With the end of our 30+ year careers possibly approaching, Hanna and I have begun planning the next chapter of our life. We call it “retirement,” although we’ll continue to work in the fishing industry. We haven’t spent a ton of time in Panama, but we’ve liked what we’ve seen.

Our seventh replica took a while to get here, but it was worth the wait. The fiberglass smallmouth bass from Advanced Taxidermy looks like it could flick its tail and swim away — and reminds me daily of that incredibly special catch.

As I’ve written many times before, the late development of my writing career has paid countless dividends and I feel like it’s just getting started. I’ve had some great mentors, and most of the learning experiences have been relatively painful. I don’t know precisely what the future of fishing media holds, but I can tell you that there’s still tons of opportunity for savvy, hard workers.

Is the Arctic Grayling the Rodney Dangerfield of Alaskan sportfish? They’re beautiful, they fight hard, they’re prolific and it seems they get absolutely no respect. That’s reflected in the amount of swag with grayling represented prominently. Grayling gear is limited – here are a few pieces I could find.

We’ve offered plenty of fishing storage solutions over the years, buy sometimes your pants are the best option around. That’s why I am constantly on the lookout for a good pair of fishing shorts. They must have pockets. My pockets act as my purse while out fishing or hiking.

Much of our water here in the Mid-Atlantic is tidal, and I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to tempt bass on rivers like the Potomac, James and Chickahominy. I’ve taken that experience across the country to the Cal Delta, as well as into the salt.

I’ve fished for peacock bass three times in Brazil and once in Florida and have probably spent far more time reading about them and talking about them than I have in the jungle. They were our first exotic species in an exotic location and really jumpstarted our love of fishing travel. Check out what we’ve published about this amazing group of cichlids.

Hanna and I have far more fishing clothing than we really need. We tend to revert to certain favorites over and over and over again, until they wear out or get replaced by something better. Much of it is from companies like AFTCO and Simms and Huk that make gear specifically for anglers. However, we don’t just limit our ourselves to items made expressly for the water.

If it’s not obvious by now, my goal is to fish as much as I can, travel as much as I can, and celebrate my most memorable catches with true-to-life fiberglass replicas. I’ve written about my love for taxidermy quite a bit. In case you missed them, here are 13 Half Past First Cast articles I’ve written that in some form deal with fish replicas.

While many of the Shark Tank products aimed specifically at anglers don’t meet my needs, there are others that might actually have a use on the boat. Here are some favorites.

Despite a lack of formal training, I’ve made a career out of writing about fishing – and to the extent that I’ve been able to avoid major gaffes, it’s been because there has been a lot of mentoring from other writers along the way. Here are four that I’ve received that I carry with me every day.

In order to stay hydrated during a long day on the water, you need to drink a lot of water. If you drink a lot, at some point you’re going to need to get rid of it. If you drink and don’t have to pee, you’re likely in danger of dehydration. But emptying your bladder off of a boat may present certain concerns or issues. Here are some thoughts on the matter.

When offshore boats come back into the marina flying flags, there’s a significance to their display — to communicate what they’ve caught, and also to brag a little bit. If you caught, for instance, a blue marlin and a sailfish, you could fly those flags in succession. If they’re upside down, that means the fish was released. Sometimes there’s also a “T” to signify that the fish was tagged.

There are plenty of widely-available products that’ll help you keep your bass boat clean and intact. Many of them are likely already in your house. If not, they’re all easy to get at Home Depot or Lowe’s or Wal-Mart or even the Dollar Store.

If your interview subjects don’t give you meaningful material to work with, you can’t build a solid finished product. With that in mind, here are some of the lessons that I remind myself of before every effort, despite (or perhaps because) I have no formal journalism training.

Some of you down south have been wearing shorts for months. In fact you may never put them away. But for the rest of the country, with the passage of Memorial Day it’s finally time to rely upon them for our day-to-day fishing comfort. We’ve catalogued a bunch of our favorites.

We’ve ogled the 5th Wheels and asked all of our camping friends about their rigs. I think that’s the route that we’ll eventually take, with one of us pulling that and the other pulling the boat. At the same time, I’ve strongly suggested that we spend the first year in a truck camper so that we can travel in a single vehicle.

Father’s Day 2023 is fast approaching, and if your dad values time on the water it’s an especially great time to show him how much you care. Remember, time together always comes first, but a nice gift to make the experience fishier, more comfortable or otherwise more memorable never hurts.

I already showed you how we “shot docks” for crappie on my recent trip to Table Rock to fish with Chad Morgenthaler. After teaching us how to locate and catch them, the next step was to learn how to get them ready for the pan. As you can see in this video, he made it look easy.

For many visitors, the trophy rainbow trout of the Bristol Bay watershed are the draw. Indeed, Bear Trail Lodge has a wall dedicated to those who conquer 30-inch ‘bows while staying there. If you want to fully show off your fondness for rainbow trout, there’s a lid that’ll help you represent.