Before the Gathering, my friend Tej Sawhney told me that one of my first stops should be at the Sherpa Swimbaits booth, owned by Passang Wong Chuu. Hanna and I got there just in time to see some of his amazing wake gills and crawler baits fly off the table. Here’s his story, in his own words.

Master craftsman Germán Pérez produces highly individualized peacock bass that look like they just came out of one of South America’s many fertile rivers, and he doesn’t stop there – his work with other exotics (and more common species) is beyond exceptional. Here’s his story in his own words.

Jen Kravassi is a full-fledged member of the swimbait community and a master lure painter — and so much more. We met her at the Gathering but if you’ve been around bass fishing at all you’ve seen her work for Bull Shad and Catch Co.

I regret that on a trip to Hong Kong in the mid-80s I did not take full advantage of the eating scene — although there are still a few things that wouldn’t really appeal.

Amy Lockhart is a 20-year Navy Veteran who loves to fish! But there’s much more to the story than that. After retiring from an official career serving our country, Amy is still helping people, one by one, except this time in the fishing industry. Here’s her story in her own words.

One of the best things about the Swimbait Universe Gathering was the diversity of the people, all brought together by their mutual big bait fetish. It was almost disarming how welcoming everyone was. Despite being a generally-misanthropic introvert, I had no trouble going up to just about anyone. One of my favorites was CJ Martin of Swimbait Hooligans, who took my interview in good spirits.

Oklahoma’s F5 Custom Rods is highly respected in the swimbait community and makes custom-quality rods at production rod prices. Owners Brad Vanderpool and Lisa Livesay put their personal stamp on every rod, including collabs and multi-piece travel rods.

Eric Gomez, founder of Leviathan Rods, builds a full lineup of custom-quality swimbait sticks that have earned near universal-praise. Moreover, he hasn’t been content to rest on the laurels of his two Ivy League degrees – he’s the consummate multitasker, with strong feelings about how he wants to live his life and run his business.

Anyone who knows me is well aware that I can be something of a chatterbox – I love to share stories and hear yours – but when you put me in front of a microphone I tend to clam up. Angie Scott invited me on her podcast titled “The Woman Angler and Adventurer.” She does a great job of featuring female anglers and I was honored to be invited.

When I met Paul Bourcq, it quickly became apparent that we were friends with a lot of the same people and worked for many of the same properties. We may also have shared the same somewhat immature sense of humor. Moreover, he was living my dream life, traveling the globe with some of the greatest anglers in the world to hit premier fisheries. In fact, just a few weeks before I’d drooled over a video he’d shot of fly fishing for queenfish in Dubai.

Looking at Randi Gleason’s camping lifestyle online and talking to her about it, it quickly becomes obvious that they truly are “Living the dream.” It’s not just the fact that they’re on the road experiencing the world, but more importantly she and Darold are sharing just about every moment of that dream, the only way they’d consider doing it.

I’m going to come clean in public for the first time: I cyberstalk BASS wife and Superwoman Randi Gleason, I simply don’t understand how she can cram so much productivity into every day. She supports the career of her husband, professional bass angler Darold Gleason (she calls him “D”) as if it were a full-time job, but she also seems to have about 12 other gigs.

For her 40th birthday, Tara Folz of California wanted to relive and add to her family’s history by catching a sailfish off the coast of Miami. Sometimes a plan comes together perfectly.

My El Salto fishing partner, Pat McGrath, is 86 years young and full of spit and vinegar (gin too!). I was thrilled to fish with her. In fact my only regret was that our paths hadn’t collided previously. From the first conversation, through our last cast together, it was obvious the she is one of those people who lives her life to the max, the kind of young lady you just want to be around.

As Darcie was getting off the water after a long day of fishing, she let me open fire with questions. She was especially excited to talk to me about her new sponsorship with Revo sunglasses, a product that she uses day in and day out, on and off the water -- and the best part was she got to help design her signature models with all of us ladies in mind.

What would you do to land a trophy tarpon? Would you dive into shark-infested waters? For me, there was no hesitation — I’m just upset that the big silver jerk got away.

It takes Bassmaster Elite Series pro Jeff Gustafson 7 hours just to get to Minneapolis but he makes the long drives to tournaments because it’s worth it to live on Lake of the Woods — one of the best freshwater multispecies fisheries in the world.

On her latest trip to Anglers Inn Lake Picachos, Tennessee’s Lisa Skelley brought not only her perma-smile, but also her boyfriend Dwayne to celebrate a couple of life milestones. As always, it was an amazing adventure.

Lodge Owner Gary Moeller is a fisherman at heart, and loves to check out new places. We met when he took a large group to Anglers Inn’s Lake Picachos operation, and I circled back to find out what he thought – both professionally and personally – about the experience.

Gary Moeller, a partner in Ballard’s Resorts on Lake of the Woods, shares his story and explains why you should visit this summer if you want to catch walleyes, muskies, northerns or smallmouth — or ALL OF THE ABOVE.