Your Fish of the Year

[dc410]

I took the first trip of my life to Montana last summer. My main goal was to catch a Yellowstone cutthroat. I caught my first one in Slough Creek in the NE corner of Yellowstone National Park. It was not huge but a solid, beautiful and tough fighting cutthroat trout. With the “hoot owl” restrictions in effect in the park, I don’t have a photo as I released the fish without taking it out of the water. However, it is etched into my memory as a milestone in my flyfishing career.

 

[AndyP]

Beautiful pics to look at. Frederick that's a hell of a bass and Nymph that brown in the bottom pic is amazing. I did not fish very much this year, I fell while easing my way down a steep bank and tore my rotator when I braced for impact. These epics have me motivated to do some winter fishing Thanks for sharing......

 

[wgmiller]

Not a chart-busting fish, but likely the "fish of the stream". For that reason, this fish is my most memorable of the year. I generally don't catch large fish (>20") due to the waters I fish, so I have to utilize other criteria to separate the more memorable ones from the others. This guy came from a small red sandstone freestoner.

 

[Prospector]

My Fish of the Year was a 14" rainbow from a small Wild Rainbow stream in PA. It was part of the wild trifecta I caught on that cold rainy day.

I've also included my #2 fish of the year, a 19" Willowemoc brown trout. It was special for several reasons. It was on my first trip to the catskills, I caught it on a streamer (one of my favorite ways to fish) and it's size was on the upper end of the trout I catch. I think it is a stocked fish but that odd colored spot behind it's eye makes me wonder if it is wild.

 

[maxima12]

Fish of the year was the one i did not catch. Ha Ha--------got to go fishing again this Year. One more time! Friendship, fellowship, hot dogs and burgers, Yep, i caught the fish of the year! My Buddies!

Maxima12

 

[BrookieChaser]

dc410 wrote:
I took the first trip of my life to Montana last summer. My main goal was to catch a Yellowstone cutthroat. I caught my first one in Slough Creek in the NE corner of Yellowstone National Park. It was not huge but a solid, beautiful and tough fighting cutthroat trout. With the “hoot owl” restrictions in effect in the park, I don’t have a photo as I released the fish without taking it out of the water. However, it is etched into my memory as a milestone in my flyfishing career.

That's the kind of fish I want to read about. It's as much the journey and location as the fish.

 

[Swattie87]

wgmiller wrote:
Not a chart-busting fish, but likely the "fish of the stream". For that reason, this fish is my most memorable of the year. I generally don't catch large fish (>20") due to the waters I fish, so I have to utilize other criteria to separate the more memorable ones from the others. This guy came from a small red sandstone freestoner.

I’ve long wondered what was in that hole. I’ve probably fished that hole a half dozen times since it formed and never caught or saw anything. I assumed there was a (relatively for the stream) big Brown under that right undercut rock. Good to see what was there, even if I didn’t catch it. Was it under the right rock?

I had the same experience shortly upstream from there at the next S bend where the flow narrows into a small chute with a couple big boulders on the left. Eventually I pulled a low teens Brown out of that lair, but that was about 8 or 9 years ago, and I’m sure the hole has turned over its occupant several times since.

 

[JeffP]

WGMiller, I think I know that stream and hole. If I'm not mistaken, I saw him rising in the spring. I can't remember if I missed him or hooked the log. I knew he was a nice one!

 

[JeffP]

I really didn't fish a whole lot this year. Here is a photo of a wild brown my brother caught out of Middle Creek. Catching wild fish in unexpected places can be the catch of the year.

 

[Arminacast]

My favorite fish of the year is this wild rainbow: for two reasons- 1 Because it represents the possibility of catching a wild trout trifecta on my favorite stream and- 2 because I caught it on a dryfly which is a reletively new method for me. Here's to the pursuit in 2022!

 

[wgmiller]

Swattie87 wrote:
I’ve long wondered what was in that hole. I’ve probably fished that hole a half dozen times since it formed and never caught or saw anything. I assumed there was a (relatively for the stream) big Brown under that right undercut rock. Good to see what was there, even if I didn’t catch it. Was it under the right rock?

I had the same experience shortly upstream from there at the next S bend where the flow narrows into a small chute with a couple big boulders on the left. Eventually I pulled a low teens Brown out of that lair, but that was about 8 or 9 years ago, and I’m sure the hole has turned over its occupant several times since.

I would say that was his "home", although he was lurking at the bottom of the plunge pool from the downed tree when I found him on a sculpin pattern. As you know, this is a stream that is constantly changing with each high water event, which creates new habitat for the fish.

 

[csoult]

 

[nimrod]

Missouri River in June on size 16 dry. Fun. Pic does not do it justice.

 

[D-nymph]

Sight fished Brood X carp foam cicada pattern.

 

[wbranch]

Why am I unable to open most of the attachments? I keep getting this message;

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[wbranch]

Two of my better rainbows for 2021. Sorry for the late submissions. A 19" Delaware rainbow on a #22 olive and a 21" from a Montana tailwater.

 

[scottrum]

This was not my fish but my son with his largest brown of his life this past spring on a central PA stream. The fish took a yellow sucker spawn and put up a hell of a fight.

 

[wildtrout2]

Why am I unable to open most of the attachments? I keep getting this message;

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I got that as well.

 

[Nckr624]

A Yellowstone Cutthroat from Slough Creek that took an ant and Yough rainbow caught on my birthday.

 

[albatross]