No one likes to wait in lines, and no one likes to have their bodies or their luggage searched, but if you’re going to fly these days you’ll likely have to put up with both waiting and searches. TSA was created post 9/11, and with it came delays and scans. Here are ten things you can do to make the process more efficient, plus some great links.

So far in 2022 I’ve been fishing all over the map and yet the trip that I have circled most brightly on the calendar is nowhere near as far away as any of them. In fact, it’s only 2 ½ hours down the road to the dot-on-the-map of Lanexa, Virginia. It's for the fourth edition of The Gathering, organized by the crew of Swimbait Universe, an event my friend Mike Bucca calls “the ICAST of swimbait fishing.”

Through the two-plus years this website has been in operation, we’ve frequently discussed the value and opportunities presented by both mid-level and “premium” credit cards. Now we’re back in the game – not with the same Chase card, or even a MasterCard/Visa product, but rather with the first American Express card either of us has carried in a few decades. It’s the AmEx Platinum.

In June of 2022, of the sixteen people in our group at Lake El Salto, seven anglers caught what I’d call the “Super Grand Slam” — trophy largemouth bass plus three unexpected species.

During our Islamorada, Florida fishing trip in May I caught SIX different species of sharks. When I did the math that means I only caught 0.01276595744680% of the world’s different species of sharks. Not as impressive as my strut, LOL. Our friend Jennifer Combs caught three different species, two of them different than the ones I caught. Our combined percentage has risen to 0.017021276595744%, slightly more impressive.

In the Keys we had a blast catching a wide variety of fish including redfish, snook, speckled trout, tripletail, mangrove snapper and all manner of sharks. Our friends Lee and Bill also added permit, which for some reason I didn’t expect, but the real surprise was that our traveling partners Duncan and Jennifer hooked and landed two smalltooth sawfish estimated at 250 pounds apiece.

If you’re like us, you’re constantly planning the next amazing fishing trip, or even one or two beyond that. That’s not necessarily easy in times of economic uncertainty. Here are seven tips to get the most bang for your buck when times are tougher than usual.

I’ve already detailed the list of baits that Hanna and I used successfully on our most recent trip to Lake El Salto. Nevertheless, I didn’t feel that particular blog entry captured everything about our most recent trip to bass Disneyland. Accordingly, for those of you who are similarly obsessed, here are some additional factoids and opinions – I hope that they help you on your next trip South of the Border.

We’ve fished in Mexico approximately 20 times, and while it may be the same basic trip, the travel details always change just enough to keep us on our toes. We try to anticipate any challenges and then stay flexible and in good spirits when hiccups occur. These travel notes may not be our sexiest or most compelling material, but our hope is that by reporting these little details we can save you some aggravation in the future.

The crew on the recent Islamorada Florida trip is still talking about how much fun we all had. Once organized by yours truly all they had to do is get to Miami and follow my directions (!!!), and catch fish, which was no problem. Watch my video of the things we did while in the Keys — the fun we had fishing and just hanging with new and old friends.

In Islamorada, if your intended target isn’t chewing, you can usually find something that is, and then you can return the favor – chowing down on your catch. We brought a bunch back to the dock to be cooked. That’s the nice thing about a semi-organized trip to a dedicated fishing town – many of the restaurants will cook your catch for you.

Our group of six anglers ended up catching numerous species of fish in Islamorada. One species that I didn’t know much about beforehand but which turned out to be among the most enjoyable was the tripletail. They’re shaped like an oversized bluegill, almost as tall as they are long, with fins that (as the name would suggest) form a three-part tail section. We sight-fished and then ate a really big one.

The primary goal of our recent trip to Islamorada Florida was to catch tarpon. When the tarpon acted like jerks, we went to the back country and tried for snook and redfish but ended up with a whole lot more. I personally caught 16 different species of fish and was more and more excited with each new one we brought into the boat.

A trip to Islamorada offers a lot of opportunities on a small piece of real estate, so the laws of supply and demand mean that you’ll pay a premium for lodging. We had a group of six anglers and one non-fishing spouse, so we booked at the Sunset Inn. It proved to be an extremely good choice.

A journal of a fishing trip to Islamorada, Florida — four nights, three days of fishing, from Hanna (aka, Julie McCoy of HPFC). Learn where we stayed, what we ate, what we caught.

I’ve been more or less housebound for nearly 70 days, but I’ve still gotten plenty of travel planning done. Check out what I’ve accomplished for upcoming trips to places like El Salto, Panama, Canada and Alaska.

Fishing travel news for early May 2022 — Canada has reopened to vaxxed travelers and it’s still a bad idea to carry bat meat in your luggage. All the blurbs that are fit to print.

I recently provided a look into how to productively and/or comfortably spend a mid-length or longer airport layover. That list derived from a lot of experience in and near airports, some of it with a frown on my face. Here’s a follow-up list of things that’ll make the layover worse for you – or for others. Engage in any of them at your peril.

Unfortunately, there are fewer direct flights to our desired locations these days. If you live in or near a major city, particularly an airline hub, you may not have to connect as much as some others, but layovers are a fact of life for most travelers – and especially for those headed to remote or underserved locations. Here are some ways to make the time pass quickly or productively.

We can capture our trips with photography like never before, but the benefit of travel is imbibing those experiences with all five senses. Until you’ve watched a lion dissect a cape buffalo from close-up, or stood in front of the Coliseum in Rome, or had bears traipse past you while you’ve fished at Brooks Falls, you’ve only lived part of the experience. That’s why Panama was so enlightening for me.