Female fly fishing guides at Bear Trail Lodge in King Salmon Alaska with three-time TTBC Champion Keith Combs of Huntington, TX
 

The People Who Inspire our Adventures

Through fishing we have met some unforgettable characters, and we want you to know them, too.

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JP DeRose – What’s Your Lane?

JP DeRose is a tournament angler, educator, and well--known TV hos. He was born raised in Ontario , and still lives there, but it’s hard to contain one of or favorite multi-species anglers. Check out the conversation he and Pete shared at this year’s Bassmaster Classic.

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Kent Brown’s Best of the West

While I’ve fished in many places with the US as well as internationally, I’ve never fished on the west coast. It’s on my bucket list, and when I finally make it there I want to fish with my friend Kent Brown. Pete and I made sure to see our friend at the 2023 Bassmaster Classic to catch up and ask him about what’s happening on the waters of California.

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Paul Fisler’s El Salto Personal Best Largemouth

Check out the video of our good friend Paul Fisler catching his PB from the back of MY boat. How does it feel to catch a ten pounder?Let’s hear it from the horse’s mouth. Here’s Paul’s story, in his own words.

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Marc Shoenfelt – Half Past First Cast Bringing Friendships Back Together

We met Marc Shoenfelt in 2010 at Lake Mateos. We kept in touch, but we never got together again until our most recent trip to Lake El Salto. That’s when Marc traveled on his first, but not his last, HPFC traveling adventure. After 13 years of waiting, Marc finally got the opportunity to fish with “the infamous pescado writer Pete Robbins.”

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Keeping it Real With Mr. Phoney

After fishing with Daniel Jones and learning what a Phoney Frog glidebait could do, I knew that I had to have one. I knew that owner Jason St. Mary would be at the Classic Expo in Knoxville, so I hunted him down, credit card in hand. Even better. I got him to spill the beans on how he makes sure each one is perfectly tuned.

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Mark Davis: Big Waters, Big Fish, Big Personality

If you’ve ever seen Mark Davis on the Outdoor Channel’s BigWater Adventures and thought there’s no way he could always be “on” the way he seems on the tube, let me clear things up for you – whether he’s eating chicken wings, dragging a tube for smallmouths or pulling on thousand-pound marlin, the dude is revved up. He carpe diems the hell out of every day he’s alive.

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Steve Parks Enjoys a Raging Good Time Fishing in Mexico

Steve “Big O” Parks, inventor of the Rage Tail, is one of the few people who have fished for bass in Mexico more times than I have. In fact, he’s been there so often that I’m surprised he doesn’t have dual citizenship. Since we’re always looking to improve our already-substantial success, we quizzed him about his thoughts, preferences and opinions.

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You’ve Found the Sailfish – Now What?

Even when fishing side-by-side certain captains and certain boats tend to produce more raises, bites and releases than some others. It can’t be dumb luck. As with everything in fishing, getting the sailfish to commit is part art and part science, and few are better at it than Captain David Salazar.

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Swimbaits 101 With Wayne Campbell

The swimbaiters have been a welcoming bunch, but I still have lots of basic questions, and I figured that many of you might be similarly situated. Fortunately, Swimbait Universe administrator Wayne Campbell was kind enough to sit down and answer some questions, and provide his typically thoughtful responses.

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David Salazar’s Sailfish Location Strategies

We’ve now spent a total of 12 days on the water at Casa Vieja Lodge in Guatemala, and we’ve released over a hundred sailfish, I don’t necessarily know much more about how to locate them. Every day CVL owner David Salazar, needs to work with his team to locate or relocate the billfish. They work collaboratively to narrow things down, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

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Rylie Lyon: Bear Trail’s Next Generation

Rylie Lyon has big shoes to fill. Not only is her mother Nanci the operator of Bear Trail Lodge and the holder of multiple angling records, but her father Heath is also considered one of the deans of the Naknek River guiding fraternity. She was raised in the town of King Salmon, population <400, although it swells substantially when the commercial fishermen (and visiting recreational anglers) arrive during the brief summertime period.

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My Bassmaster Classic Support Team

On Wednesday, I wrote about why YOU might consider attending a Bassmaster Classic in the future. I shared some pictures of this year’s experience in Knoxville, but I was negligent in not calling out my “Classic Team.”

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My Fishing Travel Dream Team

At this year’s Bassmaster Classic I caught up with many members of our fishing family. Even with those I finally met for the first time, we hugged liked family. Afterward, one of my first comments to Pete was that I have a running list of people I want to fish with. Somehow, someway, I hope to make this happen.

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Nanci Morris Lyon: Angler, Hostess, Educator and All-Around Badass

I was fortunate to be introduced to Nanci Morris Lyon in early 2019 through a friend-of-a-wife-of-a-friend and a few months later I was on a plane to Alaska for one of the best fishing trips of my life. But for that semi-random meeting, I might not have gone to Alaska the past two summers, nor would I have fallen so deeply in love with the fisheries of the Bristol Bay region.

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Mark Davis Revisited and Appreciated

The biggest obstacle to becoming a better and more well-rounded fisherman is pride. Plenty of anglers are willing to put in the time and spend the money to get there, but if you’re not willing to admit and embrace what you don’t know you’re just fooling yourself.

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