I’m going to try, over the next few months, to figure out whether the juice is worth the squeeze on three-, four- and five-piece rods. I’m going to fish around home with nine of them that I’ve acquired and try to give you an honest report on their performance. Maybe I’ll be disappointed, but I might be satisfied enough to integrate them into some of my regular rotation.

RepYourWater has established themselves as a clothing company that not only produces species-specific and region-specific gear, but one that also gives back to efforts they support. So whether you want to display your affection for Montana Westslope cutthroat on a hat or show that you’re a Missouri Smallmouth guru, you can do it. You can also contribute to efforts to Stop Asian Carp or provide relief to storm-damaged Bahamas businesses.

There are plenty of creatively-named lures out there, as well as some pretty damn hilarious color patterns (think “Vomit” or “Munky Butt” or “Day Old Guac” or just about anything from Andre Moore’s Reaction Innovations). But there are also a few lures out there named after famous people.

I’ve yet to go popping for big yellowfin tuna or GTs. The former is scheduled for Panama next April and the latter has yet to be put on the calendar – but it’s definitely going to happen. In the meantime, I have to content myself with days at the keyboard, watching YouTube videos and surfing for new gear.

Are peacock bass cannibalistic? I don’t know, but even if they’re not certainly there are other species in Amazonian waters (as well as those elsewhere, like South Florida) that eat young peas. Indeed, they’ve served as the inspiration for some killer paint jobs that are more exciting than standard old blue/chartreuse and Tennessee Shad.

If you travel to fish, you may learn ahead of time about certain baits that outproduce others on particular waters, or certain colors that are better than the rest. Sometimes that’s a crock, but other times it can mean the difference between incredible success and abject failure.

For those of you not particularly obsessed with mail-order swimbaits and JDM lures, you might not yet be aware of Carolina Fishing Tackle in Mooresville, NC, close to Lake Norman. Owner Doyle Myrick has not only assembled an incredible selection of hard-to-find gear at reasonable prices, but he also seems to get a lot of the good stuff first. I’ve yet to visit his store, but I inspected his selection at the last Greenville Bassmaster Classic, and I fully intend to make a detour the next time I’m headed down I-77 or I-85.

Despite having spent a lot of time on boats over the years, I’ve only been seasick once, and it was a feeling I hope never to experience again. At the same time, there are plenty of big water species I want to chase, and I know that at some point I’ll be in position to get ill again.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, snakeheads are in many of our waters to stay, and if we’re not careful they’ll continue to spread. During this time of COVID-19 shutdowns and extreme cautiousness, they can provide a taste of exotic species at a time when most of us are unable or unwilling to go to where. I was reminded of this when I hooked my first snakehead of the year on Friday May 8th while chasing bass. The bite should only get better as the weather warms up.

If you’re flying to an exotic fishing trip, I strongly recommend that you do whatever you can to bring your reels in the airplane cabin with you. Many lodges, guides and outfitters provide rods, so If you lose your sticks, you can probably borrow some. If your lures get misplaced, you should be able to buy or grab a few from a sympathetic friend. I can tell you from experience, however, that borrowing reels is often a nightmare.

You know that warm feeling you get when you get in your car and the sun has been beating down on the dash? To me, that is absolute heaven. I love it. I hate being cold.

It’s no secret that many small businesses – especially those in the fishing and travel industries – are hurting now. If you’re like me, you want to see the ones who support us emerge from this disaster as unscathed as possible.

I’ve been on oceangoing boats dozens of times over the years, and I’ve been seasick once, which was enough to know that I never want to experience that again. On a later trip I was out in rougher conditions and did not get sick, so I don’t know what triggered that one bad episode.

I know that the one-piece purists among you will shudder, because I used to be one of you, but I’ve started to come around and I’ve amassed a selection of travel rods, but most of them are pretty generic in terms of action: 6- to 7-foot medium action spinning rods, and 6’6” to 7’6” medium-heavy baitcasters. This is the first one that has a specific purpose, in this case throwing big baits. It might not handle true giants like the Mother Chaser, but it’ll handle anything up to about 4 ounces exceptionally.

I’ve had long hair for a long time, and I love it, but sometimes it’s a pain. It takes a long time to wash and dry, it requires all kinds of “product” and if you’re not careful when you go for a boat ride you’ll end up with knots or looking like Medusa. These are the problems that confront lady anglers (or Seth Feider).

I’m 100 percent happy to be a woman, but I must admit that there are certain advantages to being a man. I mean, you have no “time of the month” and, as my husband says, “the whole world is your urinal.” I’ve always wondered what it would be like to (as Elaine said on Seinfeld) “walk around with one of those things.”

There are plenty of dumb ways to spend your money, but in my opinion one of the dumbest is super-expensive luggage. I mean, if you want to spend $9,100 on a Louis Vuitton Bisten suitcase that’s your business, but I can pretty much guarantee you that the baggage handlers will treat it every bit as harshly as they treat a bargain basement roller from the discount store. In fact, they might resent you enough that they’ll treat it worse. If you’re flying on your own Gulfstream, that might not be quite as much of an issue, but nevertheless I’m sure you can find plenty of better uses for that cash.