Most Memorable Fish of 2012

[kglissmeyer1]

Many have talked about their biggest fish of the year, but what was your most memorable? Too often we find ourselves in the hunt for the biggest beastie whenever we go out. Some even measure their success by whether they caught the biggest fish of the day or not, etc.. Most of the time the trip and the fishing and everything that make up the day or days on the water truly define success.

Therefore, perhaps your most memorable fish was the one that got away, or a miniscule creek brookie that you fooled by sneaking up on your belly to the stream side. Your most memorable may very well be the biggest fish you caught and that's okay, but we're talking about the most memorable not necessarily the biggest fish you caught this past year.

So, share with us your fishing memories of 2012 and give us all something to look forward to while we pass this winter away.

Here is my most memorable. It's a beast of a brown trout that I managed to fool on my favorite spring creek this past spring. I was there with my son, Mike, and his buddy, Ryan. We hit the water early and it was still quite cold for the season. The bite was on from the get-go, and we managed to catch a few very nice fish. This particular brute had been porpoising upstream for a while, with a few times that he outright left the water completely and crashed back in as he was chasing some unknown prey.

I struggle a bit now on the spring because of my fused ankle and lack of mobility I once had along with the gooey mud bottom that sucks you down and won't let you go. I have to avoid those areas that have that kind of muddy bottom and seek out areas of solid bottom that will allow me freer movement so I don't end up losing my balance and getting into trouble. Due to this, I was in a crumby spot to get my cast in front of that big brown.

I was finally able to maneuver just a bit closer and unloaded a killer cast that put my parasol indicator and nymph rig right where it needed to be. I watched the parasol drift for just a moment when it disappeared completely. I set the hook and was into a very big fish, and I supposed it was the one I had been seeing for the last hour or so.

He took me upstream, downstream, and mid-stream. He tried to hang me up in the weeds, but I was able to coax him free and the fight continued. Finally I was able to bring him to net and what a fish he was. Magnificently colored, a big male brown trout resident of this particular spring and the reason we keep coming back. He never did get me into my backing, but he certainly gave a good battle. He taped out at just a tad over 23-inches, and had shoulders and girth to make him a true trophy in anybody's eyes. To me though, I was able to fool him with a fly that I had tied (#14 Bead-head, Flashback Pheasant-tail), and with a method for fishing spring creeks that I had developed using the Parasol Emerger (not much credit for "developing" a method, it's just a way to be more successful on this type of water). I was using 5X Rio tippet (which I use most everywhere I fish and in most circumstances).

My sons and I, along with their friends, all caught a lot of fish this past year, even though my time on the water has been cut down by about two-thirds as in the past. All trips were memorable, mostly because I was with my son or sons on the water and that makes any trip more memorable for me. There were a lot of standout fish, but this one made quite an impression on me for the year and one I recall often as I play him again and again in my mind.

Here he is:

And here is the same type fly I caught him on:

Now it's your turn to share with us your most memorable fish or fishing experience of the past year.

I'm looking forward to what evolves here. Good luck and have fun!

Best Fishes,

Kelly

 

[swhite1989]

Didn't get to go out much this year, but one trip, my friend and I heard of a good float on the New. Well we knew it wasnt to far driving distance, so we did no research on the actual kayaking distance. It was a 16 mile float!!!! It was horrible!!!!! Neither of us expected it. We both didn't pack lunches and it took us from 7am to 6ish pm to do it, and that was literally paddling the last 3/4s. There was a hella thunderstorm when we were at about 85% completion, so we pulled to the side and waited it out. Also nobody told us about a set of stealth class 3s, my friend tipped over, and lost one of his brand new Crocs, rod, also one of my ratchet straps. It was such a dreadful trip, I caught the biggest of the day so dinner and beer was on my friend.
Here she is, and my friend is in the background. I will never forget this trip! Also, that same night, a guy was murdered on the river bank where we pulled out of, pretty sketch area, but good fishing, just dont let the sun set on you.

 

[Red Owl]

Well, it was the biggest of the year, a 20lb plus Chinook. It jumped seven times and was the largest fish I've ever caught on a fly (egg sucking leech) and took about 1/2 hour to land. That was memorable. I had hooked some earlier but they all broke off. I found out you had better follow a fish and keep as much line in as possible and completely wear it out before getting too short a line, etc, etc. basically correcting for my earlier break offs. The experience also gave me a much better respect for the potential of fly tackle, I had a 9' #8 weight rod and $50 Corland reel- work horse type gear- that seemed fine for the task at hand. The salmon fishing is sort of "tough stuff" and I'm not sure I'd want to be using really expensive tackle as it can get busted up pretty good. So, I caught a fair number of trout in 2012 but the first Chinook (ended up landing 3) was the most memorable. Earlier in the year I caught some nice rainbows in the Smokies when the laurel was in full bloom and I had hiked into an area I had all to myself and there were otter, black bears, deer, and turkeys. That ranks pretty high as well for a pleasant and memorable experience. All in all, 2012 was a very good year and I am gratful for it.

 

[wt bash]

The most memorable, hummmmm there are three that really stand out all from the same creek, Falling Springs. It took a while to get a good line on those fish being that I would only have a few hours on a Saturday night and a couple more on Sunday over the course of two months but to finally hook up with a nice 16" bow (supposedly wild, left over from the red band strain) and a wily little 12" wild brown up towards the head waters. The most memorable fish has become my nemesis or my own personal George. I never hooked him but I've spotted him quite a few times in the same stretch and it is just a monster. The first time I saw him I fell apart, shaking like I had deer fever, sweating like I was in an interrogation room, I made a few casts without spooking him but he wanted nothing to do with what I was offering. The next few times I wouldn't even bother to cast, I'd find a good place to sit and watch him, every now and then you'd see that big ole trap open up and take something. I sat one day and smoked damn near a half a pack of smokes just amazed by this brute of a fish. I would get depressed if I drove past the car park and saw another car thinking maybe that guy got him or maybe he ran the fish off. I will connect with him eventually, a good buddy of mine said he's waiting for me to fish to him with my own hand made split cane rod for a photo op! My only issue is after a fish like that comes to hand, what's next? How to you ever top it?

 

[noreaster]

I took this 2.25 pound 15.5 inch sea run brookie on a dry white miller. The 5 wt. 7'6" Sage Graphite III was bent like an o ring. Had fun keeping him out of the sunkers. I kept this one. But released two or three similar to it just before I took this one. A very beautiful fish and a very memorable fight with no net.

 

[gt05254]

This one is easy for me:

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on a little (#10) Orange Sneaky:

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Gary

 

[Rip Tide]

I guess it would be a big brookie that I got on the Magalloway in Maine.
Not because it was monster fish, but because I had long looked forward to fishing there and the experience lived up to the expectation

 

[kwb]

Probly that Red, simply because of how he absolutely inhaled a Dahlberg Diver off the surface 20' from the boat, was a breathtaking take...

 

[williamhj]

Is it fair to have two?

The first is the most memorable day fishing. That was at the end of the summer. Had a day of guided fishing with my dad, brother, and two brothers-in-law. Several of us caught trout north of 5lbs and I also caught my first snake river cut and Colorado cut. Amazing fishing and nice way to spend a day with family.

My most memorable fish of the year came in September on one of my favorite streams. It had been unofficially closed for the summer because of flows and temps. It 'opened' again towards the end of September and I was anxious to see how the fish held up. Shortly after arriving, I was very happy to catch and release an energetic 9" brown to start a fun day of fishing. It was nice to see how resilient the fish were.

 

[shortyb]

I have two as well. Both of them happen in the spring.

First would be my first trip to the 'horn'. Friends came up from CO and we spent 5 days floating lots of fish. First day I had been the only one to catch any fish. We decided to wade the takeout@ 3mile. After many cast in the back of this pool, I wade deeper and father up. I make a nice cast and my indicator just sits there so I set the hook. I get it on the reel and next thing I know the reel just started clicking. I look around can't see my friends I holler back "I think I need a bigger net" (as I just had my little 14"creek net). My buddy pops out from behind the raft with a net. I played the fish for a while, as I told him to be ready but not to scoop until it ran from him first. Sure enough it ran from him then played it right back and my buddy does a perfect net. It was our first time fishing together and just perfect team work really set the tone for the rest of the trip.

#22 Ray Charles

Second would be on my local creek, had been nymphing all morning until I came up on a pool with quite a few rises. I sat down to watch more as I rerigged. Tossed out my bug 3 or 4 times, no luck. Then practicing my reach cast got it right in the zone watched this brown hammer the surface right next to my fly, though I did not strike. Then saw the brown 180 and just hammer my fly. It was just so neat to watch, and to find out it was just one two pound brown having a feast in a small pool.

#14 sparkling cripple dun variation

 

[jaybo41]

Kind of a tossup for me because I had one of my best days fishing this fall landing three of the largest steelhead I've ever caught, but this brown trout is my most memorable.

This past spring, I was fishing with Chi on our annual trip-10 days of spring creekin'. We were fishing one our favorites, a small stream and it had been a bit of a rough morning for me. I watched Chi land fish after fish while I sipped coffee and observed a master at work. After finally getting into some fish, we moved upstream to a hole that typically holds good numbers of fish, but there is very little flow making it tough to hook up with these spooky fish. Add to that the water was lower than normal and it's a rough go. I looked at the head of the pool where the previous run flows into the pool and saw a fish come up to feed, then a flash of bronze. I had to cast at it and I was rigged with a CDC & Elk. Somewhere between 3-5 casts I hooked into this one. Not a huge fish, but a respectable size for this stream. The unique markings, beautiful colors, great company along with the challenge of getting it to eat make this one my most memorable fish of the year.

 

[latshki]

I have a 50/50 on most memorable fish, well, a number of memorable fish, I'll do 3 haha

1st; My first fish is my first atlantic salmon landed on the fly, although it was a spring fish and not fresh by any means. I had been given reports by a few friends that the fishing was great on this river, my friends had each hooked plenty of fish. So being all excited by their news I made the trek to the mainland to fish. When I got there the river had blown out, the water was raging, 80km/hr wind gusts, -5 and snow. That didn't stop me, it was a couple days of chuckin and duckin and ice cube toes. I had found this pool, but it was too dangerous to cross and fish it, so I walked down river a km or so, at the tail end of the pool, mid swing, something very angry attacked my fly, 15 minutes or so later I tailed the fish myself, took a picture and sent him on his way, he was stunning, even if he was a little lanky, a solid 34" fish

The other two were fish lost, one was a brief, terrifying, amazing experience with one of the monster rainbows that lurk in the depths of our rivers, a fish in the 10 pound range that took me to my backing and whooped my butt in seconds!
The last was a salmon I hooked on the last day of the season, hooked one in the same spot a half hour prior, hooked this guy but he decided to jump into an alder bush, getting my line tangled and ultimately snapping my leader!

 

[jcw355]

Mine would be the biggest Rainbow I've caught since I started fly fishing back in November. Caught in West Virginia.

 

[stimulator2]

I have had several this year but the best was. In the fall with my son and gf Ann we had walked down below the house here for an evening of fishing we only took one rod so we would not be in each others way and was trading the rod after each fish. I told Eli to fish next to a log that was down,now he is 18 so he knows more than dad lol well he caught a small rainbow and gave me the rod with a smirk so of course I had to make a cast to the log with hope,the fly didn't move far when I had a take and it was pulling hard well Ann grabbed the net and to our surprise I had a nice rainbow on the fly and one on the dropper for a double. Eli said how do you do that ,I grinned and told him in time he would learn that I had not taught him everything I knew yet.

 

[theboz]

2012 was a great fishing year for me . Many memorable fish Largemouths , smallmoths, carp , big panfish , trout , catfish , white bass , Pickeral ,Peacock bass , chinnooks, cohos , steelhead, shad and crappies. In the salt there was tarpon , stripers , bluefish , fluke ,weakfish ,seatrout an assortment of grunts and snappers as well as NE species. All these fish brought a smile to my face and made every trip a joy!
But my most memroble fish is the one I didnt catch. And not for lack of trying . Oh I came close , very close as close as a foot from shore but the fish still eludes me and that's the long nose Gar! So my most memorable fish of 2012 will become my goal for 2013!

 

[mcnerney]

Mine would be this rainbow below, the interesting thing about this fish is that it was totally unexpected. I had fished this pool ( probably 80 ft long) a number of times before and it was absolutely loaded with small browns 8-14" that were a blast to fish to on dries. My girlfriend's sister was in town and she wanted to learn to fly fish, so we went out to a private pond, I'm thinking this would be the best bet to get her into a Wyoming trout, but we got skunked.....rats! The next day I took her down to this pool that has been producing like crazy, hard not to hook into 20 or more fish in an afternoon. We get there, I rig up my girlfriend and her sister with dry/dropper rigs and nothing! I'm thinking maybe the recent cold spell has put the fish down, so I tie on a double nymph rig and begin showing the girlfriend's sister how to cast, how to mend, how to let it drift, etc and bam this huge Rainbow comes out of nowhere and hits my nymph. After landing that fish I go down to the bottom of the pool and wade across the stream and walk the far bank that is elevated off the water and all the little fish were gone, the only fish left in the pool was this big Rainbow.

 

[williamhj]

I wonder if a few of those little fish are still in the rainbow? Nice fish!

 

[wtl]

I went all out over the summer so I caught a lot of memorable fish. First of a species are always memorable.

1. Golden Trout, Bighorns. A couple in particular were especially vibrant.

2. First steelhead, Clackamas river. Actually, I was close to another before hand. Didnt think to beach the fish, and lost him cause I had no way to land him. Didn't know about tailing fish either. Slick 7 or 8 lber swam out of my hand a few times. The one I did land was much smaller. Funny it doesn't much matter.

3. 1st Guadelupe bass, which is the fish that got me to the bass grand slam.

4. A monster smallie at the south umpqua.

5. Very early in the year I caught a couple 5 lb or so coosa spotted bass. Kinda got me off to a fast start.

6. First landlocked atlantic salmon, hosmer lake, or.

But there were plenty of others. This was not a nondescript year, so now I gotta figure out how to top it.

 

[Jimmie]

My first and only Stripper even though it wasn't very big.

 

[comeonavs]

For me it was this guy. I went camping where the streams are SMALL....like 3 feet wide and 10" deep. All I took was my 1wt since I planned on a weekend of 6" Brookies. Well I found a beaver pond that had some nice looking fish cruising around . First cast with a size 18 Hi Vis Parachute Adams and pow this 17" hog hit it hard. What a blast on the 1WT, he put on a arial display.

Before the pic I apologize about him being in the dirt. I didn't bring a net based on expecting 6" fish all weekend