Two years ago I shipped home 50 pounds of incredible halibut from Alaska, and on last year’s trip back we checked through two boxes of salmon as luggage coming home. We use it to stock our freezer, bribe our friends, and remind us of good times in faraway places. For my money, though, there’s no fish as good as sushi-grade tuna.

At this point in time, all of the pictures and fishy art may be what’s holding our house together. Between actual photographs, canvas prints, fiberglass fish reproductions and other knickknacks, our walls floweth over. Still, we keep having more great adventures that we want to memorialize.

While they’re not necessarily big in our home waters of the bass fishing world, as we’ve delved more and more into saltwater fishing we’ve seen an increasing number of anglers on the boat in boardshorts. The billfish “critter shorts” that you wear to dinner may be stylish, but you don’t want to get them covered in the blood of a gaffed yellowfin.

Mother’s Day is coming up this Sunday, May 9, 2021. You have no excuse to say that you didn’t know about it, junior, and while it’s the thought that counts, we find that thoughts are often improved by offering up a tangible gift. If your mother likes to fish, and especially if she travels to fish, there are lots of great options out there.

For most American anglers peacock bass are a logical stepping-off point into the Amazon. They’re certainly a worthy adversary, but the WWF estimates that there are 3,000+ species of fish in the Amazon region, so if peacocks are the only thing you catch you are not even scratching the surface of the region’s potential. As demonstrated by the “Fishes of Amazonia” poster by Ray Troll, there are all sorts of exotic creatures to catch.

In case you’re not a member of the country club set or a lacrosse bro, you might not be aware that “critter shorts” are an actual category of clothing. As the name suggests, they are shorts (often, but not exclusively khaki) with repeating sequences of animals or objects across them.

With 50 species of fish to be caught in the Gulf of Chiriqui, I still wasn’t certain I’d catch my bucket list species, but I put in my time targeting them inshore. We went inshore and targeted them. We cast, we trolled and we CAUGHT my rooster. In fact, I caught two of them.

We’ve gone twice to Casa Vieja Lodge to target sailfish (and perhaps marlin), but one nice aspect of the fishery is that there are various other species to catch, whether intentionally or unintentionally. If you’re fortunate to catch a mahi or tuna in the morning, you can eat it minutes later.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I love Etsy, the online marketplace for all sorts of crafts and collectibles. I’m also obsessed with arapaima (AKA, piraracu), the largest scaled freshwater fish in the world, and one that I intend to chase sooner rather than later with my friend Steve Yatomi. 

We’ve caught lit-up sailfish by the dozens in Guatemala, no-two-are-alike peacock bass in the jungles of Brazil, and gorgeous leaping rainbows in Alaska – yet some of our favorite catches were of fish that many people would consider “ugly.”

While we still wear our time-tested sun-protective shirts and shorts on the boat, when it comes to dinner we feel the need to up our game a little bit. It’s not required, but it makes us feel a little bit more respectable.

Yellowfin tuna are not only reportedly brutally strong, but they’re also one of the prettiest fish around, which makes them prime for tattoos. Here are some of the coolest ones I’ve found.

There are all sorts of ways to document the length of your catch, including shirts with rulers and regulations built into their design (which may or may not account for shrinkage). Don’t stop there — other options abound.

The stated purpose of our April 2021 trip to Panama is to catch big yellowfin tuna on topwaters, but I’m told that the beauty of the Gulf of Chiriqui is its multispecies bounty, including inshore beasts. Now that I’ve watched 8,342 videos about the place, I’m intrigued by Cubera Snapper, a gamefish that I previously was unaware even existed.

I’m a big fan of fishing t-shirts – I have over 50 of them – particularly if they somehow incorporate a pop culture reference. I’m also a big fan of food, so any time I can combine all of those interests into one comprehensive package it makes me pretty happy. Here are a few of the best ones I’ve seen.

Food is a social lubricant, a way of learning about cultures and showing that you respect them. It’s also thrilling to find a new ingredient, dish or cuisine that you like. Furthermore, if you’re the dude who will only eat hamburgers, at some point you’re going to inconvenience your travel mates.

I’d never heard of Jessie Jessup Apparel company of Florida until I came across their peacock bass t-shirt. If I haven’t already made it clear, I’m obsessed with peacocks and can’t wait to head back to the Amazon – ideally this December, if the damn virus gets out of the way.

I have fond memories of going to visit my grandparents, who late in life lived on the beach, just about a mile from Sheepshead Bay. “Party boats” which would take you out fishing for a flat fee lined the waterfront along Emmons Avenue, and as a kid I recall later envying the anglers assembled at the base of the Verrazano Bridge as we made our way into Manhattan.

My 30-pound payara was the fishing highlight of a very good year in 2019, and when my friend Leroy Boss got his replica before I got mine I was more than a little jealous. Two weeks later mine arrived from the great white north and it was truly worth the wait.

On our African safari in 2016 we were given an animal and bird checklist and because I’m competitive, it was critical for me to fill my book, to see each and every species. That led me to become really interested in shooting birds (with my camera).