2014 fish of the year

[idahoron]

For several years I have posted this. So what was your fish of the year? For me the last few years I have chosen a Sturgeon. It would be easy to do that again but this year I am posting a Catfish. This trip was early this spring and the water was 53 degrees. On this day I caught 27 catfish in 4 hours and this was the best one. This fish was not the biggest fish I caught this year but it was a awesome day of fishing.




Okay, here is the runner up. This one was caught by my son. I hooked this fish and passed him off. It was an awesome fish.


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[chrome_junky]

First Clearwater spring of the year is always my number one. Followed by any steelhead on a fly but when it's a steelhead on your own pattern the first time fishing a new body of water.....now that's special.
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[idahoron]

Those look great!
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[gstott]

Mine would have to be the 21" largemouth I caught.

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It was a beautiful sunny day of about 75°, and in mid October no less. I also caught 2 at 20", 2 at 19", five at 18", and a whole slew of smaller fish. Most were caught burning lipless and shallow running cranks along a break. It was a very fun day for sure and a good way to wrap up the bass season.
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[fishfighter91]

I always love this thread! It's always fun to see what everyone else is up to and which fish stuck out in their mind.
This year if had my first trip to Alaska. Been dreaming about fishing up there since i was in diapers. So tied for first place is probably the first silver salmon I caught. It was such an awesome fight and since I had chosen to go up there unguided it was also a HUGE relief that I actually could do it on my own. The tie goes to a fish I caught in southeast Texas in a saltwater lake. I was fishing for some little sand perch with my light setup for baitfish to use as bait when I got a lite bite. I set the hook and it felt like I hooked a log that decided to start swimming away. We were in the mouth of a canal and boats kept coming in and every time on did I was scared it would snap my 8-10lb test line before I could see the fish. Just over 30 minutes after the hookup I pulled in a 38" 28.25 lb Black drum fish. Biggest fish of my life so far. Looking forward to 2015 and all the adventures it brings! Hoping that the 28lber won't be biggest for much longer .
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[gstott]

I wish I could have traveled this past year. Those salt water fish sound like a lot of fun. I was stuck fishing within an hour of home this year, just no time.
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[idahoron]

I am glad you enjoy this annual thread. I was beginning to think no one was going to play along. AWESOME fish!!!!
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[iliketofish]

Always one of my favorite threads of the year too!
Nice pics everybody, keep em coming!
Here's mine (though I'm not going to attempt to pare it down to just one...)

3 Spine Stickleback:
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New personal best walleye:
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Not my biggest salmon of the year, but I got this one while shad fishing at Bonneville on a little trout rod... It was fun!
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Painted Greenling:
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New personal best Channel Kitty:
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My first Tiger Trout:
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[Tazasorus]

So this Salmon I caught up at Orofino was the fish closest to my heart. What was so special was that it broke me off above my bobber yet I had hooked it through the bony part of its upper lip and it didn't get off. Fifteen minutes later my bobber popped back up in the middle of the river, I cast a lure 70 yards out over the line and brought my busted line in by hand landing the fish. The one that got away but didn't!
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[caupwhiting]

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[Fishman887]

The week before Christmas at catalina island I caught my first saltwater fish. Fishing from shore I caught opaleye, geribaldi, calico bass, and some various perch. My brother in law even caught an octopus while we were night fishing. Definitely a memorable trip.
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[SteelFisher]

Two fish in 2014 that stood out for me. My first chinook in Idaho and my first Clearwater steelhead.
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[pookiebar]

Those are some beautiful fish!
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[buckhunterhart]

First and only mackinaw caught to date on Bear Lake. Rainy and cold on my birthday in late April. Just a pup, but it was the catch of the year for me.
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[Duck-Slayer]

This was a sweet day..... also my first smallmouth threw the Ice...
Matt




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[SmartWeed]

A couple of smallmouth:





And a largemouth or two:





Then there was this 21" largemouth that during the fight spit up the 9" perch shown.


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[idahoron]

Awesome fish!! I was hoping you would post a new picture or two.
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[ddmoogs]

My personal best brown out of the Weber.

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[windriver]

As I flipped through my fish pics of 2014 it was amazing that I recalled a memorable story behind each pic whether it was a massive fish or standard stocker. It really isn't about the fish, but rather the people holding them, or the day they were caught on, or the adventure to and from... Here are some of my fish of the year 2014.
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[windriver]

Thanks for posting this again. It is fun seeing everyone with their "fish of the year."

Windriver
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