Last week, we showcased the most popular Hatch Magazine stories of 2019. As is the norm, those top 10 stories of the past year was a mixed bag that included not only stories that were the favorites of our readers, but of our editors and contributors, as well. But, in addition to each year's reader favorites, there are always a pile of stories that the folks that help bring you Hatch Magazine want to highlight.

This collection is similarly varied—travel stories, fishing and hunting tales, conservation coverage, political coverage and more. Here are this year's selections.

Photography

• In the highlands — In search of prehistoric trout and char in Iceland's wild interior.
• Abaco after the storm — On September 1, Hurricane Dorian made landfall on the Bahamian island of Abaco, wreaking untold devastation. Photographer Dan Zazworsky was on the ground to capture the immediate aftermath and tell the story of what a once idyllic island looked like after the storm.
• At the edge of the world — Chasing giants in Tierra del Fuego, the windswept archipelago at the tip of South America, which might rightly be called the edge of the world.

General

• Obliteration — Are all memories just ghosts?
• A nearby faraway — Standing outside the woods, peering into it, became ritual.
• An eye for flies — Thoughts on the art of fly tying.
• A hex emergency — Michigan's Hexagenia hatches are famous. Nights like this are why.
• The Crow Rock years — Nowhere did we have more fun, or enjoy better smallmouth fishing, than we did at Crow Rock.
• The nature of things — Why do some people never seem to catch a break?
• Casper — We all have our anchors; those things that hold us in place when the storms come.
• A note from a friend — We can choose to see the world around us.
• I shot Muldowney — And you would have too.
• The very cruelest thing — Sometimes you can get so mad about something it festers and becomes part of your brain.
• The Racine — It was as unimprovable an object as human hands have ever fashioned.
• Guns and responsibility — Have we lost respect for the power that guns possess?

Gear

• Fishing PFDs: Life savers — Gear pieces don't usually make the editors' picks for best of the year, but this one is an exception, especially after recently learning of another angler friend lost to the river. In this two-part series, Todd Tanner details and reviews options for fishing PFDs (personal floatation devices) for both wading and boat excursions. Stay safe out there.

Conservation

• Invasive lake trout have rewired Yellowstone's food web — Bears, wolves, elk, birds, and more have left the park or altered their behavior thanks to lake trout-induced changes.
• Fire season rages ... in May — Wildfire seasons are starting earlier and lasting longer.
• Could a sex change operation be the key to restoring native trout species? — Scientists are attempting a novel approach to eradicating non-native brook trout in the West.
• Trump administration's flagrant attacks on public lands, clean air and clean water continue — New actions at BLM and EPA are just the latest in a 3-year long assault.
• It's time to stop starving Florida Bay — A lack of fresh water is smothering one of the world's most diverse and iconic fisheries.
• Yellowstone lake trout are on the retreat — Millions of dollars and years of eradication efforts are starting to pay off.
• Chemophobia in America — A two-part series from conservation writer Ted Williams, exploring how phobias surrounding chemical controls are thwarting species restoration efforts.
• Trump administration effort to strip forest protections aims to boost profits, not jobs — Groups are urging individuals to speak up for the Tongass National Forest.
• Sargassum and the sea: Way too much of a good thing — Beach, shore and bay-choking sargassum may be the new normal throughout much of the Caribbean.