Reuben Hastings has been guiding at Bear Trail Lodge in Bristol Bay for 13 years — and we’ve been lucky enough to fish with him on the Naknek as well as on several flyouts. He’s an amazing person and enthusiastic angler.

We traveled across the continent to Bear Trail Lodge and ended up fishing with a guide who hails from 90 miles away from our house. Cooper Neblett made our return to Bristol Bay exceptional. He has a great future in the fishing industry.

After over 20 trips to Lake El Salto and Lake Picachos, Hanna and I have a solid routine in the boat. We understand each other’s tendencies and while we’d rather catch the big ones ourselves, we still celebrate when the other succeeds. We’ve recognized that in the long run working together produces far better results for everyone than competing with the other person.

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.

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.

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.

I’ve been on the shores of numerous great fisheries where I’ve somehow failed to make a cast. Some I’ll be able to visit in the future, but two in particular stand out as missed opportunities.

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.”

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.

Salt Life team member Jennifer Maguire — AKA, Southern Belle — shares her story and explains her love of kayak fishing. If you’re looking for a female angler role model, start here.

Logan Sebela of California took his son Deacon to Anglers Inn’s Lake Picachos outpost for Deacon’s 13th birthday. It was a trip that neither one will ever forget — take a kid fishing!

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.

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.

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.

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.

If you want to go redfishing in South Louisiana, Mike Frenette is a living legend and his Redfish Lodge of Louisiana is high on our bucket list.

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.

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.

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.”

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.