Getty Images, Izanbar Sick and dead sawfish are popping up all along the shores of Florida's Lower Keys. So far, wildlife officials said there have been 49 sightings of sick smalltooth sawfish, with 17 confirmed dead. The endangered fish are rarely found outside Southern Florida; one was found dead last week, and its saw was missing. With such a fragile population, their deaths are alarming. Sawfish aren't the only fish dying, cause for even more concern for the Florida Keys ecosystem. Since November, authorities have received reports of dead grouper, tarpon, snook, permit, snapper, and other ..read more

Facebook, Terry Nugent It had already been a slammer day of fishing off the coast of North Carolina for angler Matt Frattasio when he hooked into a large, rare fish that would establish a new state record. A Massachusetts native, Frattasio spent November 8, 2023 fishing aboard the boat of Capt. Terry Nugent of Riptide Charters near an old shipwreck off the coast of Morehead City, North Carolina. They spent the morning catching a decent number of fish inshore, but the bites really exploded when Nugent moved the boat to deeper water, to a spot known locally as the "D wreck." Fish after fish wer ..read more

Getty Images, lightasafeather Alaska is famous for its summer salmon runs—so much so that rivers are packed with fishermen and grizzly bears alike, fishing for red salmon and the ever-elusive king salmon. And while summer salmon fishing in Alaska should definitely be on your bucket list, as someone who's lived in Alaska for more than a decade, fall fishing in Alaska is one of my favorite adventures. The fish are still plentiful; the fall foliage (if you hit it just right) is gorgeous; and, without the summer crowds, you'll also get a lot of these prime Alaska fishing spots to yourself. By ..read more

Facebook Alaska is known for its incredible, world-class fishing. Fishermen catch everything from 100-pound halibut to king salmon, steelhead to rockfish—and, you can also apparently catch candy-colored bright blue fish. Joe Chmeleck, owner of The Lodge at Otter Cove in Homer, Alaska, reeled in an incredible, turquoise-blue rock greenling in late August of this year. The Lodge's Facebook post of the fish quickly went viral for the greenling's startling colors, which look somewhat like a Fruit Roll-Up or Gobstopper anthropomorphized. While the colors make the greenling appear to be straight out ..read more

Facebook, Tyler Fischer On August 23, Emmanuel Williams became the first person ever known to catch a swordfish from a jet ski, a feat he swore to his friends four years ago he was going to achieve. The undertaking was captured on video and uploaded by Williams to his YouTube channel, iBelongOutdoors. To fulfill his dream, he and his friends headed down to Louisiana. The day started long before daybreak at 2 a.m. Williams, Capt. Sebastian Noel, his fishing partner, and his videographer Tyler Fischer headed out from Venice, Louisiana. Williams rode his jet ski about 50 miles offshore and into t ..read more

Getty Images, Sablin Even though it's a dream for all anglers to catch a record fish, most of us haven't actually thought about what we'd do once it's in our fishing nets in order to get our name into the record books. We've all heard stories about anglers whose catch may have broken a record if they only knew the rules and regulations or could have found a certified scale to weigh it on. Even worse: Some have released fish that probably would have been a record, while others have made terrible mistakes either before or after the application process has started. Whether you've hooked a sailfis ..read more

Jess McGlothlin for Wide Open Spaces It's just past 6 in the morning in La Paz, Baja California Sur, and 143 teams have gathered to fish the MAJA El Grande Tournament: a one-day competition with more than $3,047,000 pesos ($182,000 USD) up for grabs. The marina is a swirl of large fishing charters, small local pangas, and hundreds of jersey-clad, keen-eyed anglers, all hoping to get a piece of the purse. Teams from across the region—and well beyond—have gathered in the misty morning heat of the marina. If boats could pace anxiously, there would be swells rising along the seawall. And there nea ..read more

White Marlin Open Facebook John Ols, a resident of Laytonsville, Maryland, brought home the big bucks and a world record when he reeled in a tournament-winning marlin, weighing in at 640 pounds during the 50th annual White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Maryland, on Aug. 11. Ols, fishing on the boat Floor Reel, won $6.2 million out of a $10 million purse for his massive fish, setting a new world record for highest payout prize in a fishing tournament—ever. The previous record-holding purse was $4.45 million, awarded at last year's White Marlin Open to another local boat. This is the third yea ..read more

Getty Images, Max2611 and matthayes01 For eons, fishermen have had trouble distinguishing steelhead trout versus salmon, and they are not alone. Large, aggressive, silver-toned, and smooth-scaled, both steelhead and salmon are members of the salmonids family; they look similar and feast on the same diet of smaller fish and krill. Both being anadromous fish, both salmon and steelhead live in fresh water and salt water, traveling between them to spawn. Because of all these similarities, the fish have been misclassified by science throughout the years. At different times, the steelhead was consid ..read more

Keith DeGraff Keith DeGraff set out in the deep waters of Prince William Sound in Alaska to fish for black cod alongside his friends and fiancé. When DeGraff felt his line tug, instead of feeling happy, he was disappointed as he assumed it was a halibut fighting and dragging at 1,000 feet. Halibut are easy to hook in shallow waters, so fighting with one in deeper areas seems like a letdown, especially when trying to go after a more exciting black cod. But DeGraff is an angler, so he took the fight he could get. And a fight it was: he told Saltwater Sportsman, "With a thousand feet of line ..read more