I’ve purchased six new items that I think will make me happier and more efficient on our upcoming trip to Alaska — everything from a collapsible water bottle to a “dog leash” to hold my phone.

The Sweet Beaver defined a genre of creature baits, one that has become incredibly popular in a short period. The sizes around the 4” range tend to be most popular, although 3” versions get the call quite often, too. But what if you’re fishing for larger fish eating especially large prey? You might need a bigger version.

The flood of scat-style baits started in the US by the introduction of the Deps Cover Scat continues at a fast pace. Clearly there’s demand and now there’s no excuse if you can’t find an option that works on your local fisheries. Check out a few more that were introduced at ICAST 2023.

If you go bass fishing in Mexico and you’re not fully prepared to throw big crankbaits, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage. Here are a dozen articles that will help you dial in your gear and your approach when the bass are eating a big plug.

Before I leave El Salto, I take an inventory of which lures I need to replenish. I check key categories to make sure that they’re well-stocked in the right colors. Our 2023 trip was heavy on cranking. Tackle Warehouse had a sale a few weeks out after we returned. Here’s my unboxing.

The Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver changed the nature of the flipping game. It spawned the category of “beaver baits” and became the preferred choice for most mat flippers. You can get by with standards like Watermelon Red, Black Red Flake, Black Blue Flake and Green Pumpkin – but the pros also have some lesser-known favorites.

Ribbed swimbaits like the Keitech Fat Swing Impact catch fish everywhere and can be used in a wide variety of depths, water colors and types of cover. We've used them to swim through ankle-deep grass on the Potomac, and across deep rocky structure on El Salto. They make excellent trailers, too, and excel on an Alabama Rig.

I received Fishing Tackle Retailer’s ICAST issue last week and the ads and articles inside led me to ponder the trends and winners that we’re likely to observe. Based on what I saw, here are my pre-ICAST thoughts on gear for anglers in general and traveling anglers in particular.

The Megabass Vision 110 was the first lure I purchased that cost over $20, and it was worth every penny. That GP Pro Blue model lasted a long time, through multiple treble hook changes, before I eventually cast it into a rock and broke off the bill. Like many JDM lures, they come in a wide array of premium paint jobs. Here are 5 of my confidence colors.

You may be intrigued by the draw of swimbaits but your budget or your stomach might not be able to handle a triple-digit price tag. If you’re not ready to invest $200+ for a Pizz or $400+ for a Hinkle, you may still want to try something rarer and slightly more expensive than the mass production options available at your local tackle stores.

Walk-the-dog topwaters are a staple on a wide variety of fishing trips across the globe and standard colors are a good bet. Nevertheless, we’re always on the lookout for unique paint jobs that “match the hatch.” Check out these five on Rapala’s new Precision Xtreme Pencil Exo. It reads like a bucket list of exotic species.

One of the most-read, and most remarked-upon articles we’ve written was about JDM lures like the Deps Cover Scat and Valley Hill Heavy Poop. These stubby stick baits have become popular stateside. Yamamoto’s Yamatanuki has been flying off shelves. If you want something a little bit rarer, though, you might try one of these four.

Whether it’s a broken rod guide or ripped soft plastics, both minor and major emergencies can derail a fishing trip — unless you take the simple step of throwing glues into your boat or travel bag, in which case they can be easily fixed.

If you need your crankbaits, jerkbaits or swimbaits to cast further or dive deeper, here are some ready-made and inexpensive ways to reliably make that happen — without ruining or permanently altering your lures.

The best part about going to Anglers Inn’s lodges on Lake Picachos or Lake El Salto is that the conditions constantly change. – it’s a different lake every time we go. I get excited to bring downnew products that we know won’t get bit at home. If we get bites, not only have we learned something new, but we’ve added to our bag of tricks

Discover the best ultra-premium spinning reels for bass anglers who demand top-tier performance and aren’t afraid to invest in the finest gear. From silky-smooth drags to unmatched precision engineering, these high-end reels deliver the edge serious fishermen crave when every cast counts. Luxury meets bass fishing performance.

Here are some of the fastest baitcasting reel options available – while just about every manufacturer has breached the 8:1 barrier, we’re limiting this inquiry to reels that are 9:1 and faster: In other words, at least nine revolutions of the spool every time you turn the handle.

Our friend Hideki Maeda is perhaps best known for his love of frogging, but he’s also responsible for several of the best hard topwaters ever made, most recently the Teckel Kicknocker. Now you can buy the Kicknocker 10 Year Anniversary Series in a handful of limited colors.

French Fry baits and Centipede Lures may be a little bit out of style, or possible forgotten, but they still catch numbers of bass (and big bass) on both Carolina Rigs and other rigging options. Here are six different baits from this stubby genre.

Fishing on our May/June 2023 trip to El Salto was very good, with solid numbers and a higher percentage of 5-pound and larger fish than just about any prior visit. That doesn’t mean the fishing was wide open, though. I’d say that of the hundreds of bass our group caught, 40% were on crankbaits, 40% were on some form of soft plastics, and 20% came on something else.