Running our own website and business has been a learning experience and we’ve stumbled along the way. In the interest of transparency, here are some mistakes that I made in 2023. I’m sure there will be more mistakes every year hereafter – ideally they won’t be the same ones.

Minnesota outdoorsman escaped the cold and went to Casa Vieja Lodge for single anglers week. He scratched the sailfish itch, enjoyed the hospitality and made a bunch of new friends. You can do the same.

I’ve increasingly learned to really appreciate our great and diverse group of traveling angler friends. Accordingly, as I look back on my days on the water during 2023, I’m fortunate that I have a lot of great memories on the water with friends to remember. Here are four friends’ catches that stand out.

We are fortunate that the Half Past First Cast family includes lots of women — of all experience levels — who love to travel and fish. Here are a few of the ones who’ve gone on the most trips with us.

The next generation of great sailfish captains and mates at Casa Vieja Lodge — rocking a Half Past First Cast onesie. We cannot wait to meet her.

Twenty year old bass pro and educator Wyatt Wimberley of Texas is working with The Bass Tank to bring detailed electronics education to interested anglers across the country.

Hector Garate draws from multiple influences to smoke meat to perfection, including some cuts that others won’t try. Check out his pop-ups or his upcoming restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina. It’s more than worth the trip.

Craig Lamb has been in the trenches of the bass fishing world for over four decades in a variety of capacities, and has been a consistent witness to fishing history.

Travis Burns is an incredible outdoorsman — he guides on Choke Canyon, leads hunters to some of the biggest whitetails you’ve ever seen, and with his partner Kenny Witek recently won the Brandon Belt Team Championship.

Deion Sanders, AKA Coach Prime, believes that he could have been a three-sport superstar — with bass fishing as the third platform for excellence. Here’s some of his fishing history.

How do we know that we’re doing a good job of leading you to your best fishing life? We’re aware that we’re biased, so we consulted an independent panel of experts to find out their favorite fishing travel website. Here are the unfiltered results.

Reuben Hastings has been guiding at Bear Trail Lodge in Bristol Bay for 13 years — and we’ve been lucky enough to fish with him on the Naknek as well as on several flyouts. He’s an amazing person and enthusiastic angler.

We traveled across the continent to Bear Trail Lodge and ended up fishing with a guide who hails from 90 miles away from our house. Cooper Neblett made our return to Bristol Bay exceptional. He has a great future in the fishing industry.

After over 20 trips to Lake El Salto and Lake Picachos, Hanna and I have a solid routine in the boat. We understand each other’s tendencies and while we’d rather catch the big ones ourselves, we still celebrate when the other succeeds. We’ve recognized that in the long run working together produces far better results for everyone than competing with the other person.

JP DeRose is a tournament angler, educator, and well--known TV hos. He was born raised in Ontario , and still lives there, but it’s hard to contain one of or favorite multi-species anglers. Check out the conversation he and Pete shared at this year’s Bassmaster Classic.

While I’ve fished in many places with the US as well as internationally, I’ve never fished on the west coast. It’s on my bucket list, and when I finally make it there I want to fish with my friend Kent Brown. Pete and I made sure to see our friend at the 2023 Bassmaster Classic to catch up and ask him about what’s happening on the waters of California.

Check out the video of our good friend Paul Fisler catching his PB from the back of MY boat. How does it feel to catch a ten pounder?Let’s hear it from the horse’s mouth. Here’s Paul’s story, in his own words.

I’ve been on the shores of numerous great fisheries where I’ve somehow failed to make a cast. Some I’ll be able to visit in the future, but two in particular stand out as missed opportunities.

We met Marc Shoenfelt in 2010 at Lake Mateos. We kept in touch, but we never got together again until our most recent trip to Lake El Salto. That’s when Marc traveled on his first, but not his last, HPFC traveling adventure. After 13 years of waiting, Marc finally got the opportunity to fish with “the infamous pescado writer Pete Robbins.”

After fishing with Daniel Jones and learning what a Phoney Frog glidebait could do, I knew that I had to have one. I knew that owner Jason St. Mary would be at the Classic Expo in Knoxville, so I hunted him down, credit card in hand. Even better. I got him to spill the beans on how he makes sure each one is perfectly tuned.