The Guide to Outside: Fish

Bonefish
Los Roques, Venezuela

About that time when the mercury creeps into the triple digits in the deep South, it’ll be around 80 degrees on the beautiful islands of Los Roques, Venezuela. Here, high summer means prime time for big bonefish. These bones—some in the double digits—cruise and tail on the small and manageable flats, providing ample shots for wading anglers. Tarpon and permit also abound. Sight Cast Outfitters has a legion of knowledgeable guides. Guests use nearby Posada Acuarela’s boutique hotel-style rooms for lodging. frontierstravel.com

Brook trout
George Washington National Forest, VA

Native brookies are the crown jewels of the southern Appalachians, and there is no better place to find them than the George Washington National Forest. Strap on the day pack, lace up the boots, and head into the Ramsey’s Draft and St. Mary’s Wildernesses, where you’ll find dozens of small ice-cold streams on which you can rock-hop from pool to pool all day. These brookies aren’t large, but they’re beautiful, challenging, and worth the hike. mossycreekflyfishing.com

Largemouth bass
Coolidge, GA

Woodhaven Plantation may be best known for its quail hunting, but the plantation is also one of the top high-end largemouth bass destinations in the country. There are eighteen bass lakes scattered about the property’s 5,000 acres, which hold bass that average three pounds. The plantation record: thirteen pounds. Stay in a 20,000-square-foot antebellum mansion, where you can sit on the porch with a cold cocktail and contemplate the fact that George Perry caught the world-record bass not too far away. frontierstravel.com