Most Memorable Fish Of 09?

[alhuger]

So, the year is closing out pretty quickly and it's gotten me thinking about what fish left the strongest impression on me this year. I had a pretty small window of time to work with this year. I spent 22 days on the water compared to my fishing partner who hit over 100. So in the period of time I had, I remember most of the fish. A lot of the fish I hooked up this year left great memories. Since I am not likely to get much more time on the water this year, here is mine.

 

Earlier in the summer I had spent some time chasing fish in a river fill of them. A few blue bird days had driven our fish into deeper water, mostly mid river troughs, and casting to them at times asked for more skill than I had. I had spent a day without any hookups and went down close to tidewater where the river met the bay to see if I could change that. The water looked good but there was a problem, for me at least, I had to make a cast that was just about exactly 100 feet out to get to where I needed to be. On my rig that was 4 full rod lengths plus 3 feet I needed to shoot. With my skagit head, tip and leader if I managed the 4 lengths I could set up a good drift right into the trough. Problem is, that's a really tough cast for me to get with any level of real consistency. The guy I am fishing with at the time does not have that problem. He is laying out perfect 100+ foot casts and setting them up nicely. Soon into our run he is rewarded with a big chrome fish. In the mean time, I am getting anxious, I can see fish porpoising in the trench, riding the fresh tide in and I am not able to hit it. I am like, 10 feet shy nearly every cast. It's getting me really frustrated. I slow it down, stop being so worked up and the cast starts to work itself out, finally I am in the trough. After my third proper cast my line stops mid swing. When I say stopped, I mean it stopped. I had 100 feet of straight line come to a dead standstill. My heart skipped a beat. I waited for it to tighten up let the fish take a good amount of line and then I set on it. That set was the last coherent memory I have of that encounter. The fish became unstrung. It doubled my rod and went screaming back out to sea. I went maybe another 200 feet into backing and my stomach started to sink. I was pretty sure I was going to lose my line, maybe my pride. I hunkered down, dropped the tip into the water and fought the fish back (after 2 more runs) to where I thought I was back in the game. Then it took another run. This time, my reel failed. It stuttered and then seized. I watched it stutter once, twice and I nearly puked when it finally seized. The fish snapped my leader. Back to the salt, the hottest fish of the trip, maybe of my life. I really wish I had at least seen it.

[Pythagoras]

On Lost Creek this Summer I was wondering up stream and having an excellent day exploring this new area.

 

I came to a long slow moving stretch that only had one piece of cover, a lone tree hanging out over the water. Sure enough, laying in its shade was a nice cuttie. I watched for a while as he sipped bugs off the surface. The water was so clear and watching this fish so relaxing I didn't want to cast to him.

 

After a few minutes I deiced to show him my offering and took a few cautious steps into the water across and below him. Just as I was unhooking my fly from the rod there is this thunderous crashing and splashing very close to me....my mind says BEAR! as I slowly turn my head and take stock of my options.

 

I see this cow moose standing not 30 feet down stream from me and I kinda sigh with relief. She is staring at me and I'm looking at her while slowly backing back to the shore. I decide to put a tree between me and her and say, in a soft voice 'well, hello Ms. Moose.' This is enough to send her crashing and smashing down stream and into the woods again.

 

I remember to breath again and that reminds me that it's probably a good time to have a smoke. I watch the trout until my heart slows down and the nicotine kicks in.

 

He's still there.

[Rp3flyfisher]

By far the most memorable fish this year was on January 2nd.

 

We were in New Orleans over X-Mas and the New Year. My 12 year old Son and I did a Guided trip with Travis Holeman.

 

We fished HARD all day with only a few smaller Black Drum to show for our time. I had been teaching my Son how to cast a fly rod for a few weeks before we left on the trip, and he had picked it up quite nicely.

 

We needed to get back to the marina by 3pm because we had reservations in New Orleans for Dinner that we had to make 8 months ahead. The Guide had taken us to a bunch of different places that are his "Best Spots", but we only saw a few Redfish, so with only 1 hour left before we had to be back at the dock, he took us to a spot where he said that there are some BIG guys hanging around.

 

We got to the spot, and we started looking for the tell Tale signs of RedFish. After 20 minutes or so, we saw a Nice Bull milling around and went into action. My son took his 8wt rod made a few false casts and fired out a nice 40' cast right in front of the fish.

 

One quick strip, the fish looked at the fly, second big strip and BANG!!!!!! FISH ON!!!

 

My son fought this Big Red like he had been FlyFishing for years, and after 15 Minutes and several runs well into his backing, he landed this Beauty!!

 

 

25.5 lbs of beautiful Redfish!!!

 

 

I will NEVER forget my Sons FIRST EVER fish on the fly!!!

 

Rick

[scorpiondeathlock]

Had to be the heli trip into Ram river for me. Simpson, Filsface, Hopdrop, and myself decided on using Alhstrom air(awesome company by the way), due to the two dollar per pound rate that some other outfit(not worth the money) was trying to charge us. Flying into that canyon was something else and definatley was worth the money. Lots of cutties caught and scotch drank yada yada yada. So on the fourth and last night of our epic journey, after another night of good times, the craziest storm Ive ever seen came roaring through the canyon. At first the whole sky was light up with this greeny, yellowy lightning that filled the whole sky. Right after that, gale force wind, that charged right through the canyon walls and hit us. My buddy's walmart special tent did not fare so well in the ensuing, hail/hurricane storm that hit us, and actually rolled over with him in it. Safe to say we were all glad to hear the helicopter cutting its way through that foggy, wet morning. Turns out power was out in rocky and nordegg as well, we also heard that two campers were killed when a broken tree landed on their tent. Sad to hear but glad we made it out of one of the best camping trips of the year.

 

 

[alhuger]

My son fought this Big Red like he had been FlyFishing for years, and after 15 Minutes and several runs well into his backing, he landed this Beauty!!

 

 

I will NEVER forget my Sons FIRST EVER fish on the fly!!!

 

Rick

 

That's pretty cool. I hope to get my daughter into the sport when she is old enough. Is that big for a redfish? Pretty fantastic first fish.

[reevesr1]

That's pretty big, particularly for a fly caught fish. They get pretty massive (probably up to 50 lb or so in Louisiana, bigger on the east coast), but the bigger they get the harder they are to catch on anything not meat. For a fly caught fish, that one is pretty damn impressive. For a first ever fly fish even more impressive. My biggest red on a fly rod is probably like 25"+, and that fish would eat mine!

 

Trying to remember my most memorable fish, but like RP3, it's probably one my son caught. We were fishing my favorite run on the Bow (at least this year) and I had just told him to really concentrate on the water right in front of him. So he is high sticking the run when he hits a fish just off his rod tip. He lets out a little "whoop" I look to see what looks like 25+" of Brown Trout come screaming out of the water close enough to him for the splash to get him wet! The fish makes a beeline for deeper faster water and puts on a couple of big jumps just to show off. Ben chases the fish down and several minutes later lands his biggest Brown to date. The fish turns out to be probably 23-24", much shorter than I thought, but FAT. I think I was prouder than he was. And I can honestly say I was far, far more nervous for him than I ever am for myself. Just a great moment for us both.

[Tungsten]

Great stories guys,keep them coming.

For me has to be the fishing in the dark,big browns make a distinctive sound when coming up for your fly.I remember one in particular the sound the pull and the repeating jumps that happens after they brake you off.I didn't see a thing but i will remember the sounds.

[rhuseby]

Three way tie. Watching each of my kids catch their first fish on the flyrod, Sean at Bullshead and Brittany on the Oldman. The last one was one I lost in Baja. I had hooked a fish and it had just popped off, so I started reeling in line when, wham it all started ripping back out. Then a dorado comes flying about 4 feet out of the water, three times in about 5 seconds. Gone. What a memory. If you ever get the chance, hit the saltwater for any species. They all pull like hell. Now I've got unfinished business to take care of.

[Teck71]

2 fish

 

My 7YR old sophie and I were spending a weekend together Fishing. the 1st was her 1st fish if any size 16" cut, while she was fighting that one I spotted a big bull move off the bottom so once we released the Cut, I took the rod changed leaders and put on a white/red bugger that i keep on my hat as my MOJO fly (1st fly of my own tie, that caught a fish), and cast for the bull. on the 3rd cast he hit it like a freight train. after 10minutes of fight and my daughter jumping up and down screaming get him Dad i had a nice 30.5" bull in my hands. and this was in a spot that I ussually pass by thinking that there are no fish in there. the 2 best fish of the season in about 20minute time span.

 

oh and only took 2 skunks this season. one on a August trip to fallen timber. the other on a quick 2hr bow trip

[Rp3flyfisher]

That's pretty cool. I hope to get my daughter into the sport when she is old enough. Is that big for a redfish? Pretty fantastic first fish.

 

That is above average for a Red, but they do get to around 40-45lbs.

 

Rick

[troutpirate]

 

 

well its been a long time since i caught a new species of trout so, i would have to say that catching my first tiger trout was the highlight of '09. honorable mention would go to a nice rainbow and nice bull trout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Sundancefisher]

It would have to be a salmon shark I lost near the boat after fishing it hard and flat out for 45 minutes. It was about 7 feet long and 450 lbs

 

[jordo]

For me it was catching my personal best cutts (largest was 22"), managed to hit the golden stones on the right day and had some of (if not the best) dry fly action of my life. Nothing beats catching monster cutts ranging from 18-22" the sad part was I had an even larger one but lost it prior to netting.

 

[SteveM]

Great stories & pics, guys; keep 'em coming!

As for my most memorable fish of '09, it's a no-brainer...

 

I caught this 25" brown on a small creek, using my 6ft 2wt TFO rod...

 

 

Pretty easy to tell that I was stoked...

 

 

The best part, though, was having my 12 year old daughter there to share the moment with dear old Dad! She took a bunch of great

photos, & then insisted on reviving & releasing the trout back to the creek...

 

 

Sharing that experience with Rebecca makes that brown my most memorable fish of all time, not just of '09!

 

[Hawgstoppah]

Taking my brother fishing on the crow and watching him lose a buncha bigguns and then start landing them too. He was pretty excited. Which reminds me, the bugger has YET to send me those pics!!

[LastBoyScout]

It would have to be a Cownose ray I caught beach fishing in Costa Rica, didn't have a clue what was on the line but I knew it was strong. Worked it into shallow water 15 feet from where I was standing (in the water) when it broke surface. Its teeth were bared (lots and sharp) and its stinger was stabbing wildly, well I can safely say I nearly shat myself as it was obvious he could get to me before I ever got to dry land. After taking a half second to consider my next move the Ray decided everything for me when he stuck his pug nose on the sand and powered off into some rocks and snapped me off, thank goodness. The Tico's who were whatching thought it was hilarious and it was certainly memorable.

[duanec]

 

that's a great shot

[Whistler]

So, the year is closing out pretty quickly and it's gotten me thinking about what fish left the strongest impression on me this year. I had a pretty small window of time to work with this year. I spent 22 days on the water compared to my fishing partner who hit over 100. So in the period of time I had, I remember most of the fish. A lot of the fish I hooked up this year left great memories. Since I am not likely to get much more time on the water this year, here is mine.

 

Earlier in the summer I had spent some time chasing fish in a river fill of them. A few blue bird days had driven our fish into deeper water, mostly mid river troughs, and casting to them at times asked for more skill than I had. I had spent a day without any hookups and went down close to tidewater where the river met the bay to see if I could change that. The water looked good but there was a problem, for me at least, I had to make a cast that was just about exactly 100 feet out to get to where I needed to be. On my rig that was 4 full rod lengths plus 3 feet I needed to shoot. With my skagit head, tip and leader if I managed the 4 lengths I could set up a good drift right into the trough. Problem is, that's a really tough cast for me to get with any level of real consistency. The guy I am fishing with at the time does not have that problem. He is laying out perfect 100+ foot casts and setting them up nicely. Soon into our run he is rewarded with a big chrome fish. In the mean time, I am getting anxious, I can see fish porpoising in the trench, riding the fresh tide in and I am not able to hit it. I am like, 10 feet shy nearly every cast. It's getting me really frustrated. I slow it down, stop being so worked up and the cast starts to work itself out, finally I am in the trough. After my third proper cast my line stops mid swing. When I say stopped, I mean it stopped. I had 100 feet of straight line come to a dead standstill. My heart skipped a beat. I waited for it to tighten up let the fish take a good amount of line and then I set on it. That set was the last coherent memory I have of that encounter. The fish became unstrung. It doubled my rod and went screaming back out to sea. I went maybe another 200 feet into backing and my stomach started to sink. I was pretty sure I was going to lose my line, maybe my pride. I hunkered down, dropped the tip into the water and fought the fish back (after 2 more runs) to where I thought I was back in the game. Then it took another run. This time, my reel failed. It stuttered and then seized. I watched it stutter once, twice and I nearly puked when it finally seized. The fish snapped my leader. Back to the salt, the hottest fish of the trip, maybe of my life. I really wish I had at least seen it.

 

loved the story Al, took me right back there to the Kanektok. Can't wait till next summer, love that place.

[ÜberFly]

I guess there wasn't a caveat as to what method (but seeing that this is a fly fishing board )... That sure is a nice spinning rod/reel in the background!!

 

P

 

[troutpirate]

I guess there wasn't a caveat as to what method (but seeing that this is a fly fishing board )... That sure is a nice spinning rod/reel in the background!!

 

P

 

 

that fish was caught on a fly! that spinning rod belongs to the person that netted the fish and took the picture.

 

why so quick to assume?

[alhuger]

that fish was caught on a fly! that spinning rod belongs to the person that netted the fish and took the picture.

 

why so quick to assume?

 

Very nice fish. My post did not stipulate how people caught them, frankly - who cares. A fishing rod is a fishing rod. Thanks for contributing.

[alhuger]

loved the story Al, took me right back there to the Kanektok. Can't wait till next summer, love that place.

 

Yeh. That trip was wonderful. Great memories. I am stoked about stepping in again.

[hydropsyche]

I forget.

[DutchDryfly]

Fishing with my buddy Noud for the first time in saltwater.

We arrived at the campground in order to fish from shore. Unfortunately this was not possible but the campground had also some rental boats.

As it was Noud's birthday I booked a boat as a present and in the early evening we went fishingafetr we had tied three clousers each.

It was our first time in the salt and there was more water then we were used to.

Luckily I asked at te campground for a shallow spot and right in front of the campground there were some shallows.

Shallow in a Norwegian fjord means about 30 meters deep, so the sinking lines were on our reels.

As we reached the shallow we started to catch some cod, not big but a lot.

It was the most fun we both have ever had while fishing.

Noud later told me he never imagined of catching anything, so hit after hit was a nice surprise.

After a few fish Noud's rod started to bend very deep and it was clear it was not a small cod on the end of the line.

The best birthday present I have ever given anyone :

 

Getting ready to land

 

Surrender

 

The present

[ÜberFly]

Of course that's what this board is all about...

 

Just busting your chops, all in good fun!

 

Nice fish!!

 

P

 

that fish was caught on a fly! that spinning rod belongs to the person that netted the fish and took the picture.

 

why so quick to assume?