing-Only Tournament Raises Big Money for Striped Bass
Cape Cod normally isn’t such a tightwad with its striped bass in late May. But on this particular Saturday, the only fish it seemed to give up were sub-20 inches. Or shad. This particular Saturday happened to be the Cheeky Schoolie ...
One Long Swim: Louisiana Gator Appears on Padre Island
A young alligator from Louisiana made an unexpected appearance on a Padre Island beach in South Texas this week. The gator was about three months late for Spring Break, but you can’t blame him for trying. According to Padre Island National ...
5 States That Totally Blew It With Their State Fish
When it comes to the flora, fauna, landmarks, and historical items that states designate as official symbols of their heritage or identity, some make sense and some are head-scratchers. We’ve talked about multiple states claiming the same state fish ...
Montana Biologists Stumped Over Brown Trout Decline
Brown trout numbers are dropping across southwest Montana — and biologists don’t know why. Angling pressure, warming water, and the ongoing drought could all be reasons behind that widespread decrease across many of the region’s rivers, but right ...
Huge Bluefin Tuna Caught Off New Jersey Coast
It’s been a big month for bluefin tuna off the coast of New Jersey. Internal Fixation Sportfishing boated a 99-inch giant on May 3 after a five-and-a-half-hour fight. Not to be outdone, Capts. Gerard Faccone and Robbie Radlof stuck a 104-inch torpedo ...
West Virginia Angler Lands New Muskie State Record
All it took was 15 minutes and some major luck for Chase Gibson to land a new West Virginia muskie record. The fishing guide caught the new state-record muskellunge, which weighed 39.6 pounds and measured 54 inches long, on Burnsville Lake on April ...
Fish of the Union: The Top 6 Species Claimed as State Fish
Every state lays claim to some unique animal, flower, tree, historic reference, or geological feature as uniquely their own: Idaho gems and potatoes, California gold, Florida sunshine, Georgia peaches, Michigan wolverines. While most states ...
Century-Old Sturgeon Caught in Detroit River
A 6-foot, 10-inch, 240-pound sturgeon was recently pulled from the Detroit River and recorded by biologists as one of the largest in the nation. The big female was estimated to be at least 100 years old. For context, when this fish was born, ...
Reel Warriors Reconnects Veterans Through Offshore Fishing
The pain and isolation that many veterans carry home from deployments can occupy some of the deepest parts of their being. When it comes to hope and healing, those depths can seem simply unreachable. Through offshore fishing trips, Reel ...
Off Script: Free Range Q&A With Paul Bourcq, Fly-Fishing Ambassador
The fly-fishing industry is most definitely not just for old white guys anymore. The sport is worldwide and getting younger, and it has never been more accessible or diverse as it is now. Even with the ongoing shit-show that is influencer culture, ...
What You Need to Know About Fishing Kayaks
Kayaks make an ordinary angler a fishing ninja. They’re stealthy. They can get into target-rich skinny water that a larger boat can’t reach and would be impossible to wade, and they hold all the gear you’ll need for a day on the water or a multiday ...
10 Fishing Podcasts Every Angler Should Check Out
You can’t swing a dead possum without hitting an “outdoors” podcast these days. All you need is a microphone, a laptop, a subscription to a podcast hosting service, and a half-assed idea of what you want to talk about. Okay, maybe even half of ...
Boat Building: Pat Smith’s Handcrafted Cedar-Canvas Canoes
Pat Smith’s boat shop is not a place for those with OCD. One step inside and you get the smell of Captain Black pipe tobacco, cedar sawdust, epoxy, and varnish. "A Whiter Shade of Pale" drifts from the transistor radio in the back of the ...
In Praise of Shad
Shad and shad fishing became real for me on a backwater hole in eastern North Carolina when my first buck hickory danced across the water on his tail like a miniaturized, silver-scaled tarpon. I was hooked more surely than that spawning fish ...
The Hunter Recruitment Project Introduces Veterans to Fly Fishing
Conversation the night before covered the usual bases. Everyone knew the shit that everyone else had seen and no one really wanted to rehash most of it anyhow. Everyone spoke the language, the shorthand of combat experience, and that acknowledgment ...
Zebra Mussels: The $1.5 Billion Invasion
The pike is as visible 20 feet away and 10 feet down as it would be in a fish tank in some doctor’s waiting room. Suspended in gin-clear water in the shadow of a forest of milfoil, he spooks before a single cast can be made. It’s the curse of the ...
Minnesota: There’s a New Trophy Game Fish in Town
Pike just aren’t cutting it anymore. Minnesota wants its monster sunfish back. In light of angler reports of declining sunfish size in the land of 10,000 lakes, the state’s Department of Natural Resources has announced new regulations that aim to ...
WATCH: Fisherman Lands 12-Foot Great White Shark on Pensacola Beach
Ah, yes. With the COVID-19 pandemic winding down at last, and with summer just over the horizon, many Americans are probably jonesing for that idyllic beach holiday that's seemed out of reach for so very long. Well, just when you thought it was ...
Starter Kit: Learning To Fly Fish — Flies
There are as many fly-fishing patterns as there are bugs and baitfish in nature. Understanding fly patterns and then selecting the right flies to put in your box is actually pretty simple though, which means you won’t have to rely on luck alone to ...
The Spider-Web: An Odd Fly-Fishing Rod Used Beyond WWI’s Trenches
Pvt. John Henry Hirst was determined to land a trout on the fly. It was nearing the summer of 1915, and the Germans had just launched a surprise offensive along the Western Front. While other British soldiers braced for impact from a German artillery ...
Starter Kit: Learning To Fly Fish — Casting
Learning a basic fly cast is probably the coolest part of the process aside from actually catching a fish. Fly casts are inherently beautiful, for sure. But when you drop a fly on the water above a fish and it happily grabs that fly and puts a great ...
Proposed Legislation That Impacts the Outdoors and Outdoor Sports
Legislation that directly affects our legacy outdoor pastimes like hunting, fishing, and shooting is in a constant state of flux. In an effort to keep you informed, we’re pulling together a monthly roundup of national and state-level policy-making ...
Starter Kit: Learning To Fly Fish — Gear Up
Fly fishing can seem overwhelming at first. Truth is, it’s not. Learning how to fly fish is actually easy and fun as hell. And it won’t immediately empty your wallet. With the right gear and some fundamentals, you’ll be ready to pester farm-pond ...
Winter Storm Uri Devastates Texas Exotic Wildlife and Fish Numbers
Winter storm Uri has dealt a devastating blow to coastal fisheries and exotic game species in Texas, and with only preliminary reports and anecdotal data currently available, officials say it will take months to fully understand the scale of this ...
Firefighter and Avid Fisherman Wins the BRCC Ultimate Outdoor Giveaway
Brandon Crimmons, a firefighter from White House, Tennessee, has won the fishing package of a lifetime — Black Rifle Coffee Company’s Ultimate Outdoor Giveaway. Crimmons landed more than $110,000 worth of prizes, including a brand-new Toyota Tacoma ...
Take Down Those Dams: New Legislation Could Save Snake River Salmon
Rep. Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican congressman, has just put the Northwest energy and agriculture sector on notice: Salmon and steelhead will join them at the table, and not as the entrée. In a video statement posted over the weekend, Simpson ...
Doing What You Love: How Dallas Hemeyer Turned His Passion Into a Career
Most hunters reluctantly leave the woods to go to a job they may not particularly enjoy, but Dallas Hemeyer found a way to turn his passion for hunting into a lucrative career. During a recent chat with Evan Hafer on the Free Range American ...
Sex Dungeon? The Best Named Fly-Fishing Flies of All Time
Fly-fishing used to be a particularly stodgy affair. That was true also regarding the names of flies; they were either named after their inventor or given an unimaginative moniker based on what they imitated. Fortunately, that has all changed as new ...
5 Reasons Why Hunting, Fishing, and Shooting Will Be Awesome in 2021
By pretty much every metric, 2020 was a dumpster fire. A global pandemic and civil unrest the likes of which haven’t been seen in a lifetime rocked the globe. Normal has gone out the window, and who knows when it will be back. But not everything is ...
