Our 12 year-old niece Isabel was born in Japan and lives a truly international lifestyle. That extends to her taste if food and cooking opportunities, but you might be surprised to learn that her “last meal” would be distinctly American.

Kentucky’s Kevin Baxter is a fishing industry lifer, but more importantly he’s a tackle junkie just like us. Here we talk about some of his favorite tackle shops and some of his most coveted discontinued bass lures.

Turnabout is fair play — and now Hanna gets to grade Pete’s fishing. Learn what is solid, what could be better, and which attributes are lost causes.

Christie Bradley competes and excels in the Bassmaster Opens, but she’s especially well-known for her success on the Potomac River. Read the Virginia pro’s thoughts on what makes the Potomac great and how to fish it.

Alabama’s Donald Howell is a serious angler, aviation enthusiast, and pillar of the business community. Here are his insights into how and why to fly private on your next fishing or hunting trip.

We get asked all the time whether an Alabama Rig works at Lake El Salto. Our friend Dave Mansell cracked the code and now he’ll share his strategies to make your next trip a success.

Get to know Casa Vieja Lodge’s excellent Captain Nicho Alvarenga of The Finest Kind (and occasionally other boats) — one of the top billfish producers in the fleet and in the world.

On the first day of his first trip to Anglers Inn at Lake El Salto in Mexico, Chris Sharas caught….a walleye through the ice. Think you can duplicate that achievement?

Big Dreams, Big Expectations, No Disappointments. That’s the El Salto promise. I’ve already detailed how two of our lady anglers notched new personal bests on our recent trip, but now it’s the guys’ turn. Jimmy Keller, Brian Saari and Adam Cherry, three Wisconsin tournament anglers, all crushed their previous PBs.

Fourth year Elite Series pro Derek Hudnall was at Anglers Inn Lake El Salto, just a week after Hanna and I were there. I was anxious to hear about his experience and to compare it to ours. He was gracious enough to spend some time on the phone with me as he drove toward the St. Johns River in Florida for the season-opener.

Two new female friends from Wisconsin caught their personal best largemouths on our recent trip to Anglers Inn Lake El Salto. Read how they did it — and why they’re coming back.

I must be getting mellower in my old age – either that or Hanna is increasingly good at picking out travel partners – because I really enjoyed the group we recently hosted at El Salto. Most of them hail from Wisconsin, which further solidifies our plan to spend at least part of the year up that way after we retire.

Besides lose weight and make sure I don’t get COVID, the same goals I have had for the last two years, I’ve added a few more to my list 2022. I think they’re obtainable, but not easy, so bear with me as I try to make them happen. Here are six that I’ll try to fulfill.

My 2021 was mostly good. We took calculated risks several times this year to explore our passion for travel. Half Past First Cast helped us enhance that effort, bringing likeminded people together virtually and to travel to places they might not have even known existed.

Year Two of the COVID-19 experience was fortunately not much different for me than Year One. While I didn’t fish nearly as much as I did in 2020, I made up for it in other ways – including a return trip to Guatemala and two rounds of popping for tuna in Panama. Most importantly, this site grew. Here are some of my 2021 highlights.

Your traveling companions can make or break the quality of an international fishing trip. We had a great group in Panama — they helped us establish a blueprint for mutual success and enjoyment.

Part of the fun of traveling to distant fishing destinations, especially ones that we’ve visited before, is living those experiences through others’ eyes. We were fortunate to be joined in Panama by Carl and Lisa Vicars. Carl saw a post that I made on Bass Boat Central, reached out, and booked two spots the next day. Making that even more impressive, it was their first time out of the country.

I’ve known my friend Cindy Goldstein for (gulp) a period of nearly 40 years, since junior high school. She’s the least “fishy” person you’d ever want to meet. She doesn’t even eat fish. Oddly enough, this blog has helped us grow even closer. I may someday even convince her to join us on a fishing trip.

Dan Smith, creator of “How to Catch Any Fish,” has been to an amazing number of domestic and international “bucket list” fishing destinations. He’s caught a huge range of hard-fighting sportfish and has documented them all on his website.

Every bass angler wants to catch a 10-pounder. You don’t expect it to happen, but in the back of your mind you’re always hopeful. That’s why we go to bodies of water where big ones live and choose our lures with giants in mind. If your name is Hanna Robbins you may come up a little short, pun intended. Seven times short.