Awesome Catches 2014

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Eli
Eli's picture
Awesome Catches 2014
<p>Every year this thread comes up around this time, and I thought I&#39;d get things started. Everyone, lets see your best catches of 2014! Maybe we can get a slideshow going? Regardless, it&#39;ll be good to see some fish porn while waiting for the ice to thicken.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Lake Whitefish. Because it&#39;s been a long, long time coming. Hoping to lay a beating on them in 2015.</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/70937256@N08/13234492185" title="IMG_4835 by Eli_Fridland, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_4835" height="375" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7218/13234492185_44c8e634e0.jpg" width="500" /></a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Shorthorn Sculpin. Because they&#39;re awesome looking and completely ignored by all local anglers.</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/70937256@N08/14545584902" title="IMG_5788 by Eli_Fridland, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_5788" height="333" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5536/14545584902_743fb6e165.jpg" width="500" /></a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Lake Trout. Because it&#39;s a giantass trout caught from shore in the middle of an intoxicating wilderness. And because I can now say my biggest trout is bigger than my biggest carp (which appeals to me for some reason).</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/70937256@N08/14806489132" title="IMG_0510 by Eli_Fridland, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_0510" height="333" src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2903/14806489132_2cb1425e55.jpg" width="500" /></a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Mountain Whitefish. Because I&#39;d all but given up on catching one, when catch one I did. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/70937256@N08/14829375623" title="IMG_0754 by Eli_Fridland, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_0754" height="333" src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2896/14829375623_737a11a50a.jpg" width="500" /></a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Northern Puffer. Because I had no idea they ranged into New Jersey.</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/70937256@N08/15935014126" title="IMG_5533 by Eli_Fridland, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_5533" height="375" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7462/15935014126_6e01b3165b.jpg" width="500" /></a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>There are many others, of course, but I think those are my top five.</p>
krazyk
krazyk's picture
I love these threads. It's re

I love these threads. It's really cool seeing everybody's catches from the year.

This was my first sucker ever. I caught this White sucker in mid-May on an extremely muddy/slippery creek bank. I ended up almost falling in while holding the fish. It was so muddy if I hadn't had my landing net I wouldn't have been able to release this guy back haha. 



This was my best smallmouth bass I've ever caught. It was an incidental catch but it was an honest to god 20" and I got a NY Dec Catch & release award for it. :)



While tiny this Blacknose dace was significant to me because it was the first fish I ever caught on a fly rod with a fly. I had a tiny midge fly tied on and I was missing small strikes constantly. Once I got this guy in I realized I was missing hundreds of strikes because they were all 2" fish. Haha



This was one of many wild Brook trout I caught in a tiny, tiny stream in the Adirondacks. This beautiful girl was significant to me because I caught a nice wild brook trout with a fly rod with small piece of night crawler... just like my Grandfather did and his Grandfather before him. Gotta keep those family traditions alive!



And finally, this big White sucker was just a couple months ago and represents a really great season I had. After an incidental catch of my first sucker over the season I figured them out pretty good. I caught over 20 white suckers and even taught my little sister and my wife how to catch them. I even found a really reliable spot. I cracked the code inbetween working like a dog.

Chain Pickerel: All the bad assery of a Northern Pike wrapped up in a smaller, prettier package.

drawer.bli
drawer.bli's picture
This year has been great for

This year has been great for me, probably the best out of my 13 years. 

 

It it started off with my first shad. These things fight hard and jump like salmon.

 

Then in came my last minute freshwater drum and smallmouth bass right by minnehaha falls.

 

Then comes my first sucker. Apparently I'm the only one who can't catch suckers one this site. I haven't caught a single one since this.

 

During my northwest trip, I caught my first staghorn sculpin and rainbow trout.

the Staghorn sculpin look awesome.

 

The he rainbow was a beardslee 

 

Next is my first chain pickerel, made worthy of remembrance by being that I caught it on a school field trip and the picture was taken by my social studies teacher, who is also an avid fisherman 

 

There re is many more but these are the finest angling moments of my year

 

happy holidays to everyone!

 

 

_

http://bassonthegolfcourse.blogspot.com/

Corey
Corey's picture
Wow

Awesome catches, drawer.bli!

Man, you caught some great fish, and several species that I would love to catch someday!

Really looking forward to see what you catch in 2015.

Corey
Corey's picture
Awesome catches

I didn't get a lot of pics this year, but I had my moments. I didn't get any photos of bass and pike, which is too bad because I caught some chunkers. I'm picky about the photos I post. But it was a good year for me.

Awesome early spring hogsucker.

Big Silver Redhorse (Cue Andy's Awesome "Big Silver" Guitar Riff)

20 inch freaking mountain whitefish. This made my entire year.

A stupid trout. Golden-Cutthroat-Rainbow hybrid. But I walked 20 miles to get it,

Greater Redhorse. Good pic of a good fish (for me).

Thanks, Eli! I love it. Man, every year we all get to post our most awesome catches of the year, and every year I feel humbled by the great fishermen who post great fish! I feel like a shlub for not having more to contribute.This community of badass anglers has made my life so much better and so much more interesting that it is hard for me to express just how important it is for all of us to share our experiences and make the world recognize that all of our our North American fishes are sportfishes!

Keep the great fish pics coming!

 

 

 

 

 

captain_cyprinid
whitefish

if any of you ever need help with whitefish just message me.

Hengelaar
Hengelaar's picture
Yes!!

I was thinking about this yearly awesomeness just yesterday. I was wondering if maybe I should try to start it, but was feeling too shy. Then I thought: "Maybe Eli will get it started..." And boom!

 

This is always fantastic. Two reasons why: 1. Seeing everybody's great catches is great drooling material, and very inspiring. 2. Even if (you think) you've had a shitty year, there are always highlights to be found.

 

It's been a weird year for me. I've been fishing a lot, which is great, but there have been many dry spells. Weird ones, too. But, browsing through my folders, I found plenty of stuff to share. So here goes...

 

A personal best Tench. Any Tench is a special catch to me. They're just so damn beautiful and mysterious. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good photos, but better than no photos at all...

 

 

A beautiful, large Common Carp. Caught on the float, from a spot that's very special to me, and where I hadn't fished in over two(?!) years...

 

 

Just like last summer, we didn't have much luck with Wels fishing. At all. But at least I did catch a proper one again. And on a bobber, to boot...

 

 

Holy shitsticks, I caught a Quillback!!!! Thanks to Johnny, for being the good luck charm...

 

 

Great times at great rivers with great guys. Here's a beautiful River Redhorse I sight fished at one of my favorite places in the whole damn world. With Aaron and the inimitable Mr. Kol...

 

 

Fantastic times angling for toothy, armored prehistorics with brother Josh. The Gar were some frustrating monkeypluckers, of course, but we brought several to hand. Including this big MidNose...

 

 

We got to experience Bowfinity. More than once, too. Fins surfacing all around. Bites and runs and splashes and misses and jumps and thrashes. Doubles, solo doubles, and even triples. Holy crapstacks, unbelievable. Here's the biggest one. She might have made 30", if she hadn't been all shredded to hells. What a rad fish, though. Bowfin are so fkin awesome...

 

 

It's difficult (and not necessary!) to pick a favorite among the highlights. But, if you held a gun to my head, I'd take it away from you, stick it up your ass and squeeze the trigger till it went "click". But, if you made me choose, I'd probably pick this one. Shitcheah, I caught a Seabass!!!! On a lure. From shore. This has been a major wish for several years, and several hard efforts were needed, but I actually got one! I still don't really have a clue what I'm doing out there, but I did get one. A good one, too...

 

 

For the last month, I've been putting the hours in hard for them Big Pike. So far, I've only caught two. But the first one was a fantastic specimen...

 

 

Great stuff, everybody! Can't wait to see what else will be put up here.


And 2014 ain't quite over yet...

Fishn sure is neat

CoolWater
CoolWater's picture
2014

I always look forward to this annual thread.  With two little ones, fishing remains something I have to fit in around a ton of competing responsibilities.  The kindred spirits here at RF are the salve for my soul when I can't get out. 

Surprisingly, I did have a few fish highlights despite a rather dismal amount of total fishing time.  A work trip offered a chance to fish in the Atlantic and nab my first ever Striped Bass (and a decent one at that), I also upgraded my best LM Bass and had a nice Grass Carp catch.

CoolWater's Blog:  www.coolwaterfish.com

roughfish29
roughfish29's picture
Awesome catches everyone! Sup

Awesome catches everyone! Super humbling to see all this, you guys rock.

2014 was an awesome year, learned a whole lot, caught a whole lot, and most importantly, had a whole lot of fun!

I'll start with my favorite catch of the year, this Black Redhorse. It was my first ever, and it took me many many trips to this spot to connect with one.

Catching my biggest River Redhorse and 2nd biggest Sturgeon on my birthday was pretty darn cool too..

A big River Redhorse and a Big Mooneye from the coolest place in the world

A nice Smalliebuff that I caught sooooper late one night on the Minnesota

And an Eely Eel

zippyFX
zippyFX's picture
Alot of first for me this yea

Alot of first for me this year but these stand out for me:

 

4 lb Silver Redhourse:

 

My first Lake Sturgeon:

 

Quillback Rockfish

Spiney dogfish (my first shark):

Great Sculpin:

My PB Freshwater Drum:

 

Mike B
Mike B's picture
My biggest laker through ice

My biggest laker through ice in a couple years was caught in April.

First open water fish of the year a nice bull Arctic grayling -- May.

My monster trout wasn't as big as Eli's monster trout but it's still a monster trout.

Muncho Lake mountain whitefish

Great scuplin -- another cool Myoxocephalus -- this time on the Pacific Ocean.

My first Dolly Varden, and last char to close out my North American lifelist.

I got a lot of buzz out of this pike -- here and elsewhere. Caught this enormous northern while practically the entire Northwest Territories was on fire.

One of my bigger coney from '14.

I was so happy to catch this fine specimen of a round whitefish.

First ice

mike b

Jason E.
Jason E.'s picture
For me, it was the year of bi

For me, it was the year of big carp and big rock bass.  Not much else to crow about, but I did have lots of fun.  Caught plenty of average sized channel cats, suckers, redhorse, bass, walleye, and bullheads.  Unfortunately, my fall fishing was cut short because I got horribly sick with this flu bug that's been going around. 

The high water during May and June, for some reason, produced the best carp fishing I've ever experienced.  For several weeks, nearly every time I went to a spot a few blocks from my house, I caught a carp bigger than 28 inches.  I caught numerous 32-36 inch fish and I was almost to the point of taking this rare opportunity for granted.  I'll only post two of the pics, to avoid being repetitive.  I'm not the greatest photographer/poser in the world, but in my defense, these fish were HEAVY. 

A 34 inch specimen:

A 35 inch specimen:

As summer heat came, I caught numerous rock bass over 10 inches, including this one in late summer that measured 11.5 inches.

On a trip to Milwaukee, I also caught this nice stonecat.

TonyS
TonyS's picture
Some awesome stuff everybody

Some awesome stuff everybody

 

I had a good year...

While it isn't a monster I got my current PB Lake Trout through the ice in January in the coldest weather I've fished through.

 

I got a surprise lifer with a Black Buffalo from my local favorite river in the spring:

 

The June contest was kind to me, not just for 42 species but a Quillback (a rare catch for me)

 

And a record-class Northern Hogsucker

 

Late in summer I managed a new PB Channel Cat canoeing a river that more-or-less grew up on

 

And just the past week I've started working on cracking the ice Carp code, I figuring out one piece at a time...

Eli
Eli's picture
Awesome photos everyone! Keep

Awesome photos everyone! Keep em coming.

 

iliketofish, really strange seeing American Shad and King Salmon being caught at the same time. Must be a west coast thing? Do your shad run in the fall or do your salmon run in the spring?

Eli

 

 

SK Justin
SK Justin's picture
Awesome Catches 2014
My first tarpon.
 
I had broken off two prior to landing this one. Not a large fish, but an exhilirating one nonetheless. It was our first night of fishing in the Keys, and we were casting jigs near a bridge on an outgoing tide. I'll never forget drifting between the bridge pilings in the dark, and having to drive the rod into the water to clear the edge of the boat while the tarpon was jumping on the opposite side of the boat, gill plates rattling. Would have been cool to get some better photos.
 
 
Horse-eye Jack.
 
I caught this fish in some sort of a pit/pond just down the street from the house where we were staying . This piece of water had no visible inlet/outlet, but was affected by the tide and very deep. I'd walk down here whenever we weren't able to fish from the boat, and caught a variety of micro species, as well as mangrove snapper and barracuda. The jack hit a free-lined mojarra that I had just caught. It's a memorable catch to me simply due to the fact that I caught it without any knowledge of what species were even in this "pond", and the battle it put up on light tackle. 
 
 
Two-tone carp.
 
I did a fair bit of carp fishing this season, both with fly rod and with bait. This fish came from an epic day of instant takes while fishing a pop-up on a hinged stiff rig. Many times I didn't even have my baitrunner engaged or in the alarm yet, and I'd get a screaming run.
 
 
Personal best tiger trout.
 
On a particularly slow day of trout fishing, this fish was kind enough to give me a tug. It picked up a bloodworm pattern that I was slowly drifting along, and gave a great battle.
 
Dr Flathead
Dr Flathead's picture
Those are some crazy catches!

Nice work all.  I didnt get out too much this year.  Well not as much as I'm used to anyways.  Did manage a few good ones. Been having issues here with starting a new paragraph in posts, so wont be able to post this quite the way I'd like.  The first 3 pics are from the roughfish roundup this last spring.  My first Shovelnose there, biggest Trout from there, and first roundup Quillback.  Always a good time there.  Seen a ton of cool fish caught there last spring...                   And A P/B Tiger Muskie caught over the summer...                   My kids finally old enough to fish the river with me.  Old enough to catch and hold redhorse!                   Enjoying the show fellas.  Keep 'em coming...

the bearded angler
the bearded angler's picture
http://www.roughfish.com/~rou

http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfish/content/posting-pics-0 

its coming up page not found and I cant seem to post pics from photobucket on here. I would like to add some fish porn but am having trouble, ugh. Any tips ?

 

Nice fish everyone !!! Too many awesome catches to individually comment on.

Corey
Corey's picture
Try this link

http://www.roughfish.com/content/posting-pics-0

andy
andy's picture
Here's my top 6

2014 was a good year.  I fished for a lot more "traditional" species than usual - black basses, pike, crappies, trout - mainly for food but it's always fun to have good success.  Aside from that, Roundup was the highlight of my year!  The same day I shook Superfrog's hand on the riverbank and congratulated him for breaking my golden redhorse record, I caught a contender with this 20.5" specimen - probably within a couple ounces of Sir Frog's fish.  I am happy to have a goal now - I will catch a golden over 4 pounds, mark my words!

 

Okay I should back up a few months!  Took a fun trip to Green Bay with Tony and Avidfly and we found some good lake whitefish action.  I caught five, which makes it the best day I've had chasing this cool fish.

 

At Paula's Redhorse Run on the St. Croix, I caught just one fish - this chubby prespawn female river redhorse.

 

 

Lots of good redhorse fishing this year - this was a 26" greater redhorse that was a patron of Frank's Bar.

 

Pike fishing was great this year, lots of fish over 10 pounds.  This was the highlight of my June, a 14 pound brute that ate a gold dardevle as it sank down to 40'. 

 

 

Had a great weekend trolling out in Door County, WI and we got into a lot of steelhead.  This was my largest, maybe my biggest rainbow trout ever.  Kicking myself for not measuring this fish - it was easily over 30".

 

 

You guys all have such awesome catches here, I'm definitely humbled every year by seeing this thread!  I'm still holding out for my best catch of 2014 - hopefully a huge slob of a burbot that gets me into the Ling King club!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the bearded angler
the bearded angler's picture
Thanks for the proper link bt

Thanks for the proper link btw Corey.

2014 was a year of many personal bests, crazy weather, flooding and high water, along with a few major life changes.

 

This bigmouth was a nice day ending fish on a carp trip, not my longest caught but a great fight and size.

This Freshwater Drum was around 28 inches with a full belly, sadly the smaller ones seemed to have more fight but I wasn't about to complain about this one.

My PB Common Carp around 33 inches

While walleye fishing this fall on the Red River north of Selkirk I caught my personal best 3 foot channel catfish on medium tackle 8 pound mono (not the typical tackle I would use if targetting them). It was one hell of a fight and had a nose like I've never seen on a kitty.

Late summer catfishing this Stonecat hit my whole shrimp on a 5/0 circle hook. Ended up being another PB and a highlite on what was otherwise a frustrating day haveing lost 3 brutes to snags.

This fall we spent some time on a few creeks hammering creek chubs to get a fix waiting for ice. Many were in the 10 to 11 inch range.

A few quillbacks weren't affraid to bite on a few outings as well.

There were some great not so rough fish caught as well however photobucket is crashing out or maybe I am.

Great diversity of fish and pics everyone!!

 

Eli
Eli's picture
Holyshit those are nice quill

Holyshit those are nice quillback! Care to share how you're getting them?

Eli

 

 

the bearded angler
the bearded angler's picture
The quillback were biting 3 i

The quillback were biting 3 inch trigger X minnows worked very subtly on a current edge, as well there was a baitfish run some kind of shiners i believe with many being chased and breaching the water so we caught a few and used them for bait succesfully.

drawer.bli
drawer.bli's picture
Holy cow!!!!!!! My jaw droppe

Holy cow!!!!!!!

My jaw dropped when I saw the size of that creek chub! What a beast!

 

 

_

http://bassonthegolfcourse.blogspot.com/

Steven
Steven's picture
2014

Channel Catfish

 

 

Alligator Gar

 

Nicole
Nicole's picture
2014

Largemouth Bass

 

 

 

My first shark - Bonnethead Shark

 

Carp Chaser
Carp Chaser's picture
I have to get in on this. It

I have to get in on this. It was an incredible year and I had some of my best catches ever: lifers, difficult species, and micros. Not going to post everything, just highlights.  

 

From top down: longear sunfish (Missouri), shadow bass (Missouri), blue cat (Missouri), yellow bass, new personal best carp, longnose sucker, summertime american eel, redear sunfish, quillback.

a few micros: rainbow darter, knobfin sculpin, logperch

"There's always a bigger fish"

Carp Chaser
Carp Chaser's picture
(No subject)

"There's always a bigger fish"

Cast_and_Blast
Cast_and_Blast's picture
My catches are not as impress

My catches are not as impressive in size but I did manage 20 new lifers for the year.  My favorites are the much awaited Chain Pickerel and the surprise catch Dollar Sunfish.

 

 

Outdoors4life
Outdoors4life's picture
This one pic represent a lot

This one pic represent a lot to me this year.

One of 2 Shovelnose I caught at the roundup

 

4 pound test fixed line rod

 

 

It is all perspective!

Acer Home Inspections

badfish
badfish's picture
Awesome fish everyone! Wish I

Awesome fish everyone! Wish I had something to contribute but with work being so busy and my dad being diagnosed with cancer and then passing away 2 months later it's been a tough year to get out. Looking through my pics I have nothing to contribute of any quality.  I did manage to catch some big smallmouth bass and win a kayak fishing tournament with a grand prize of a brand new kayak.  But only have the photos of the fish on the measuring board, the good photos are on my cell phone at the bottom of the Mississippi somewhere along with a couple rods and some tackle...damn strainers. But the year isn't over! I've been hitting the ice for some much needed therapy, hopefully have something to add soon.

dj330
dj330's picture
caught a new personal best mu

caught a new personal best musky this year.

also caught my first musky on a fly rod while fishing for bowfin this spring

while targetting fins with the fly rod i caught my biggest ever on a fly and biggest this year

i made my annual visit to florida this year and caught a whole bunch of neat saltwater lifers

 

my very first fish from open water this year ended up being a personal best walleye at 28" long

i also caught a new personal best brown trout this spring.

 

i really enjoyed seeing everyones photos. it looks like everyone had a pretty awesome year of fishing and i am excited to see what 2015 brings.

 

MNbowfinangler
MNbowfinangler's picture
2014

I always enjoy seeing the awesome catches (and photography) you all put up this time of year! It's very humbling and provides some great fodder for daydreaming about future trips.

I had a good year of lifelisting in 2014, catching 28 new species. Most of them came from a trip to Catalina Island and Long Beach in June. I also caught my first Shortnose Gar, Pink Salmon and some assorted micro-species in the MIdwest.

 

Shortnose Gar  (Thanks Garman!)


Pink Salmon (Sault Ste Marie, MI)

Personal best Coho Calmon (not a lifelister):

California Moray:

Opaleye - one of my neatest looking fish from 2014:

California Halibut - my first ever specimen from the order Pleuronectiformes (halibuts, flounders, etc.):

Kelp Bass:

 

fishingwithpole
fishingwithpole's picture
My most impressive catches th

My most impressive catches this year are my first ever sauger that I caught in the Ohio River after 8 years of seeking in both Canada and the States, and my first ever bighead carp I caught in Illinois, which is quite rare in Japan.

FWP

Gunnar
Gunnar's picture
2014: a pretty good year

Wow. Everyone's catches are extremely impressive.

It wasn't a bad year for me, though some usually-easy species avoided me (I'm talking to you, longnose gar). And, as usual, crappies completely avoided me.

All told, I fished at least a little on 43 days, caught 49 species, and added 16 lifers.

My favorite fish of the year were the 2 species of gar that allowed me to complete my goal of getting all 5 US gar species. In January I caught a bunch of Florida gar in the canal next to the Tamiami Trail.



Half a year later, in the same Illinois lake where I caught a gator gar in 2013, I caught the least impressive spotted gar ever seen:

 

I've been tormented by grass carp for years. This year I tied white fuzzy flies to mimic cottonwood fluff and connected with a bunch of them (and a surprise silver carp) on the 1st of June. The first one I landed:

 

While fishing for sturgeon and mooneyes in the Wisconsin River, I got a gift that's very rare in Wisconsin: a goldeye:




I was happy to FINALLY get some longears in 2014. First was the northern, caught in Wisconsin:



And then a central longear in Illinois:

 

Finally, a couple cool saltwater species from Puget Sound:

The vermillion rockfish:



And I caught lots of super-cool staghorn sculpins:

Other lifers this year were oscar, spotted sunfish, spotted tilapia, walking catfish, lane snapper, white grunt, and gulf toadfish. (Also striped shiner, but stupidly failed to get photos.)

Can't wait to see what cool fish 2015 will have in store for all of us.


 

 

Redhorse ID cheatsheets, gars, suckers: moxostoma.com


2020: 10 days fishing 11 species 0 lifers. 2019: 34/45/13 2018: 39/40/5