Best/favorite catches of 2020!

[FASTEDDIE29]

To say it’s been an interesting year is an understatement! Sheeesh! This year needs to die and the sooner the better. Lol! Let’s brighten life up a bit with your best catches of the year or your favorite fishing memory of 2020! Show me the fish please!

I’ll start off by saying 2020 was the year I fished the least. Between work and my young athletes baseball career this year flew by. I didn’t have much time but when I fished I caught. Consistency, consistency! The catching that sticks out the most is early season Stripers on the Raritan river in March and early April! I’m out there wading the river with my ultra lite St. Croix spooled with 5lb. PP and 10lb. Flouro leader when the The fish with Stripes start blitzing on top. Man, they were boiling on this day. Caught quite a few shorts and keepers and 1 beast around 20 lbs. I thought my rod was going to explode and the Stradic was making noises ive never heard. Not sure how I got those fish in with that current and light line. It was nuts! TIGHT LINEZ FELLAS! I hope you are all well!

[saxmatt]

My most memorable trip of 2020 was a carp trip I did up in Connecticut in May. I camped out for a few days and got a 39.13, a pb 28.5lb two tone, a mirror, a fantail and a bunch of other big commons. My buddy Chris drove up from NJ and fished for a day with me and landed his 2nd biggest carp ever at 35lbs and his first fantail. Our 4 biggest carp combined for over 139lbs. It was one of the best carp trips I’ve ever had.

[Jigman13]

I did minimal sweetwater fishing this year. Had walleyes up to 27" on the river and some smallies, plus a pretty good run of spring stripes. I spent most of my time getting salty. Back bay stripers in the early spring, back bay fluking once the season opened, a handful of offshore tuna trips and one inshore bluefin trip this past May. Finished the open water season with solid tog action in our inlets and canals on jigs w fish up to 20" and scored some tasty winter flounder limits with fish up to 16.5".

My memorable catches were the 5+ lb largemouth I nailed while crappie jigging in March on 2 lb test and a 1/64th jig and the 60" bluefin I decked in May. I actually herniated a disc in my lower back on that fish. The 3 to 5' seas, faulty belt and harness (wasnt mine or fitted properly) and the power of the fish did a number on me. As payback I plated epic tartare and sushi turning it in bluefin poo. I win lol. Pics below.

Caught a lot of variety but no beasts in 2020. Oh, and I had the 'Rona. That sucked majorly...

[Lard Almighty]

Looking back on the year, I didn't catch a whole lot of big fish. I did, however, have my best weekend of fishing ever on the Raritan River, catching schoolie stripers and walleye on Saturday, then landing what would wind up being my biggest smallie of the year on Sunday. That was the pinnacle of the season, but I did have a few other memorable catches, like what might have been the biggest largemouth I've ever caught in NJ, what might have been the biggest crappie I've ever caught anywhere, and an accidental carp while trying to learn how to fish a Ned rig on light tackle. I also finally christened the kayak with some fish slime.

Spent numerous weekends at my new cabin as well. Fishing was solid, but I haven't figured out the really big ones yet. Now that I finally have a boat up there, I'll hit it hard next year and unlock its secrets.

[FASTEDDIE29]

What I love about this post is that it brings out the best of the best and some of NJ’s finest anglers! Awesome stuff here!

Saxmatt those are some beautiful Carp brother. Crazy size to them as well. Hoping to see you in the ice this year in NJ! It’s been too long!

Jigman! It’s been a rough year and I’m happy your still here! That Tuna is a beauty! Looks great on the plate and absolutely delicious. An eye for an eye! A Tuna breaks a persons back, the Tuna dies! It’s that simple! Lol! See you out there somewhere hopefully!

Lard! I watch your videos when they come out! Your passion for this is unmatched! This year was tough but you always seem to find something to catch! Congrats again on the house up in PA! That story has so much meaning most wouldn’t get it unless they watched the video!

Hopefully we get more posts on the thread! It definitely brightened my day! Thanks again fellas and TIGHT LINEZ!!!

[thmyorke1]

I broke a few PBs and new species this year.

But my favorite moments this year were regardless of the fish caught,
My vacation to the Adirondacks and experiencing the sh!tshow of the Salmon River for the first time were definitely big highlights.

Another special moment was scoping up two pike at once; the larger one would not let go of the smaller one I hooked

It's pure joy fishing and sharing moments with all of you!

[Jigman13]

[QUOTE=FASTEDDIE29;555512]

See you out there somewhere hopefully!

/QUOTE]

I hope it's one the ICE!!!

[NJ219bands]

Applied for 9 NJ Skillful Angler Recognition Awards . Two fish are on the leaderboard. Won 53 awards. Caught, tagged and released a spinner shark on an Ava A-17 in Manasquan Inlet the same day that I landed a 30 lb cownose ray in September. Caught 2,388 fish in 230 NJ freshwater fishing trips and 168 fish in 67 NJ salt water fishing trips. Tagged 128 fish. One was recaptured.

[AndyS]

No big fish this year but that's okay.
Float trips on the South Holston river as well as the Smith and Watagua. Fished the Mithchell, South river and Jackson river in North Carolina and Virginia. Doing lots of exploring and seeing new things. Hope 2021 finds everyone safe and well

[Bruce Litton]

I had some good times fishing a private lake with Brian during the spring and summer, my biggest bass at 20 inches. My son came with us a few times, his biggest pickerel at 25 inches. I thought my son & I wouldn't get out on LH to troll hybrids, because of COVID in May, but turns out we did, though each of us only got hit by hybrids. Once apiece. So we tired for bass and caught five apiece, including a 20-incher for me. The most memorable outing was with my brother Rick. We put one of my canoes on the SB. I was nervous as hell at first, because I had 10,000 bucks in camera gear in that canoe, which was tippy, and my brother is a little cavalier. I felt reduced to PLEAING with him to be CAREFUL. But soon I felt OK. We brought only fly gear and we caught smallies. We paddled about five miles, and it just felt really, really special, like we had found the REAL world. It was a rite of passage between the two of us, down into the heart of Central Jersey.