Florida Man
Steelhead
So many beautiful things about that first photo. That should be in a magazine.
Favorite fish of 2022
- Thread starter Billy
- Start date
Florida Man
Steelhead
I love the colors on that brookie. The story to go with it is even better.
Florida Man
Steelhead
This deserves a magazine cover as well.
Florida Man
Steelhead
Love that brook trout.
Florida Man
Steelhead
Fat cat at the buzzer - taken on a fly, this channel cat grabbed in about 12ft of water the day before everything froze this month (in Ohio). I spent the summer learning to chase cats on the fly with decent success, but this one took the cake.
One more - trophy hunting for rainbows with Salzer and Mooney in WA.
Will say, the catch is always a thrill but every season for me is made by who I spent it with.
One more - trophy hunting for rainbows with Salzer and Mooney in WA.
Will say, the catch is always a thrill but every season for me is made by who I spent it with.
Snickersnackers
Smolt
Brown from an Eastern Oregon tailwater (~18"). Had not caught a single brown trout in my life until this trip. Easily my PB trout. Pretty place, too.
Hem
Life of the Party
Bruce Baker
Life of the Party
I caught two memorable fish this year...
1. My first ever Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout
2. Biggest Brook Trout I have ever caught.
1. My first ever Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout
2. Biggest Brook Trout I have ever caught.
Nice fish, both of them.
That Brookie looks bright like photos of east coast “salters” I’ve seen.
That Brookie looks bright like photos of east coast “salters” I’ve seen.
I like that last one, Kfish.
OK, late to the party. Since we're allowed more than one:
Not the biggest, but the most satisfying would be a 14-15" Cutt from a C shaped lake not far from Snoqualmie Pass. (No pic) I'd spotted some nice fish here, but there is not an abundant population, and I'd suffered two skunkings already. After much uneventful prowling about I found a player working a rocky niche and banked an Adams off the overhang just so. Sometimes the ones you have to work for are the best.
Fish of the year from a 5000+' lake in the N Cascades:
OK, late to the party. Since we're allowed more than one:
Not the biggest, but the most satisfying would be a 14-15" Cutt from a C shaped lake not far from Snoqualmie Pass. (No pic) I'd spotted some nice fish here, but there is not an abundant population, and I'd suffered two skunkings already. After much uneventful prowling about I found a player working a rocky niche and banked an Adams off the overhang just so. Sometimes the ones you have to work for are the best.
Fish of the year from a 5000+' lake in the N Cascades:
Ryan Smart
Steelhead
I'll offer 2 favorites for the year. The first is a brown that I caught in Montana this fall. My buddy and I were fishing a braided area where there were a bunch of huge fish surfacing in a slack area, presumably chasing emergers based on how they were surfacing. We couldn't figure out those fish, so went after fish in the faster water. I fished a side channel that had a relatively narrow slot in the weeks, and managed to hook and land this one, my biggest brown to date. It was a great week of fishing and I'm sure we both lost some fish that were even bigger.
The other one was another brown, not nearly as big but probably just as exciting. My girlfriend and I were fishing a river in Oregon during hopper season. I had gotten a fee fish earlier, but she hadn't. I was fishing a hundred yards or so downstream of her and working a bank that just had to hold some fish when I saw her fighting a fish. I started walking upstream but not in a rush, thinking the fish would be released by the time I got there... but then she hollered for help. I got there in time to net the fish, which was 17-18" and had eaten a hopper pattern on the surface. To sat she was excited by her biggest brown on a fly would be an understatement!
The bonus was that after netting the fish and congratulating her, I went around the bend upstream and caught several nice browns on a hopper too!
The other one was another brown, not nearly as big but probably just as exciting. My girlfriend and I were fishing a river in Oregon during hopper season. I had gotten a fee fish earlier, but she hadn't. I was fishing a hundred yards or so downstream of her and working a bank that just had to hold some fish when I saw her fighting a fish. I started walking upstream but not in a rush, thinking the fish would be released by the time I got there... but then she hollered for help. I got there in time to net the fish, which was 17-18" and had eaten a hopper pattern on the surface. To sat she was excited by her biggest brown on a fly would be an understatement!
The bonus was that after netting the fish and congratulating her, I went around the bend upstream and caught several nice browns on a hopper too!
MarshRat
Steelhead
This is my favorite thread each year, cool to see what everybody gets into. I followed the tuna stories most closely, very fun to read about- even from a distance.
This was our first full year in SC (Moved in July 2021 from North Puget Sound). Hunted tailing redfish most of the year, stalking individual fish in grass flats. A very special place to be wading with a fly rod.
Happy New Year y'all!
This was our first full year in SC (Moved in July 2021 from North Puget Sound). Hunted tailing redfish most of the year, stalking individual fish in grass flats. A very special place to be wading with a fly rod.
Happy New Year y'all!
Nice! Redfish are super fun to sight cast to, I've done it a couple times in Galveston.
speedbird
Life of the Party
Me and my Dad have spent the last two years teaching ourselves how to fish Puget Sound after years of depending on friends and guides to show us around. This year we were rewarded with an absolutely amazing Coho fishing. I believe we caught mostly residents this Fall, generally in the 4-5 lb range, but two fish we kept and two fish we let go were definitely ocean fish. After less than two hours of fishing mid morning, we pulled this ten pound fish 100 lbs deep. Fought long, and pulled half my spool off.
