Conservationists and anglers honor the life of legendary Michigan river keeper Rusty Gates. The fly fisherman died at the age of 54, he's best known for his profound and permanent effect on fly fishing conservation efforts, particularly on the beautiful Au Sable River. Rest in peace Rusty Gates, you will be remembered.

You've heard of the monster sized catfish down south right? Well teenager Dustin McEwen had a experience of his own with a 80 pound catfish along the Mississippi river near Alton. He caught the Mississippi catfish on a simple shad on his hook. McEwen states he knew the fish was huge when he was reeling it in, first thing he thought is he didn't want to lose it. His mission was to simply wear out the fish, it took him over 45 minutes to finally land the monster catfish. McEwen snapped a few photos of the huge catfish then ended up throwing the fish back in so it could fight for another day. It's great to see fisherman practice catch and release. Here's the photos of the monster sized catfish, what a beast!

First I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, so did you get any good fishing gifts this Christmas? I know I did, I received a ice fishing rod and reel from my girlfriend, I thought it was a thoughtful gift since it's winter time. All I'm lacking now is an ice shanty, I actually have an 8 inch auger from when I was a kid. I'm now just waiting on the ice to get a little thicker, then I'm good to go. Hopefully I can catch some perch, crappie and some bass this winter.

This hardcore fisherman you see before your eyes loves to build fishing rods. The craftsman name is Patric Nielsen, he's been crafting fishing rods for a long time now, he states it never gets boring. One of the rods he just built is a smallmouth bass fishing rod. It's 6 1/2 foot long and built from scratch with graphite blanks which appear to weight nothing at all. Handle wise it's cork fitted, shaped and glued by Nielsen himself. On to the line guides, each guide is bound by a strong thread called wraps. Nielsen plays with different colored thread to make things exciting and cool looking. It's truly a masterpiece to see. Nielsen at age 62 still is going strong, this is a sport that should never die off!

Well the water is pretty much frozen over here in Michigan. It's December 27th and I think I'm going to wait a few more weeks before I step out onto the ice and test it out. I like it where there's about 8 inches of ice thickness. Anyways, I plan on hitting up this lake near me with my Dad. It's kind of a reclusive lake and there's a lot of Crappie, Largemouth Bass, and Pike in it. I just got back from the store a few hours ago, I bought a few jigs and some new ice fishing line. The only think I'm short on is an ice shanty. I think I'm just going to buy a used one off of Craigslist, other than that I'm ready. It should be a good time, I'll report back with some pictures of all the fish we caught. Happy ice fishing everyone!