Dave Mercer may be best known for his television program “Facts of Fishing,” or perhaps for his role onstage during Bassmaster tournaments, but whichever of his endeavors shine most brightly, you can’t help but notice that the guy is all about enjoying life.

I recently obtained a pair of Bajio sunglasses. The quality was immediately apparent and they were stylish, too. Thanks to their mirror blue lenses they went straight into my travel bag for Guatemala. One of the company’s founders was serious female angler Marguerite Meyer – so I tracked her down to learn more about her back story and the shades on my face.

Meet Daniel Jones, an angler who lives in my home state of Virginia and exclusively fishes big baits on Chickahominy Lake and the Chickahominy River. If you’re a Mid-Atlantic swimbaiter or would-be swimbaiter, or you’re planning to fish the tournament at this falls’ Gathering, it’s worth reading what he has to say.

Plenty of male anglers who like to go on fishing trips specifically to get away from their wives. If that dynamic works for your relationship, go for it, but I’ve always taken a different approach. If I could find a woman who loved to fish, or who could be convinced that she loved to fish, it would make for a stronger relationship – and more time on the water for both of us.

I knew that Jason Schwartz looked familiar. I’d met Brandon Card at a dinner during an Elite Series tournament on the Potomac. Other than that, I would have no idea who Brandon’s friends were. The pic bugged me, so I did more digging and figured out Jason and I had gone to high school together.

After a highly-decorated career fishing tournaments in his home country of Australia, Carl Jocumsen pitched everything he knew and traveled to America to try to qualify for and conquer the Bassmaster Elite Series. The Queensland native has fished with B.A.S.S. and FLW since 2011, and last year he celebrated his birthday by winning an Elite Series event on Oklahoma’s Lake Tenkiller.

Part II of Samantha Sukupcak’s Fall 2022 Wisconsin bear hunt — with critical information from outfitter Mike Oberle on how to make your next trip into the woods a success.

No matter how far you live from the ocean, the lifestyle brand Salt Life reflects a love of coastal living. But they’re more than that: As we’ve found out through using their gear over the past few years, they also reflect devotion to hard core angling. They’ve developed a Charter Captains Directory. Company President Jeff Stillwell filled us in on the details.

Almost one year ago Samantha Sukupcak was notified that she had been awarded an opportunity to purchase a tag for a black bear after eight years of saving up preference points. Here’s the tale of her successful guided hunt with Wisconsin’s Hooks N Bone Outfitters.

Rick Barry is a basketball legend, not only a Hall of Famer, but a member of the 1996 list of the top 50 players of all time. Casual fans might recall him for his unorthodox underhanded free throw shooting (and resulting .900 free throw percentage), but his accolades and achievements go much deeper than that – the 6’7” Barry was the NBA Rookie of the Year, the 1975 NBA Finals MVP, an eight-time NBA All Star, a four-time ABA All-Star and the only player to lead the NCAA, ABA and NBA in scoring. Perhaps just as impressively, all five of his sons played or play professional basketball, including Scooter who won and NCAA title at Kansas in 1988 and Brent who not only won NBA championships with the Spurs, but also won the Slam Dunk contest in 1996.

While I may not have matured as a human being, I believe that in recent years I’ve matured substantially as an angler. I’ve been fortunate in my life to catch lots of different finned freaks of nature, and now I get a thrill when a newcomer gets their shot. Accordingly, as I look back on our travels during 2022, I’m glad that I can recall others’ catches fondly.

Frequently people ask me about my favorite trip or my favorite memory. I love them all – it’s like picking which one of your children you love the most. I can’t choose. Each one is special in its own way. I just love traveling, fishing and being with my people. Still, some memories stand out after a great 2022. Here are some of the ones I’ll treasure most.

We’ve never tried spearfishing. That’s not necessarily from a lack of interest, but rather because we had no idea where to start. It seems like the barriers to entry are high, but after watching one too many YouTube videos I needed to find out more. Fortunately Jon Stenstrom of Cast & Spear was kind enough to take my call, and patient enough to answer my questions.

At the end of 2021 I catalogued the preceding 360+ days. Memorializing it was a great way of keeping myself accountable while celebrating and cataloging everything I’d done. I’m back again and while things could always be better I’m pretty proud of the way things went down in ‘22.

South African fishing industry stalwart Duncan Murfin has entered the glide bait fabrication industry — with a single-jointed lure meant to imitate various species of tilapia.

On our last trip to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge, bait to plate was taken to another level. Pete caught an almaco jack. First mate Michael did an amazing job filleting that almaco. When we were back on land, I was so interested in the bait to plate process I asked Chef Eddie to be his sous-chef.

Capt. Juan Diego Gonzalez is only 32 years old, but he has the wisdom and experience of a captain twice that age, and he’s put me on several of my bucket list fish. That’s why I wanted to find out what makes him tick, and why he has seemingly boundless energy for his difficult job each day. Watch this video to hear about him in his own words.

I was honored to participate in a recent episode of Chris Woodward’s “Women in Fishing” podcast, where I had the opportunity to talk about my passion for travel and some of my favorite fishing experiences. If you have time, please listen and let me know what you think.

The highlight of any trip to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge is of course the fishing — but thanks to Chef Eddie the food is a close second. In fact, it would be worth it to go there just to eat!

In Part 2 of her interview, Jen Kravassi of Jekyll explains what goes into a custom-painted lure, how to order the baits of your dreams, and her own plans for the future of her business.