9 Pieces of Fishing and Travel News to Start off 2025
As we enter a new year of fishing travel and get set to conclude five full years of blogging, we remain committed to helping you plan for and enjoy trips of your own. We scour the internet daily to find information that we believe might help – if it inspires you or helps you avoid a mistake then we’ve done our job. Here are nine items that we feel should appeal to our readers, listed in no particular order:
CLEAR Expands To Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta Airport’s International Terminal — We continue to use CLEAR (paid for by our AmEx Platinum) to save time, and occasionally to save our trips. By extending it to one of the biggest hubs in the country, this makes it far more applicable for far more fliers, especially the Delta loyalists.
Bristol Bay Sockeye Run Trending Toward Big 2025 — We won’t be going back to Bear Trail Lodge until 2026, but if you want to get in on what is expected to be a banner season of sockeyes (or any of the other trout and salmon available there), we’re happy to get you booked.
Which Airlines Have The Best Business Class? — We don’t regularly fly business class, but on those occasions we’ve been fortunate enough to do so, we’ve seen marked difference. Based on those experiences, we agree that “Qatar Airways sets the standard for business class, plain and simple,” and in many cases the US carriers’ products aren’t worth the extra cost on short hauls.
Weekly Round-Up: You Booked a Destination Trip… Now What? — Jess McGlothlin is a more frequent and experienced fishing traveler than us, and this simple guide is a fantastic resource for first-time travelers as well as a great refresher for veterans. Number One reminder “Don’t be that guy.”
Angler Catches Likely World Record Yellowfin Tuna Off the Coast of Southern California — We’ve tangled with multiple 200-pound-plus yellowfin (often for multiple hours) in Panama and it has been physically debilitating. I simply cannot imagine fighting a tuna that weighs twice that much.
36 Hours in Dubai — Did you know that Dubai has some great sportfishing? Even if that’s not the purpose of your trip, or it’s not your ultimate destination, this is a valuable guide. It looks like an amazing place to visit, and it’s also a stopover point to dream fishing locals like the Seychelles and Maldives.
Amazon drought: Fishers in crisis as their biggest catch disappears — The ongoing drought in the Amazon is troubling for a variety of reasons, and some of our traveling angler friends have already been negatively impacted by ultra-low waters. Is the deteriorating sustainable piraracu (arapaima) fishery a sign of bad things to come for other species?
This Central American Country Was Just Named the Best Place to Retire in 2025 for Its Warm Climate, Health Care, and Easy-to-obtain Visas — Another vote for Panama as a desirable and affordable retirement location for Americans. We love it in both Panama City and Chiriquí and could very well see a scenario where we end up there for part of the year.
Why the Amex Platinum still reigns supreme in the luxury travel space (and how other cards are catching up) — After a year where we didn’t maximize our use of the AmEx Platinum, so far our 2024-25 campaign seems to be far more promising. It’ll determine whether the Platinum (and the points/miles game generally) is right for us.