Best/favorite catches of 2020!

[Bruce Litton]

Forgot all about Florida! We went in January. That's a red grouper and a jack crevalle. Can't find the photo of the 18-pound king mackerel, but that was a great fish. Definitely was the stand-out trip of the year. Rented a 22.5 foot center console three days.

[Hookmanski]

Man this year was a crazy one! Got my:
PB striper (twice)
PB Perch
First and then PB Pike
PB Brown
PB Largemouth
PB Crappie
First Laker
First Salmon experience (I will have my revenge!!!)

Also bought and moved into my first place with my fiancee, got a puppy, and made great memories both fishing and not. As tough as this year has been, there were many silver linings!!!!

[JDTuna]

Originally Posted by Hookmanski

Man this year was a crazy one! Got my:
PB striper (twice)
PB Perch
First and then PB Pike
PB Brown
PB Largemouth
PB Crappie
First Laker
First Salmon experience (I will have my revenge!!!)

Also bought and moved into my first place with my fiancee, got a puppy, and made great memories both fishing and not. As tough as this year has been, there were many silver linings!!!!

Kicking ass this year! Congratulations on the fishing and all of your successes this year.

[nate01]

I love this thread every year. This year had a few firsts and PBs. In the spring I nailed a feisty 24 inch Delaware River shad from shore, a mark I’ve hit a handful of times but can never seem to break through. This one went ballistic when I hooked it before I even started cranking the reel, with 5 acrobatic jumps completely out of the water.

Followed that up with my first fly-caught bluefish from a friend’s boat. Caught bigger ones that day but this was still my favorite.

And landed my biggest ice-fishing-caught pike through the ice this year also. Taped out to 29 inches and fat.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Great fish guys! Lots of new PB’s caught this year for some. Pretty sick! Keep
Those pics coming. YEA BUDDY!!!

[Hookmanski]

Originally Posted by JDTuna

Kicking ass this year! Congratulations on the fishing and all of your successes this year.

Hey thanks man! Means a lot!

[JDTuna]

Did far less saltwater fishing than I in the past due to COVID, but still managed some stripers, bluefin and yellowfin tuna, and my first NJ king mackerel.

I suppose my best catch of the year was this wild brown, close to 27 inches, from a NJ stream. Been looking for one like this for a long time across multiple states. To catch it in NJ made it extra special. Followed by 2 other NJ wilds measuring 24 and 23 inches from this spring.







Snuck in trip in January before the madness to catch my first Lahontan cutthroat trout.



Did lots of pike fishing. While not the longest, this is probably the heaviest Northern ive caught. A few other quality pike, too.







Rounded out the year with walleye and hybrids.

[Mikey topaz]

Some real good guys with some awesome fish on here. I’m glad I was there to witness a few of these. 2020 was a shit year but I made the best of it. Fishing was ok... started the spring off with the usual crappie bite and did well on all the trips. Walleye and hybrids at night on the big pond that was kinda crappy for me this year. Played with the stocked trout in the streams and did well, and got a little salty with the stripers in the bay and did very well. Soon the raritan river came to life and I got a few stripers from there and then did the valley fishing for trophy trout and got a few good ones. Soon it was summer and I played with hybrids and did good early season but the bite went to crap quick with the algae bloom. Got up to Ontario with the mamba and laid the smack down with big laker browns and salmon. Then soon back up there in the river with boys for salmon and steelhead season. Rounded out the year jiggin some walleye and the start of ice season is here now upon us. The year ended good for me with my little buddy Finn here so it looks like the year is ending on a good note hope we can start it the same way.

[Mikey topaz]

[Bruce Litton]

I remember that Lahanton cutthroat. You must have caught it about the time we went to Florida. Now I remember reading a really compelling essay about lake cutthroats in one of the fly fishing magazines. It might have been Lahanton, if I spell that correctly. I can't place how many years ago I read it, but within the past decade, i think.

Very nice to stroll (scroll) through the stories and pictures of the year's catches. I know everyone says this was a bad year, but I figure so long as you're alive, why put the kibosh on it? Many Americans are gone, true, and it's horrible, but why give in to it altogether? We prevail because we find what's good despite the bad.