2024 Fish Pic Thread

[Harry]

2024 is here, and we have 365 days of awesome fishing ahead of us.

Enjoy it and post pics.


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[I've seen black diamonds!]

I decided to kick off the new year off with some dry fly action. Went to a small tailwater where the flows are extremely low, but the water temp is pretty good. Little guys were coming up to eat midges.





Larger fish were not impressed.

After I fished through all the good water I went back and tried gently jigging a streamer through the spots where I saw (or suspected the presence) of bigger (for this creek) trout. Lots of follows. Three solid takes. Zero fish landed. With the water as low as it is I really only had a shot at one good cast per hole and I came up empty. When I got back to the car I notice that the hook point on my Slumpbuster was about as sharp as a hammer. That's a solid approach to not catching fish.

Happy new year fish people.

[Underoos]

Thanks for starting the thread, Harry. I've got a plane ticket for tomorrow and a couple 8 wts packed.

[skifishbum]

started the new year with another rainbow, brown. splake troutfecta




stillwaters have fished great this fall /winter which is nice as the skiings been mostly meh

[romeo tango]

^
FKNA!

[::: :::]

Haha, nice fish!


jfc, one day I need to learn how to fish…


‘24 license purchased & donation to odfw for a harvest tag i likely won’t really challenge

[Rasputin]

SFBTGAPP+ getting some! Happy new year!

[Rasputin]

Well, the weather was not pleasant today, in fact it was bitter at times. However, the cold air trapped in the valley creates excellent hoarfrost conditions, and it is bordering on magical.





The trail down to the confluence looked like something out of Narnia.





A bush.





It was very slow fishing today, but I caught a ten inch rainbow early on, my hands were unable to hold him for the picture. Later, on the lower end of the confluence, I hooked up on my trailer, a Northshore stonefly nymph; this guy is skinny, but I wasn't complaining, he was fourteen inches of whitefish fury.





Later, after the laborious task of shedding down to where i could take a leak, and getting some food in me, swapped rigs to a hothead leach with a pink pearlhead pheasant tail hanging off of it. It had been really slow, and there was just enough of a breeze to keep the hurt on my fingers in a big way. I had also swapped out reels, as the one I'd been using has developed a tendency for the drag to slip and free spool (the #%@&!* Echo base reel!). I wasn't expecting anything, where I'd casted, but sure enough, the bubble dunked under, and I hooked a decent sized trout, who tragically came unpinned before I could get it close enough to grab the net, but I saw it, and that lead me to being sorely disappointed, it was a nice fish. I didn't get any more bites, and lost the pink pearl nymph. However, I am glad that I know where a biggish fish holds in cold weather, and feeds sometimes.





I also scouted out another part of the Bitterroot near a bridge upstream a mile or so, there are city no parking signs starting a quarter mile from the bridge on either side, but there are bike racks in a turnout right at the bridge. I'm thinking I'll be pedaling out there sometime soon. The Bitterroot is a bit warmer than the Clark Fork, and there is some good looking water there, so my interest is piqued.

[The Reverend Floater]

2024 is going to be awesome.

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[The Reverend Floater]

One more photo. It was an emotional moment for me...I've been dreaming of landing a permit for a long time but haven't had too many good opportunities, even in permit country. Their reputation as pschizo fish seems pretty accurate--they zig and zag, are spooky as all get up and never seem to actually take your fly.

I had a handful of follows this morning but no takes. Then this guy came across the flat rolling solo. Put the fly on its beak, one slow strip and BAM...smashed it. This little bastard took me down well into my backing in about 8 seconds.

So fun. Extra cool because my wife came with me for a few hours and got to witness it. If I can land a poon this evening, it'll be a grand slam...not that I care or anything (I admit it would be really cool and want it to happen).



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[teleee]

One more photo. It was an emotional moment for me...I've been dreaming of landing a permit for a long time but haven't had too many good opportunities, even in permit country. Their reputation as pschizo fish seems pretty accurate--they zig and zag, are spooky as all get up and never seem to actually take your fly.

I had a handful of follows this morning but no takes. Then this guy came across the flat rolling solo. Put the fly on its beak, one slow strip and BAM...smashed it. This little bastard took me down well into my backing in about 8 seconds.

So fun. Extra cool because my wife came with me for a few hours and got to witness it. If I can land a poon this evening, it'll be a grand slam...not that I care or anything (I admit it would be really cool and want it to happen).



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Hell yes! Congratulations- I know people have fished for years without landing one. They are wiley bastards.


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[I've seen black diamonds!]

^^^^ Sweet. Congrats.

[Harry]

2024 is going to be awesome.

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Fuck yeah !


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[Rasputin]

Strong work Floater!

[The Reverend Floater]

Welp, no grand slam. Casting a 12wt in the pitch black to the sound of the occasional rolling poon was tough. I did hook one but lost it on the first jump...hard to see them jump in the dark!

Sweet trip all around, though. Poon, Snook, Bones and my first permit, all in four days of fishing, is all right by me!

Thanks for the props, all. It was a great day.

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[jpcm]

Welp, no grand slam. Casting a 12wt in the pitch black to the sound of the occasional rolling poon was tough. I did hook one but lost it on the first jump...hard to see them jump in the dark!

Sweet trip all around, though. Poon, Snook, Bones and my first permit, all in four days of fishing, is all right by me!

Thanks for the props, all. It was a great day.

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Sweet trip man! Love seeing the salt pics, Sttarting to plan my first trip for next year. You’re in Belize right? Have you been fishing guided our diy?

[::: :::]

Sweet trip all around, though. Poon, Snook, Bones and my first permit, all in four days of fishing, is all right by me!

You look stoked!
Thx for sharing — such a cool trip

[Rasputin]

I was all excited to go try a new spot today, then woke up with a headache. Undeterred I took a couple ibuprofens, heated a rice sock which I put on my neck, and other such like methods to relieve the tension in my neck and shoulders which are the primary cause of the headaches I get. By noon or so I was ready to go, and pedaled to the new area I wanted to try. The sun was out and it was pretty.





Yes it looked great, but the wind was blowing about ten to fifteen mph, and gusting upwards of twenty. It was comically painful. It was one of those afternoons, where nothing worked, I lost two of the new flies ISBD sent me, (one nymph which disappeared mysteriously, and a dry fly I put on when a fish had the temerity to rise twice right where I was drifting my nymph rig). Nothing I did earned even the slightest bump, though the water looked so good, and I even saw a fish flashing in the area of my drift. On top of the miseries of brutal wind, and no fish biting, there was incessant traffic on the nearby road, which surprised me and aggravated my fraying temper. I'd be lying if I said I didn't bitch and moan about it quite a bit. So I apologized to God for all the cursing, and saddled up and rode over to my usual haunts, arriving on the water about 45 minutes before sunset. I just wanted to catch a fish.

I tied on a rubber legs/pink worm rig, and after a while I got a slow take which yielded a stout fourteen incher (he liked the worm), which I fumbled and dropped, as I took this picture of it:





At this point I cracked a bit, as I really just wanted to get one fish pic, and I'd just dropped what I expected would be my only chance at it. All my frustration, which was likely driven by the headache I stuffed into my subconcious with ibuprofen and ganga, came to the surface, and I shuddered in what I would call a standard fishing meltdown/catharsis.

I didn't expect to get another fish, being profoundly pessimistic about my prospects, but I stubbornly refused to have the day end on a blunder. I switched to a red worm with a Northshore stone. I recently bought a number of the Northshore stonefly nymphs from the $7/dozen bin at a local fly shop, I just thought it looked like a really fishy nymph, and it'd already caught a white fish on my last outing. On the first cast, it caught the smallest fish of the day which I took a picture of not figuring I'd get any more, and I just wanted one good fish pic.





I was very wrong to think I would not catch any more fish, very wrong. Oh me so faithless and slow to believe in the power of The Almighty God of fishing (and the Grand Universe)! I kept throwing the line, and my bobber kept diving,





...and diving,





and diving,





and diving some more.





In fact, as the sun had set and the light faded, the fish didn't stop. In fact a whitefish wanted to get in on the action:





One more trout got me to pull out the camera:





At this point, I decided I'd throw five more casts. I said out loud, "Lord, it would wrap it up nicely if I caught the big one now..." and sure as shootin', on the next cast I hooked the biggest fish of the day, and he was about at my feet when he popped off the hook, DOH! Thou shalt not tempt the Almighty God of fishing (and of all the other parts of creation)!

The Northshore stone had landed twenty trout and one whitefish, all in about an hour (and I was full of the smug for having picked that killer nymph out of the bargain bin). Some of the hottest fishing I've ever experienced. The night ended when a thread from my frayed and unraveling Northcoast stone managed to tie itself to the leader above the indicator leading me to accidentally cut it off, and then drop it in the river. Time to leave!

[I've seen black diamonds!]

I had a super satisfying streamer eat from this big headed, oddly colored fellow. Fishing in low, clear water, I was creeping along a stretch where the stream bed was one big solid rock. I spotted a place where the rock was carved out, leaving exactly the sort of of overhanging structure where a brown trout likes to spend its days. I cast my streamer beyond this crack in the rock and let it sink to the bottom. Then I tugged it gently toward me until it descended right past the crack. I saw a flash of motion in the dark. I gave the streamer a quick jerk and the brown rocketed out of the crack to investigate. It stopped just inches from my streamer and they drifted downstream in unison. I gave my sculpzilla one last little twitch and the fish sucked it in. Sweet.

I'm pretty sure these guys were impressed:

[shroom]

rad

[Rasputin]

That is a uniquely marked fish, a beauty! Good story too. You gotta love it when the fish cooperates with your plan.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

You gotta love it when the fish cooperates with your plan.

Yup. Makes up for all the fish I spooked yesterday before I even got a cast off. It makes up for the fact that I was way too slow to change flies/ tippet/ approach yesterday, probably because I underdressed and every knot was a struggle for my numb hands.

[neckdeep]

That is a uniquely marked fish

Could be post-spawning syndrome. Kinda normal to see browns with abrasions and discoloration in the winter. It's hard conditions for a trout to rebound after spawning and it's a disadvantage that browns face at higher elevations.

[Rasputin]

Could be post-spawning syndrome. Kinda normal to see browns with abrasions and discoloration in the winter. It's hard conditions for a trout to rebound after spawning and it's a disadvantage that browns face at higher elevations.

Well this place is just a font of knowledge, I learn all sorts of things. So, maybe uniquely was the wrong word, perhaps interestingly would have been apropos.

[Underoos]

Scouting mission down the bayou.