Ben Groppe

The New Zealand Experience

My career on the water is young enough that I can remember my childhood fascination around exotic fisheries. These were places or species that I felt were so unlikely to end up in front of me anytime soon that they continued to become elevated to a more godlike status every season as I was exposed …

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Into the Past: Desert Lahontans Stand the Tests of Time

These fish had been through it. It was hard to believe anything out here hadn’t been, even without human intervention. The Great Basin is a land of extremes, experiencing massive temperature swings and challenging seasons throughout the year for its wild residents. Throw in the desertification of their home lake and the anthropomorphic uppercuts of …

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A Muskie Story

I had first learned of the fish of ten thousand casts when I still had a spinning rod in my hands. The ancient fishing book I had growing up described the muskie’s ferocity and reclusiveness in captivating detail, and had a few tantalizing black and white photos of giant fish taken from deep in northern …

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Brook Trout in the Garden State

Brook trout are easy to love. They’re beautiful, live in cool places, and in certain situations will smash your fly like it’s the first meal they’ve seen in months. They became my favorite fish to target on the fly when I first moved to Vermont, and over the next several years I greatly enjoyed fishing …

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