Best of the Year! 2025 Edition

[wildtrout2]

This year flew by for me. A fat 18” smallie and a big to me brownie both from the Schuylkill watershed. Goals for 26 are to fish for trout deeper into the spring before obsessing over smallies. Hopefully put a 15”+ wild brownie in the net. Thats not too much to ask at all.View attachment 1641247351View attachment 1641247352

That's a HOG of a bronzeback!

 

[GoldenRfly]

This wasn’t my biggest, but definitely the “best” due to “how” I caught it. After a slow June evening, I packed up & heard a big splash at 9PM. I witnessed a Hex Hatch, unpacked, and had no flies resembling the monster Hex’s that brought the trout out of their hiding places. After YouTubing the next day, I came up with my own creation using the materials I had and was rewarded on a return trip two nights later in the dark. This one was the biggest (and best pics I could get in the dark).

 

[Andrwhite610]

That's a HOG of a bronzeback!

My catch of the year. I caught many bigger on conventional this year on the Susky but that fat skook smallie was after 3 hours of casting with no bites in the rain. Was a full on thrill on my 5WT in fast water. Hadn’t touched one close to that on the fly until that point.

 

[Mikey2006]

23 inch wild brown (PB)

11 inch big spring native brookie from the ditch. Not my pb anymore but I sight fished him with a jig streamer which was super cool

15 inch big spring wild bow

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Only my second wild trout with a double eye spot. And, one of it's red spots is a perfect heart shape. For whatever reason, it won't allow me to rotate this pic.

So since I caught that fish too, does it have to be my best?? 😀

 

[Nymph-wristed]

This year was a bit rough for me.

I will get close, but I may not reach 50 trips. Weather sucked a lot of the time, striped bass run was a bust, I started a new job, and I did a lot of visits before I sent a kid to college, so my PTO was sorely lacking.

I am playing the long game, anticipating 41 days off in 2026. I also have off for the next two weeks, so I may have to add to what I shared below with a post spawn streamer eater 😉

I am also looking forward to working with @theoriginalnickyp and Philly crew with the Mayfly Project this upcoming year!

A small NEPA crick beastie from June:

A few nice ones from big NEPA freestoners:

A few from the same magic day on a SEPA limestoner, and in July, no less:

 

[dudemanspecial]

My favorite catch was this brown on a cicada. I attempted a tough cast under a low hanging branch to a little soft spot against the bank in some heavy pocket water. The fly plopped perfectly where I aimed and the trout hit it instantly, I think he saw it before it landed. The problem was my leader got caught in the branch on the cast so I had to walk over and untangle it. The whole time I thought the fish spit it and took off. As soon as I freed my leader it ripped downstream in the heavy water and gave a hell of a fight.....I felt like Brad Pitt chasing that fish down. Suprisingly landed him.

This was my son's first trout on a dry fly.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Board,

It's not my fish; it's one my brother Michael caught on a float in May. I caught some nice ones too, but this was clearly the hoss of the trip. It was a phenomenal day. We were psyched to do another float that week, but 3 inches of rain shut that down.

Peahead by Tim Murphy, on Flickr

I know it sounds cliched, but I'm getting to the point where the company I get to keep surpasses the fishing to me. My brother and the guide who rows our fat arses down the river make every trip a special memory. 😉

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[CinnamonJoe]

Driftless butter-brown, late May of this year, here in Iowa from Spring Branch.

That fish was memorable for the dainty way it took a #16 Blue Quill late in the evening. By the take, I thought it was a much smaller fish, and then, once I set the hook, I knew it was a better fish. 15"

This is the stream it calls home:

 

[ROVERT]

They got bigger after this but this is my first cicada eat. It is what started a very memorable June.

 

[ROVERT]

My son was visiting family in England for a good chunk of June. Getting him in on the tail end of the action was my true highlight of fishing 2025.

 

[jifigz]

Heading west and catching my first ever cutthroat was my most memorable fishing of this past year.

 

[AndyP]

This year was a bit rough for me.

I will get close, but I may not reach 50 trips. Weather sucked a lot of the time, striped bass run was a bust, I started a new job, and I did a lot of visits before I sent a kid to college, so my PTO was sorely lacking.

I am playing the long game, anticipating 41 days off in 2026. I also have off for the next two weeks, so I may have to add to what I shared below with a post spawn streamer eater 😉

I am also looking forward to working with @theoriginalnickyp and Philly crew with the Mayfly Project this upcoming year!

A small NEPA crick beastie from June:

A few nice ones from big NEPA freestoners:

A few from the same magic day on a SEPA limestoner, and in July, no less:

That"s an impressive photo gallery !!

 

[albatross]

Penns Creek was kind to me at the start of the cicada hatch.

 

[TerrellBFly]

 

[FollowTheBlueLines]

My best of 2025 came from West (by God) Virginia. I caught my PB brookie and on my next cast I broke that PB with a new one! My wife actually spotted them and we creeped up behind them and I nailed both of them on a tan jig bugger. The first one was also the first trout she’s ever held, so all in all, it was a very special day. I’m not sure what they’re putting in the water down there, but it sure is growing some huge brook trout!

 

[JimNovo]

Just like @jifigz, I caught my first cutthroat on the Bitteroot in MT

But nothing beats a big Delaware Brown caught on a tiny dry fly!

 

[tjsingle]

Three species:

Maine Brookie from September

Yellowstone Cutthroat

One of many memorable cicada eats this past June in PA.

 

[theoriginalnickyp]

This year was a bit rough for me.

I will get close, but I may not reach 50 trips. Weather sucked a lot of the time, striped bass run was a bust, I started a new job, and I did a lot of visits before I sent a kid to college, so my PTO was sorely lacking.

I am playing the long game, anticipating 41 days off in 2026. I also have off for the next two weeks, so I may have to add to what I shared below with a post spawn streamer eater 😉

I am also looking forward to working with @theoriginalnickyp and Philly crew with the Mayfly Project this upcoming year!

A small NEPA crick beastie from June:

A few nice ones from big NEPA freestoners:

A few from the same magic day on a SEPA limestoner, and in July, no less:

Nice fish!

 

[RH1]

My very first trout on a fly.. bought a new rod and reel on the way to the stream and caught this fish an hour later.