Outdoor Life — The Source for Hunting and Fishing Adventure

A great photograph courtesy of Rob Leahy of Simply Rugged Holsters, located in Wasilla, Alaska. (Click image for larger version.)

JR: We were fishing with a group of friends in Seldovia, Alaska (last week). This is at the city dock cleaning station. The fish carcasses draw seagulls, crows, eagles, river and sea otters and at least one sneaky little mink. We were feeding the birds the skin off the fish as we cleaned them. This drew large crowds of birds and the pecking order was quite clear: the biggest toughest eagle was first--all others as they could get in.

Seldovia is a small fishing town 18 miles across Kachemak Bay from Homer, on the Kenai Peninsula. We launch our boats from Homer and stay in Seldovia for fishing, clamming, playing in the tide pools and bear hunting. Great family fun! -- Rob Leahy

Thanks for permission to use this great shot on The Outdoor News Hound blog, Rob. It leaves little doubt what species is perched atop the feathered food chain, at least in Alaska. [ Read Full Post ]

In a disturbing sign of the times, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, as part of a major restructuring effort, has announced it will eliminate the paper's hunting and fishing (outdoors) beat.

Editor and Publisher magazine reported Friday that as many as 100 Star-Tribune newsroom staffers may be taken off their current beats and forced to apply for new assignments when the week-long shake-up is complete.

"It is quite unbelievable," Doug Smith, 20-year Star-Trib veteran and its outdoor writer for 11 years told E&P. "The job was basically eliminated. I will have the chance to apply for other reporting or editing jobs, but it is not real pleasant."

Such moves are becoming an unfortunate trend as many struggling newspapers look for ways to cut fiscal corners. Sadly, it is the outdoor writer who often is targeted as one of the first casualties in such belt-tightening efforts.

The news is especially troubling because Minnesota has one of the country's highest per capita hunting and fishing demographics.

More and more newspaper outdoor writers I know are being required to cover multiple events and beats to justify the continued publishing of a weekly or bi-weekly outdoors column or page--even if those other subjects fall outside of their interest or expertise.... [ Read Full Post ]

Click here for a few snapshots from Boca Grande Pass!

The winds backed off. It still looked pretty iffy for the tarpon at the ditch—otherwise known as Boca Grande Pass on Florida’s west coast, and if you’ve been following these recent posts you know that Brian Lynn and I hit a dry spell following our little altercation with the guys in the brown suits—sharks, that is—a few day’s back. So Capt. Ray Van Horn, Capt. C.A. Richardson and his girlfriend Jessica, Brian and I were about to head to a little cay where the redfish were supposedly schooled up. Then the Nextel call came. Capt. Artie Price, a close friend of Ray and C.A. and fellow competitor in the redfish tournament game, had a quick message for us. He was already at the pass. “You might wanna head this way,” he said not so cryptically. “We’ll be there in fifteen,” Ray told him. The ‘poons were in.

The bite was on, all right, hot as firecrackers and the word was soon out, too, boats zooming in to start the rotational drifting... [ Read Full Post ]

Well-known fly angler Dr. Martin Arostegui of Coral Gables, Fla. has surpassed an incredible fishing milestone by becoming the first person to list 200 world record fish with the International Game Fish Association (IGFA).

In a press release, the IGFA noted that the retired physician’s first world record fish was caught in the summer of 1994, a 10-pound triple tail on 4-pound tippet near Flamingo in Florida’s Everglades National Park. His 200th, also on a flyrod, came nearly 14 years later with a mullet snapper caught in Costa Rica.

“Dr. Arostegui’s accomplishment of achieving 200 world records is truly a remarkable feat,” said IGFA President Rob Kramer. “Through careful planning, detailed preparation and steadfast perseverance, he has taken world record game fishing to an all time high.”

Last spring, Arostegui made waves on the fishing blogs when he caught the heaviest fish ever recorded on a flyrod, a 385-pound lemon shark off Key West, Fla.

“When it opened its huge mouth, I said to myself this shark could eat half of me in one bite,” joked the 5-foot, 125-pound... [ Read Full Post ]

Mark Henckel, my good pal and longtime outdoor scribe for the Billings Gazette, dropped me a note of appreciation for this week's random quote by Gordon MacQuarrie, perhaps the premier writer in the hunting and fishing genre during the 1930s and 40s.

"MacQuarrie is the outdoor writer who I admire more than any other in terms of his ability to paint word pictures and write humor, serious stuff, and really capture the right tone in an article. He was absolutely the best. You mention 1998 as the year of publication. That was through Willow Creek Press. I got a copy of that book back in the 1970s and about wore it out. I lent it to someone and never got it back. I've since bought the Willow Creek Press edition. Nobody else can hold a candle to him. -- mark"

Do you have a favorite writer or quote you'd like to share with the Outdoor News Hound readership? Email me the quote (outdoorpressroom@yahoo.com), along with the writer, source and date of publication. [ Read Full Post ]

Here’s a feel-good story about a bottom-feeding angler who received his due in court this week.

On Monday, one of two men who admitted to planting fish during Kentucky fishing tournaments received a probated 5-year sentence providing he pays $23,000 in restitution.

The Paducah Sun reports that Brian Thomas of Dawson Springs was sentenced to one year each for theft by deception over $300 and theft by deception under $300. As part of his sentence, Thomas was also banned from holding a fishing license or participating in fishing events during his probation.

Kentucky State Police began investigating Thomas and his fishing partner, Dwayne Nesmith, in April 2006, after witnesses said they saw the pair take five bass from a submerged fish basket and subsequently weigh them at the Relay for Life Buddy Bass Tournament on Kentucky’s Lake Barkley.

A month earlier, in March 2006, the fraudulent fishermen won a $30,000 bass boat in the Lake Barkley Superbass Championship, allegedly using the same deceptive practice.

Nesmith pleaded guilty to identical charges in his Monday court appearance. He is scheduled for sentencing June 4. [ Read Full Post ]