A Hoot to Shoot: High-Power Air Guns

A Hoot to Shoot: High-Power Air Guns

Everyone was impressed with the power of 3,000 psi of compressed air blasting a big bullet down the bore. I had the opportunity to join outdoor writers Luke Clayton, Joe Arterburn and Doug Howlett for some east Texas hog hunting. The gathering was sponsored by Pyramyd...
The Easy Art of Cricket Flickin’

The Easy Art of Cricket Flickin’

He slowly pulled the hook, line and cricket toward his cheek, the pole’s tip bending back, and released the missile. Donald was my father-in-law way back in the ’90s. Or you could say it was the “past century.” He didn’t live to see the new hip millennial century....
Celebrity Fishermen and Women

Celebrity Fishermen and Women

The chances of running into Jimmy Buffett at the dock or President George W. Bush at the fly shop are pretty slim, but there are a lot of celebs who enjoy wetting a line like the rest of us. Here are a few notables who could be working the same waters as you one of...
Snake Tales: Too-Close-for-Comfort Snake Encounters

Snake Tales: Too-Close-for-Comfort Snake Encounters

As I reached up with the rope, I found myself eye-to-eye with a very large cottonmouth moccasin. Like, really large. You probably won’t find this a shocking news flash, but most folks don’t like snakes. Even at the sight of one, most will flee for shelter, or grab the...
Pondering Ponds

Pondering Ponds

Sit quietly and a pond will bear its soul to you – sharing its myriad sights, smells and sounds – a sort of sensory overload on the gentle cycle. There are several theories as to what differentiates a lake from a pond. Some say a lake is large enough to...
South Carolina Stripers

South Carolina Stripers

The success of striped bass in our freshwater reservoirs represents one of the great modern-day stories of nature’s ability to adapt. We got skunked that day, yet it remains one of my most vivid fishing memories. It was a warm spring morning in 1963. My dad had...
Salmon Or Striper?

Salmon Or Striper?

Fishermen on Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula can not only roll the dice on landing an Atlantic salmon, but go after a high-odds striper as well. If you’ve ever cast a sinking line into a deep crystalline stream hoping to entice a 20-pound Atlantic salmon to snap...
Origin Of Catch-And-Release

Origin Of Catch-And-Release

While attending an outdoor writers conference in Johnson City, Tennessee, I spotted a tall, distinguished gentleman in the crowd whom I immediately recognized from TV and print. I introduced myself and within 30 seconds of our handshake, I felt as if this fishing icon...
Aloha Means Fishing

Aloha Means Fishing

In Maui, it’s not how many fish you catch, it’s how much tarragon is in the béarnaise sauce. With its gorgeous beaches, lush mountain slopes, slumbering volcanoes, swaying palm trees, gyrating hula dancers, and colorful cocktails with little umbrellas, Hawaii lives up...
Baltimore’s Burning But Big Rockfish

Baltimore’s Burning But Big Rockfish

It was May 1, 2015, a Friday, and Baltimore seemed like the last place anyone would go for a peaceful getaway. But my wife, Kathy, and I had planned to visit her son Jay in Charm City that very weekend. We were determined to make it happen. Network news broadcasts...