The Best Wool Hoody for Tough Days and Other Top Stories from Fishing on SI

These 3 stories captured our Sports Illustrated fishing reader’s attention on Fishing on SI this past week.

I Put the SKWALA Thermo 350 Hoody Through Some Hard Days; What Finishing Second Taught Bassmaster AOY Trey McKinney About Winning; How and Where You Can Catch Big Catfish on a Fly Rod | Forrest Carpenter | Kurt Mazurek | Kylie Therrien

In case they slipped by you, following are the most read fishing stories of the week: I Put the SKWALA Thermo 350 Hoody Through Some Hard Days; What Finishing Second Taught Bassmaster AOY Trey McKinney About Winning; How and Where You Can Catch Big Catfish on a Fly Rod

1.) I Put the SKWALA Thermo 350 Hoody Through Some Hard Days

The SKWALA keeps me comfortable when I’m sweating. It can’t do much about the reason I’m sweating. | Photo by Forrest Carpenter

When it comes to fly-fishing gear, I know I’m not the only angler who gets attached to certain pieces of clothing. The attachment comes from relying on them in tough conditions, and they deliver. Add to that they fit well, look good, and they are made to a high standard.

My SKWALA Hoody has become one of those pieces of clothing for me. When I first saw it hanging on the rack, I had a hunch it would be good. The quality of build was easy to see, and it was made from merino wool. Twenty years of guiding in Alaska taught me to trust wool more than any other material for outdoor performance. Plus, SKWALA is known for its quality, so I was pretty confident that I was getting a well-made product.

I wore my SKWALA Hoody during a week of inclement weather on the Lower Niagara River in early spring. The fishing on this river is some of the best in the U.S. But during early spring. It's challenging because the weather can go from pleasant to outright nasty in minutes. You have to dress right, or it can become a miserable experience…GET THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.

2.) What Finishing Second Taught Bassmaster AOY Trey McKinney About Winning

Trey McKinney came painfully close to winning Bassmaster Angler of the Year in each of his first two Elite Series seasons. In 2026, the 21-year-old finally broke through—and became the youngest AOY in B.A.S.S. history. | Kurt Mazurek

Trey McKinney understood the significance of the smallmouth bass fighting on the end of his line.

Already in his third year as a professional, the 21-year-old angler had spent most of the final day of the 2026 Bassmaster Elite season feeling something he had become shockingly good at suppressing: pressure.

“I was absolutely crappin’ myself probably,” McKinney told me a few days later. “I was just thinking, I’m not gonna mess this up. Everybody’s watching. I have a big one. I have to catch this big one. I need this big one. This is AOY. This is everything I’ve ever done.”

And when he finally lifted that 6-pound smallmouth into his boat, everything changed…GET THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.

3.) How and Where You Can Catch Big Catfish on a Fly Rod

This big cat hit a 3" chartreuse Clouser minnow being stripped back on a sinking line. | Photo by Kylie Therrien

It wasn't the most attractive river. The water was brown, and the shoreline was covered in large, broken limestone riprap—plastic bottles and fishing line littered among the rocks.

I was in Lockport, a small town 40 minutes outside Winnipeg, fishing with Elise Wood of Hunt Fish Manitoba and Kylie Therrien, an outdoor educator. They invited me to fish for channel catfish on a fly rod. For whatever reason, I didn't hear that part; I was thinking I'd try for some carp or drum. Fly fishing for catfish wasn't high on my wish list. 

Anglers lined the bank with heavy conventional rods and reels suited for saltwater fishing—more tackle than anyone should need for a freshwater river. I assumed these were weekend anglers fishing second-hand gear who simply didn’t know any better. 
 
We walked two hundred yards downriver where there was less of a crowd. We waded out about fifty yards and then back upriver. Kylie instructed that we wanted to get close to the dam and out of casting distance of the shore anglers…GET THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.