The "Best of 2016" thread

[Skunk City]

Well, 2016 is quickly winding down and with it, another year of fishing on in the books. As usual, post up your "best" or "most memorable" catches of the year. Hopefully Andy can sticky this for a bit..

My 2016 in a nutshell:

-Opened 2016 on January 2nd with a Big D Walleye from the yak
-Some GREAT ice fishing with all species coming through the ice including three 35"+ Pike during the coldest week of the year
-Early season kayak 'Eyes on empty lakes followed by herring spawn zombie nights
-HOT week in July of Hybrids, Walleye, Rainbows, Pike and Panfish
-Late start to the fall bite, but it ain't over yet!

[Mikey topaz]

[Jigman13]

Nice fellas! Very nice!

[AndyS]

I'm not one for saving my photos, so I went back and looked for some. Found a few not many. Did help Rutgers PIT tagging American Shad this year on the Raritan river. Boat NEVER moved this year !! But the canoe was used quite often

[MudCat08]

What got caught in 2016:

-Started out in spring with a PB bluefish at 13lbs and 36".
-Following that one up with a PB smallmouth bass at 2+lbs 17"+ also early spring.
-Summer was filled with fluke like the one pictured, largemouth and smallmouth bass, and various other miscellaneous fish.
-Highlight of the summer was the 25.5lb 39" Flathead catfish from the Delaware River. Highlight of the year even!
-Then fall brought a handful of cool fish including some brown trout, big fallfish, Blackfish, and finally wrapping things up with some of my first walleye including the 24" one in picture.
It has been an even better year than the last!

[23cardinal]

Full stringer on opening day(nomehegan/Rahway),a real bass from monksville!, chunky wild brown(peq.)
One of ten brownies from my best wild trout day(peq)-dinner!(wanaque)-monksville double header- went out each cast was a fish. Some pigs and slime dart from my "secret spot"/hometurf - a random fall rainbow(ramapo)and some fish spooge.

Been a great year for me- nothing crazy flashy- just fun.cant wait to see everybody next Thursday

[The Birdman]

It's not over yet ! This is when the big girls come out to play.

hopefully can squeeze a couple more trips this year depending on the freeze.

This was us on Saturday, and some better ones from this year...still hunting for the 50+

[Chrisper4694]

There will be plenty of open water into january, you're right! Looks like you've become a full blown musky hunter! I'll always be a multi species guy personally, but when you devote that much time on one species that NJ 50 is out there waiting for you for sure!!

[MudCat08]

Great fish everybody! From the smallest sunfish to the biggest sharks and sturgeon - all are amazing to see!

[Esox Luciano]

Originally Posted by Chrisper4694

when you devote that much time on one species that NJ 50 is out there waiting for you for sure!!

I definitely agree with that. Depending how hungry you are for that one beast, you can definitely better your chances and change your odds by devotion and dedication. I like your 1st pic bro...you're doing just that. I found my rivermonster, hope you find your freak as well.
Stellar looking pics fellaz, from Skunk on down!!! Can't say which catch of yours I like the best, but the one with Cris holding the blackfish & getting photobombed by that little girl is great!😂😂 Besides JD getting his Jeremy Wade on across the map, all these posts are great proof of how great this armpit is!!
As for myself, I didn't touch down on any ice last season so I stuck it out on the river with some carping & clean-ups. Had a hand in starting to stop the accidental further dumping into the Passaic River, preventing hundreds of thousands of gallons of sewage from mixing with our waters. Also helped a touch with the Dundee Island Preserve clean-up which was loooong overdue and much more pleasant to the eye now.👍🚯♻ As always good times all year and coincidentally my larger fish of the season were all caught on a wooden lure I crafted myself. My biggest pike was a 35" 13lber and as far as length I also bagged a 37" 8lber. Had a great year of teaching & sharing our craft too so that was pretty fun as well. Hope this upcoming year is even better!! Jersey!!!