Articles

Election rules to live by

Help cutting through the noise this election cycle

by Hatch Magazine - Friday, Nov 4th, 2022

The South Fork of the Snake River in Idaho (photo: BLM / cc2.0).

With the 2022 midterm elections mere days away, those of us who love to fish, or who otherwise enjoy the great outdoors, need to decide who to support with our votes. Sadly, it’s becoming harder and harder for many of us to differentiate good candidates — those who embrace our values — from poor candidates trying to camouflage their motives and intentions.

Fishing 'The Guad': America's southernmost trout fishery

If you want to fish for trout in the continental U.S., you can't do it any farther south than Texas' Guadalupe River

by Rob McConnell - Wednesday, Nov 2nd, 2022

Photo: Rob McConnell

It was a cold January evening. I stood in the garage, examining the tags on two sleeping bags. One sleeping bag was rated for zero-degree weather, the other for twenty-degrees. While I contemplated these options, my bare feet began to ache from the cold seeping into my toes. Hearing my phone ringing on the kitchen table, I gratefully scampered into the house, my feet tingling as they warmed.

An ode to the Texas creek freak and native spotted bass

Hidden in plain sight in East Texas is a blossoming creek fishing scene

by Chris Hunt - Tuesday, Nov 1st, 2022

Casting for spotted bass on "The Sam" (photo: Chris Hunt).

As a kid growing up in East Texas, I can count on one hand the times I actively fished the plentiful little creeks and seeps that flowed into the big and muddy Sabine River near my home. There were lots of reasons for this, not the least of which was that most of these little runs were secreted away on private lands, where property owners were quick to post them against trespassers or, just as often, to dam them up to create watering holes for Brahma or Angus cattle or private farm ponds stocked with bass and panfish.

We need to talk about The Little Black Book of Fly Fishing

Over a decade later, the iconic Little Red Book of Fly Fishing has a sequel

by Chad Shmukler - Friday, Oct 28th, 2022

The Little Black Book of Fly Fishing (photo: Chris Hunt).

It was the summer of 2006, and a battle was brewing in the mountains of western Wyoming. But it wasn’t your traditional battle, it was the beginning of a new brand of conservation, and two longtime journalists — strangers to one another — found themselves on the front lines.

If you're going to kill fish, do it fast

Stringers, live wells, and other methods of keeping fish alive aren't just inhumane, they make fish taste worse

by Ted Williams - Wednesday, Oct 26th, 2022

Wildlife professor Dr. Brian Hiller and his son Dash in the days before his epiphany about metal stringers (photo: Lainie Hiller).

“If you’re gonna kill fish, kill them fast. That’s the humane way. It’s a philosophical, common-sense approach, not based on any scientific assessment of pain.” — fisheries biologist Steve Gephard

At least twice a month I serve my family yellow-perch filets, first dredged in flour, then dipped in beaten eggs and rolled in equal portions of Italian bread crumbs and panko that’s sparsely mixed with grated parmesan cheese. I fry the filets in canola oil, squeeze on lemon juice, and add salt and pepper.