If you've ever held a bass in your hands and wondered whether it was a largemouth or smallmouth, you're not alone. I've spent the better part of two decades chasing both species across lakes and rivers in the northern U.S. and the South, and the confusion is real, especially for newer anglers. The difference between […]

If you've ever watched fish go on a feeding frenzy right before a storm, then shut down completely the day after, you've witnessed how barometric pressure affects fish behavior in real time. I've spent the last decade chasing bass, walleye, and inshore species across everything from sea-level flats to high-elevation lakes, and pressure changes have […]

Choosing a fly rod weight does not have to feel like decoding a secret handshake. After 12 years of fly fishing across trout streams, bass ponds, and saltwater flats, I can tell you this: the right rod weight depends on three things, what you plan to fish for, where you will cast, and how big […]

When I first started fishing with a sonar unit, I picked whatever frequency was preset and wondered why my screen looked like abstract art instead of fish arches. After ten years of testing fish finders on everything from 8-foot inland lakes to 1,800-foot offshore drop-offs, I can tell you this: choosing the right fish finder […]

When I started ice fishing years ago, the question I heard most often on frozen lakes was simple: how thick should ice be for fishing? After spending dozens of winters chasing walleye, pike, and panfish through holes in the ice, I've learned that the answer can save your life. The short version: you need at […]

After spending the last two summers docking our pontoon at three different marinas on Lake Powell, I learned the hard way that tossing fenders overboard every time is a hassle — and watching them bounce off the rails is worse. Our team spent six weeks testing eight pontoon boat fender holders on square and round […]

Our team spent 90 days testing gravity filters and pump filters across three kayaking trips, two base camp weekends, and one solo backpacking loop on the South Downs. We logged 47 liters of filtered water, weighed every component on a kitchen scale, and timed flow rates with a stopwatch. The question we kept coming back […]

I learned the hard way how weather fronts affect fishing during my first tournament on Lake Okeechobee. We had a perfect bluebird morning, steady breeze, and matching hatches on the bank. Three hours later, the bite vanished as a cold front rolled through and the sky went flat calm. That day cost me a top-10 […]

I've been freezing my own catch for over a decade, and the question I get asked most often is simple: how long can you freeze fish before it goes bad? After hauling salmon, halibut, and steelhead from Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and the Great Lakes, I've learned that the answer depends on what you're freezing […]

If you only remember one number about walleye fishing, make it this: you will catch most of your fish somewhere between 5 and 30 feet of water. I have spent the last three seasons logging depth and catch data on four different lakes with my team, and the 5 to 30 foot range is where […]