Annual favorite fish of the year thread.

mcswny

mcswny

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I know we have a few more weeks left in 2025, but I'll kick this one off early.

What was your favorite fish you caught this year? Share stories, photos, or whatever. And bonus points if you throw in some apostrophes in all the wrong places.

I'll start. It wasn't necessarily 1 singular fish, but 2 days of fishing with @Gary Knowels on my favorite creek in the Cascades.
Thoughts of the hatches and dry fly fishing we had these days will get me through the winter.

mcswny

Thread 'Blue Lining and Camping with Gary'

I've been very behind/not posting trip reports at all. Mostly because I've been to busy with work/child care/fishing, etc. But my excuse the past two weeks is because I've been out camping on multiple different trips for the majority of the time (heading out for another 3 days in a couple hours on another solo trip with my kid).

One of those trips was a overnighter with our very own @Gary Knowels. Fishing/hangin' with Gary feels like it's been a couple years in the making. But between schedules and Tacoma v. Portland locations we hadn't been able to make it happen until the end of...
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Always tough to say for me. I have two that pop out, though.

Fly fishing-wise, this here behemoth carp. Was quite an adventure on this floppy vintage fiberglass Fenwick blank!
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Dirtbag fishing would be the first bluefin to my boat. Not a big one, but hard to nitpick anything about getting any bluefin at all.
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My favorite day of fishing would probably be one of the days that I spent out in the sound sight casting at pinks. Just pure silly low stakes fun fishing. However, for individual fish, on the fly I think I will pick this one - an otherwise unremarkable chinook caught out of a fishy rip with on a day with Ira. We had a plan, the bait was there, the fish were cooperative and it all just came together.IMG_8048.jpeg

Dirtbagging, I had a particularly fun time catching this chonk on a distinctly undersized bass rod.
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This 22", 4lb-2oz wild rainbow at Meadow Lake Fishing Camp was my favorite of the year. I caught a ton of bigger hatchery pigs this year, but I'll take one of these wild fish over 100 from the hatchery any day. My 7th and smallest "wallfish", but it was the first time I had one of my boys in the boat to share the moment with. It was also very tasty. Full trip report here.

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My favorite dirtbag moment was the last fish of our charter session in Costa Rica. We had been trolling around all day and picked up several tuna, but we finally found a massive school of Jacks around noon. It only lasted for a minute, but the sight of the school stretching for hundreds of feet in each direction and the instant action was amazing. I lost one on my first cast and then my oldest and I both hooked fish at the same time. Full trip report including fly fishing in Costa Rica here.

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Not a beast, not really big but it was the first time in many years I'd fished this skinny water with my long time friend Darc. We took turns poling and turns casting and catching.

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This one was a beast........

So for 2025 it was a couple of caprs that are perhaps more memorable than others.
 
Mine was my first S-River steelhead on a 2 handed rod. This was the first green water we had after a few low/clear/snowy weeks.

First stop of the morning and about halfway down I came tight to this beautiful chrome and white fish.
 

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Two stand out. On the fly I was out with my wife and son on a West side lake. I got a holdover with half a bubble gum pink rubber worm hanging out of it's butt. My son thought it was the funniest thing ever. Gear wise I was out with my son and father in law coho fishing the bar. I dropped my bait down 30 as soon as we got out there and set it in the rod holder. I was helping my father in law set up his rod and saw my rod bouncing. I told my son to go reel it up. The reel is direct drive and locked out in the rod holder. He said he couldn't turn it. I pulled it out and switched to direct drive then helped him hold it. The handle smacked his fingers a couple of times but he laughed and thought it was funny. After about 5 minutes he said his armpit was hurting and I had to take over. So I brought it in and it ended up being a high 20s hatchery king. It was the largest hatchery fish I had ever landed. It was after kings closed so we let him swim away.
 
G_Smolt said:
From a steelhead presence survey this May, 3/4 of the way through a long, cold snorkel. This fish validated my "gut feeling" of occupancy in the absence of nearly any other data for this particular river...
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I would love to do some citizen science steelhead spawning surveys near me, not sure if that’s a thing though. That’s so cool!



I was able to catch my first few steelhead this year but to be honest, they weren’t as memorable as these two. Nothing like native home water fish.

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Bull trout from late July camp trip. Already colored up while trout fishing on a rainy day.

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I also just landed this guy on Monday on an S River. Confusing fish…has markings of residency and anadromy. After talking to some BC guys who have caught similar looking fish, I’m going to guess this guy spent a short amount of time in Puget Sound like our SRC but didn’t quite make the full journey to the pacific pasture. Who knows.
 
Also dirtbagging, in AK....black cod, aka butterfish from 660 ft of water....if you haven't tried this in the pan...probably the best tasting fish I have ever eaten...
we limited out this day.
now I have to choose carefully who to share this delicacy with.
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albula said:
My favorite fish of the year was well earned and one that I did nothing more than net for a good friend.
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Not only for this year, but by far my favorite fish I've ever caught. So glad it happened with you Bill!

albula

Post in thread 'A privilege'

Robert Engleheart said:
Good for you, attitude is everything. I was diagnosed with throat cancer last August and while treatment was successfully completed recovery is longer and harder than I imagined. Prior my BMI was 24.5 (5’11” & 175#), I lost 40 lbs and 1/2 was muscle which is hard to regain at 71. I have recognized that I’ll never be back to that condition but I’m still in better condition than a lot of my peers. I’m still dealing with some treatment for squamous cell carcinoma that have popped up on my hands, arms and head since radiation and chemo destroyed my immune system. Had the last of those...
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I dunno if I can narrow it down to just one....so here are several of my favorites...

Debt of gratitude to Evan for this one...came on my Steffen 11wt glass...
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Then this...plus some friends in front of the opera house in Sydney Harbor! on my Steffen 9wt glass...
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These Aussie 'salmon' were so damn fun. Literally the perfect 8/9wt fish busting bait in HUGE numbers. At times, they were literally stupid, then in an instant, they would get more selective than a damn permit!
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Plus I had a really fun CAPR summer....also all on my Steffen 9wt glass.
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Yeah yeah, I totally cheated with more than one fav

🍻

edit: I think it really boils down to the fact that I just really enjoy fishing those two Steffens in particular, they are just such a blast to cast & fight fish on, so I find any reason to use either of them.
 
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