2012 BFT Idaho Fish of the year

[idahoron]

I know it is a little early but we are at the end of the year. We did this last year and I thought it would be fun to do it again.
For this thread I want you to post your best fish of the year.

Again like last year I am torn between Catfish and Sturgeon. Like last year A sturgeon caught in a pontoon won for me again.
This fish I caught was at the end of the day. It was blistering hot and this was my last spot of the day. I saw the sturgeon on the fish finder as I went over it. I swung around and went back over it dragging a piece of cut bait. With two rods out it hooks up with my trout rod. It jumped 7 times and drug me over 400 yards down river.
I did catch a lot of big cats but this fish is my 2012 BFT fish of the year. Ron

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9icz71jT...9icz71jTr8
[signature]

[dtayboyz]

That sure is sweet, your adventures in your toon really amaze me. Can't wait for the water to come up so I can get Gertrude to the sweet spot. My best fish was a 5.4 lb smallmouth from Walcott on a lipless crankbait, to my dismay she died. I have her at the taxidermist. We caught four fish that day and weighed in 16 lbs, if we could have caught one more I'm sure we would have broke 20 lbs.

Tight Lines!
[signature]

[idahoron]

Dang nice fish. Ron
[signature]

[Tazasorus]

My best fish of the year was up at Orofino during Salmon season. I was fishing up at the dam when I hooked up, didn't seem much bigger than the others I caught until I had dragged him all the way down to where we land them. About 10 feet from the landing spot he stopped turned and smoked my reel about 50 yards back up towards the dam and I realized that this one was bigger. 43 inches and 23 lbs. I have seen other guys get much bigger fish, but I tell you this, when you get a personal best, it is one of the biggest rushes I have ever had, what a feeling. It's on the wall of fame, but please don't chastise me thoroughly for posting it again.
[signature]

[idahoron]

Great fish. It doesn't matter if it was posted before. This is the Fish of the year so we all expect to see a fish we have seen. In your case I don't follow Steelhead and salmon posts so this is the first time I have seen it. Ron
[signature]

[jeremypeace]

Please forgive me for not putting a picture on tonight, I will put one on when I get on the computer tomorrow.

my biggest catch of the year, and most memorable.

SO there I was, my first trip of the year in my float tube.
I was fishing in lamont,
I was fishing a perch pattern split crank.
I had been tossing it for hours that day and it was hot out, one of them days you stick to the tree line trying to avoid the sun.
I seen this spot about 50 feet away from where I was so I threw that crank over and nothing. So I decided to kick around to cast a different angle.
I threw for about the 6th time, an bam there it was. I had the biggest heaviest thing on my rod and it was pulling me around.
I had 6lb test on so I knew I had to play him[cool]. Mean while im yelling its a big one. And all of a sudden I had a small crowd watching wondering what it was on the end of my line. Given the location I had an idea but can never be to sure.
I yell over to my dad tell him I got somthing big. It ended up pulling me right ontop of it. After about 30 min of reeling I had it in my sight. And I started laughing with joy. I had just caught quite possibly the biggest thing I will ever catch on that light of line again. It was huge. I will post a picture as well as length and weight tomorrow.. [laugh]
[signature]

[gstott]

While my overall average size of fish was up this year, I didn't catch anything really huge. One of my best would be a smallmouth I caught in Minnesota. I was out there for a wilderness canoe trip, but that first day I decided to do a little fishing right off the highway bridge in town before we set out the next morning. Within the first hour I caught the best bass of the trip on a spider grub on a football head.

[inline "big smallie small.jpg"]


My other best would have to be a fat 22" rainbow I caught on a 4wt and a size 16 nymph I made up in just a couple of feet of water. It didn't get me into my backing like a 20" I had hooked earlier in the day, but it took me up and down the run about 100 feet multiple times, and when it jumped it made the nicest karsploosh sound.

[inline "22 small.jpg"][inline "me and my 22 small.jpg"]
[signature]

[ilovesmallies]

my biggest of the year was from Strike on topwater. weighed in at 4lb 4oz.
[signature]

[Tazasorus]

That things a toad, nice fish. Get a load of this one I caught below Gem lake in Idaho falls.
[signature]

[SteelFan]

My biggest was this one late last spring. 34 inches
[signature]

[nijimasu]

This is really tough- my best day of fishing was Friday the 13th of April throwing nymphs for steelhead- my buddy and I caught 13 fish between us that day, and another dozen or so the next day. Most had adipose fins, but we were able to eek out a limit a piece of keepers. Kicker was, we didn't see one other person touch a fish- and we're pretty clueless when it comes to steelhead. I guess it's like my dear old lovin' granpa used to tell me, "$h** will do for brains if you're lucky."




But my best fish of the year was a rainbow caught out of a high mountain lake last summer (unfortunately, the place burnt up shortly after my visit in last summer's firestorm in the hills).

This one was special because I spent a good hour stalking him after I spotted him, and because it I had to change flies three times before I finally found the right size, shape, and color of caddis that he would eat- and flycast it through a labyrinth of pine branches to get him.


[signature]

[fishingrocket]

IR,

I am not sure why I picked this photo but I thought it would be the only one of its kind in response to your post and struck me as a starting point of discussion. It is also the largest "fish" of this species that I recall reeling in....

FR
[signature]

[idahoron]

That crawdad might be the biggest one you caught but those perch are DANDY'S. Ron
[signature]

[outdoorsman1]

My favorite and best fish in Idaho was this 27" 9lb wild cutthroat from Bear Lake that was turned lose.




.
[signature]

[idahoron]

That was a great fish! Ron
[signature]

[Oskolkoff]

ok here is my biggest fish of the year channel cat at 19.2 pounds 36.5inch caught on the upper end of strike in sept at the black sands fishing derby won me $300
[signature]

[idahoron]

great fish! Ron
[signature]

[Tazasorus]

I got the bright idea one day to see how much a little crawdad could exert for pressure between those claws so I put him on my thumbnail. Oh that's not bad at alllllllllllllllllllllll owwwwwwwwwwwww! That one you got there would take off the whole finger!
[signature]

[StacyR]

This year my goal was to catch a crappie larger than 14". I caught some last year between 12" and 13" out of Strike.

Remember what a cold, wet spring we had? Except for a few days at the end of April, the crappie fishing from shore mostly sucked. I managed to eke out few decent sized ones, but it looked like I wasn't going to make it.

Decided to go night fishing in June, so I headed to Cottonwood. I fished all night and only caught two. One was a dink. The other was this one, which hit the jig right next to shore just as I was about to lift it out of the water. The moon was pretty bright so I only had a hat light. As I pulled up on the rod, I said to myself "This is ether a bass or a really good crappie." Thank goodness it was the second one.



Caught her on one of my hand tied jigs too. A little tiny thing I tied for bluegill on a size 12 hook. It got her right in the knob at the edge of the upper lip.
[signature]