The best crab bait for traps is oily, fresh, and tough enough that a crab cannot tear it apart in an hour. Raw chicken necks and oily fish like menhaden or mackerel set the scent standard, and a commercial attractant layered on top of either one widens your odor plume without a cooler full of […]

A star crab trap, also called a pyramid crab trap, is a collapsible square-based wire pot that folds flat like a star for transport, drops to the bottom, and springs into a four-sided pyramid when its take-up lines are pulled tight. The style dates back decades on the Chesapeake and Gulf coasts, and it remains […]

Looking for the best left handed baitcasting reels, the Daiwa Fuego CT is the one most left-handed anglers should start with. Its Magforce brake and Air Rotation system tame backlash while the 6.3:1 ratio keeps a moderate, controllable retrieve. I put seven verified left-hand retrieve models side by side over six weeks of casting, and […]

Most anglers chasing a spinnerbait rod end up buying a rod that fights them, because they size the lure and not the whole rig. A 3/8 ounce spinnerbait with a trailer and a swimbait head is not a 3/8 ounce load, and the rod has to know the difference. Our team fished every rod in […]

A crab ring is a flat circular wire snare, usually two concentric hoops with mesh netting between them, that rests on the bottom with bait pinned in the center. It sits open so crabs walk onto it freely, then snaps upward into a basket the moment you pull the line, scooping up whatever was feeding […]

Most anglers chasing the best trolling reels for salmon end up with a heavy conventional reel that is either too small for copper or too heavy to crank all day. The right pick comes down to three things: how much line you need on the spool, how hard the drag has to hold, and whether […]

The best jet ski wetsuits are 3/2mm neoprene full-body suits with a back zip, because that thickness keeps a 60 to 80F lake comfortable while still letting you shift your weight and steer the handlebars the way a personal watercraft demands. We put ten of them through fit checks, seam inspections and long afternoon rides […]

A jet ski left floating at a dock for a season picks up scum lines, water staining, algae in the intake grate and corrosion around the steering and trim hardware before most owners notice anything wrong. The fix is the same one the marine industry settled on decades ago: get the craft out of the […]

A jet ski fish finder is a compact marine sonar unit, either a castable transducer paired with a handheld or phone display, or a small mounted console with built-in GPS, that shows water depth, bottom structure and fish location while you ride a personal watercraft. Jet skis have no factory depth sounder, a shallow draft […]

Most personal watercraft leave the factory with a small front trunk and nothing else, so the best jet ski cargo storage is whatever you bolt, strap or clip onto the back of the hull to carry a cooler, fuel, tools and dry gear. We spent weeks riding with the nine systems below, packing them full […]