Mauritius
Post your first fish of 2025 here
- Thread starter Evan B
- Start date
Interesting. Any chance you might be doing a trip report?Mauritius
In a couple weeks most likely
JimTravers¤£a!!Travers
Steelhead
He tried to tell me it was under 24"!!!! Tried to short measure on me!! I told look I am known to get heavily IMVOLVED in various pyramid schemes. Lookin for the ADVANTAGE!!!! told him it was at least 28!!
Finally dusted my 2025 funk off with this little guy on my local 8-1 beach. Feels good to finally get something in the net again.
@Bambooflyguy you got a pic of my first fish at Munn back on Jan 12th right? Oh wait, you showed up at number 4 or 5. 
Bambooflyguy
Legend
Chinook Angler
Steelhead
A bonefish caught in a storm from a hotel dock in Belize earlier this year. Sorry for the bad quality, the gopro had a saltwater leak.
Chinook Angler
Steelhead
That's beautiful!
Thank you
If you fish half as good as you can paint you'll be good!
Arid Cataract Lake. April 2025. I haven’t been doing as much fishing as I should be in 2025, especially for a retired dude. But I do like fishing this Eastern Washington lake in the spring. At the end of the first week in April, a friend and I drove over from the wet side for some sunshine.
I have fished here often over the years and was pretty confident (omen…) that I would have success with chironomids in specific spots. The spring wildflowers were busting out, but the water (and wind) was cold still. I tried several spots where I usually have success with a multi-fly rig, but it just wasn’t as productive as I had hoped. On the first day, I had one monster break me off late in the fight. Frustrated with my lack of success dangling chironomids, I trolled a pair of streamers for a while, as much to warm up as anything. I missed one strike, but I later hooked up with a chunky rainbow – first fish of 2025. It fought quite well but eventually I slipped it into the net.
The next day, I picked up one fish fairly early on my usual chironomid setup in a spot where I could see cruising fish. It ripped off most of my fly line before I managed to slow the first run. Then, it blasted back toward me and I had to reel like mad to keep tension on the line. We then engaged in hand-to-hand combat as it resisted my attempts to bring it into netting range.
I was finally successful and slipped this nice fish into the net for a few pictures before sending it on its way.
On the last day, I was completely skunked: no runs, no hits, no errors. And what made the situation more frustrating was that I was anchored up next to pairs of anglers in three aluminum boats that were picking up fish regularly. When I talked to them later, they shared that they were fishing a size 14 chronie with a red rib in 16 feet of water in a spot where the bottom was about 21 feet. I didn’t have the right gear to fish these long leaders and the flies that I was using were much smaller than the size 14s that were successful for them. And I had chosen the smaller chironomids because they seemed to be a good match to the chironomids that I saw emerging. I rigged up a make-shift option that got my flies to the bottom, but I was probably too deep to target these suspended fish. And without a fish finder, I would have had a challenging time finding the right depth (but not impossible if I thought it through...). So, a frustrating trip and I stubbornly relied too much on previous success rather than think my way through the situation. But I will probably go back in a week or so better equipped (but likely fighting the last war…).
Steve
I have fished here often over the years and was pretty confident (omen…) that I would have success with chironomids in specific spots. The spring wildflowers were busting out, but the water (and wind) was cold still. I tried several spots where I usually have success with a multi-fly rig, but it just wasn’t as productive as I had hoped. On the first day, I had one monster break me off late in the fight. Frustrated with my lack of success dangling chironomids, I trolled a pair of streamers for a while, as much to warm up as anything. I missed one strike, but I later hooked up with a chunky rainbow – first fish of 2025. It fought quite well but eventually I slipped it into the net.
The next day, I picked up one fish fairly early on my usual chironomid setup in a spot where I could see cruising fish. It ripped off most of my fly line before I managed to slow the first run. Then, it blasted back toward me and I had to reel like mad to keep tension on the line. We then engaged in hand-to-hand combat as it resisted my attempts to bring it into netting range.
I was finally successful and slipped this nice fish into the net for a few pictures before sending it on its way.
On the last day, I was completely skunked: no runs, no hits, no errors. And what made the situation more frustrating was that I was anchored up next to pairs of anglers in three aluminum boats that were picking up fish regularly. When I talked to them later, they shared that they were fishing a size 14 chronie with a red rib in 16 feet of water in a spot where the bottom was about 21 feet. I didn’t have the right gear to fish these long leaders and the flies that I was using were much smaller than the size 14s that were successful for them. And I had chosen the smaller chironomids because they seemed to be a good match to the chironomids that I saw emerging. I rigged up a make-shift option that got my flies to the bottom, but I was probably too deep to target these suspended fish. And without a fish finder, I would have had a challenging time finding the right depth (but not impossible if I thought it through...). So, a frustrating trip and I stubbornly relied too much on previous success rather than think my way through the situation. But I will probably go back in a week or so better equipped (but likely fighting the last war…).
Steve
Thanks, I’m anxious to get on the water.
JimTravers¤£a!!Travers
Steelhead
Once Bohupowah got involved the PYRAMID schemes, the fish got smaller!!!!