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Abalones are marine snails from the family Haliotidae. This family of shellfish is comprised of 56 recognized species worldwide and eight known species in California. The Native Peoples of California fished and dove for abalone for thousands of years. Chinese immigrants first arrived in California around 1850 to work in the goldfields and on the railroads. Some found their way to Monterey and discovered an abundance of large red abalone that nobody was using. By the mid-1890s, Japanese fishermen had also discovered this rich abundance of abalone. Soon, the Japanese introduced helmet diving technology to the fishery. In 1908, a German restaurateur in Monterey began slicing abalone into steaks. Soon, men from the Azores and elsewhere started fishing abalone along the Central Coast of California. By the 1950s, there were hundreds of people and families fishing this delicacy commercially and thousands more fishing for recreation and subsistence. Steven L. Rebuck grew up in the abalone fishery and served as the abalone technical consultant to the Southern Sea Otter Recovery Team from 1993 to 2004. Christopher Rebuck, a software development manager, is a native Californian and Steven’s oldest son. He began surfing and hunting abalone at the age of five. Tim Thomas is the former historian and curator of the Monterey Maritime Museum. He authored The Abalone King of Monterey: “Pop” Ernest Doelter, Pioneering Japanese Fishermen & the Culinary Classic that Saved an Industry with The History Press in 2013.

Experience life on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

A shoreman’s life revolves around nature’s inevitable changes. The tides of the bay parallel the seasonal outdoor opportunities that the Eastern Shore provides. From the chaos of hunting marsh hens over flooded marshes during a hurricane to the solitude felt standing over a fallen trophy buck, gain an insider’s look at this unique way of life. Feel the sea’s power. Smell the gunpowder. Appreciate the solitude.

Local author and outdoorsman C.L. Marshall tells the stories of the constant changes of the islands, the creeks and the bays.

Join author and avid outdoorsman C.L. Marshall as he tells tales of the ups and the downs of outdoor life on the Chesapeake Bay.

It’s more often the failures rather than the successes that stick in the memories of outdoorsmen. Late September can bring some of the best white marlin fishing of the season to Delmarva, but sometimes you catch a batch of pineapples instead. Sometimes poor weather and a rough season can lead to a duck depression, but one good afternoon can turn it all around. The relationships built during these hunting and fishing adventures can make up for even the worst of days - a broken boat, the loss of a beloved dog and more.

From Pensacola to Jacksonville to the Everglades, fishing by paddle craft in the Sunshine State offers seemingly endless journeys.

Whether in the cypress dugouts of the Calusa, Dimock’s wood-and-canvas tarpon fishing canoe or modern fiberglass and plastic, humans have been paddle fishing in Florida for thousands of years. Sprinkling colorful history throughout, author John Kumiski highlights the state’s best paddle fishing destinations, both freshwater and saltwater, including the bass of Farm 13, the redfish and trout along the Big Bend Paddling Trail and the snook and tarpon of the Everglades. Learn the locales and what to do when you get there, including launch points, shuttles, rentals, tackle, techniques and more.

Before Ponce De Leon charted the 1,700 islands in 1513 now known as the Florida Keys, Calusa and Tequesta Indians were fishing with spears and nets for the cornucopia of fish species they survived on.

Today, 30 islands make up the habitable areas, cobbled together by 43 bridges and surrounded by waters holding more than 600 varieties of fish. The fishing paradise has brought multiple presidents—Herbert Hoover, George H. Bush, John Kennedy, Harry Truman, and, more than 100 years ago, Teddy Roosevelt—to fish in the Florida Keys. Ernest Hemingway and Ted Williams, who were both avid fishermen, made their homes here. Movies stars like Lee Marvin fished the Keys for tarpon, bonefish, sailfish, marlin, and tuna. Today, millions make their pilgrimages to the “Fishing Capital of the World.”

Hop aboard the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway for a trip across the trestle to Gasparilla Island.

Natural beauty and the sportfishing life brought the Cabots, Vanderbilts and Du Ponts to this island paradise, where local fishing families danced, ate and drank with the rich and famous at their castles on the beach. As the wealthy played, they relied on locals for everything from fishing charters to literally laundering and ironing their money. These are tales of 1920s rum smugglers whose offspring smuggled marijuana in the 1970s, a woman who caught 236 tarpon in one season and a bar owner whose Pink Elephant restaurant fed American presidents. James Bond’s Goldfinger even has a part as an island player. From Placida to Boca Grande Pass to Cabbage Key, fourth-generation Gasparilla Islander David Futch offers a wild ride with Bull Bay hermits and billionaires.

Discover why Indian Lake was known as Ohio's Million Dollar Playground for much of the 20th century.

Indian Lake, in northwestern Ohio, was originally a group of smaller lakes and wetlands occupying 640 acres. Over the years, the Lewistown Reservoir that served as a feeder lake for the Miami-Erie Canal was converted into Indian Lake State Park. Entrepreneurs were quick to jump on the opportunities Indian Lake offered. Sandy Beach Amusement Park offered roller coaster rides and other attractions and hosted concerts by nationally known big bands. Through the centuries, the character of Indian Lake has changed, and condominiums and permanent homes now dot the waterfront.

With remote waterways and unpressured trout, Wyoming's Wind River Range is the backcountry fly angler's mecca.

In the alpine lakes and streams, trout may approach a dry fly two or more at a time, and an angler can cast for days without seeing another person, let alone another angler. But more than just a place to catch lots of fish, the range is also a place to disconnect from noise and networks and reconnect with oneself. In a series of essays on misfortunate father-and-son backpacking trips, disaffected Boy Scouts, psychotropic deep-woods epiphanies and many other topics, author Chadd VanZanten offers not only a survey of the fishing and history of the Wind Rivers but a tour of personal landscapes as well.

Through historic images, discover the towns of Phelps and Conover nestled in the wooded forests, rolling hills, and lakes of the Chequamegon-Nicolet Forest.

Dating back to the Ojibwa, this region was noted for its dense forests, relying on the many rivers and lakes as the highway for travel until the introduction of the railroad and roadways in the late 1800s. By 1900, businessmen Hackley, Phelps, and Bonnell had journeyed from Chicago, landing in what would later be named Phelps, with prospects of a mill and a community. Shortly thereafter, Conover would take its name from Seth Conover. Conover, a prominent cheese buyer, would inspire the construction of a train station in the very location he traveled to for several years to follow his passion for hunting and fishing. Surrounded by some of the greatest recreational and fishing lakes as well as the mill and lumber industry, the towns of Conover and Phelps continued to flourish. The railroad bustled tourists from the cities to enjoy a piece of the serenity that continues to reside in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

This compelling account reveals how a battle over the sea shaped a community, an industry, and a legacy.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Florida sponge industry was booming—its waters attracting skilled Bahamian, Cuban, and Greek spongers to harvest the Gulf Coast’s natural treasure. From the shallow waters of Key West, where spongers used glass-bottom buckets and long hooks, to the deep-ocean dives of Tarpon Springs with heavy helmet suits, the quest for sponges created wealth, opportunity, and fierce competition.

When Greek divers introduced advanced deep-water techniques in 1905, Tarpon Springs quickly dominated the market, igniting tensions with Key West spongers over control of the lucrative trade. These escalating disputes—marked by sabotage, threats, and violent confrontations—became known as the Florida Sponge War.

Historian Rina Bousalis chronicles this overlooked but pivotal conflict in Florida’s history. Through a vivid, chronological narrative enriched with rare photographs and archival documents, she traces the industry’s rise, the cultural clashes, and the ultimate decline with the advent of the synthetic sponge.

This compelling account reveals how a battle over the sea shaped a community, an industry, and a legacy.

The Southern Surfcaster will change the way you think and what you thought you knew about saltwater fishing.

Increase your knowledge of fishing and develop into a more confident saltwater fisherman with The Southern Surfcaster. Many of the old-school methods of fishing are updated for modern practicality. Explore creative techniques and the latest strategies that have transformed the sport over the last decade.

The Waupaca Chain o’ Lakes are a series of 22 interconnected spring-fed lakes in central Wisconsin.

The lakes’ crystal clear waters, steep tree-covered banks, and other unique natural properties have long attracted people to their shores, starting with the pre-Columbian mound builders and Menominee Indians.European American settlers realized the lakes’ potential for recreation in the 1870s and transformed the Chain o’ Lakes and nearby city of Waupaca into major vacation destinations for tourists from all over the United States.Numerous businesses and attractions delighted vacationers throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, including beautiful resort hotels, rustic inns and cottages, religious camps and retreats, family-run restaurants and shops, marinas, tour boats, natural areas, theme parks, the Wisconsin Veterans Home, and even an interurban railway.Thousands of people, especially families, still enjoy the Chain o’ Lakes today.

J.H. Hall has been fishing most of his life and fly-fishing Maine rivers and ponds for over thirty years.

In his book, he has brought together some of his favorite fly-fishing experiences that go beyond morning excursions on a river's banks. He uses his fishing trips as the platform to introduce the reader to the people and the rivers that color his life and Maine, bringing all of us engaging life lessons and new experiences.