Topic: Nothing but fish

[riverfever]

I didn't see anything like this so I thought I'd pioneer it. I spend a lot of time on the water. Post your fish pics here (salt or fresh).

I'll start with this beast of a Pike I landed yesterday and share the story. I am new to motorcycles. I have fly fished for a long time. If i wasn't a teacher I would be a guide. I was out on a ride yesterday and took a break at a bridge that crosses a creek we have here in Colorado. Immediately I spotted this fish set up in full ambush mode with her body sticking out of the weeds. I drooled for 10 minutes and then went home. Once at home I just couldn't sit here knowing that a fish this big was out there waiting. I also knew this would be a trophy and the biggest freshwater fish I've landed on a fly yet. So I grabbed the gear and headed back out. She was still there. I thought about my plan of attack longer than I have for any other fish I've stalked. I had her hooked in about ten minutes. I was lucky enough that a family was having lunch nearby and the dad and son ran down when I yelled for help. I really wanted a pic of this beautiful fish. Against my net she measured at 40".

[Retro Rocket]

marking for later use...

[mick7504]

That's a good looking fish that you've got there mate.
Up North here in Oz, occasionaly we hook a Barramundi around the 40 inch mark that we call meteries (1 Metre)
But you've done well mate catching that one.

Just on a side note, did you know that there's only 2 things that smell like fish?
And one of 'ems fish. 

[70CB750]

Nice fish!

Here is the biggest cat I pulled from our fish pond - 30" or so.

[riverfever]

Mick I've seen pictures of Barramundi but never in real life. Would love to catch one some day.

That's a big Cat 750! It's been years since I caught one of those. We have them out here but I'd have to drive further than I do to fish the mountain streams and I'd also have to use stink bait or something equally gross I'm sure. Used to love they way they tasted though.

I'll admit that, most of the time, the fish we get into up here are not big (especially from the streams I fish). But they are gorgeous. That Pike was caught two days ago but yesterday I got another one (much smaller) along with a half a dozen Brown Trout from a small stream. Having trouble uploading the pics now but the Browns were amazing.

[flybox1]

Fishing...Its my other hobby 
Here's a few hatchery Steelhead out of a local river from last fall.
First one is about 7lbs.  Average size for a 2 year old hatchery fish.  This one is fresh out of the ocean and chrome bright!


Second one is a 13lb'er from last fall, too... next to one of the custom rods I built. (11'6" 10-17lb rated)

[riverfever]

Nice looking Steelheads! This is one of the Browns that crushed a hopper pattern yesterday.

[faux fiddy]

One of my jobs was with f&g in Alaska (and elsewhere).  I worked gathering data  in a salmon processing facility that did over a million pounds a day, lots of fish flying by on sorter belts.

Since there is no commercial market for steelhead, when they go by they get sorted out for 'home pack.'  One day I got lucky and caught six, and gave most of them to the factory sorters.

When I would bring out a steelhead, people would ask  what I caught them with. I would say I usually use a blue glove, but sometimes orange or black.

[Stev-o]

Ok, I'll bite [sorry, bad pun!]

Was on a family vacation a few years back down in Cozumel, Mexico.

Went deep sea fishing and we had a good day.  My friends son had never caught a fish, so when we first got a nibble, we handed off the rod to him and let him reel in this beautiful "Dolphino"
[In the U.S. they are more commonly called Mahi Mahi or Dolphin Fish].

Russel is on the left and the 1st Mate on the right.




The Guide's shop is next door to a restaurant, he brought the fish there and our two families had dinner that night.
It was wonderful and made us feel like providers catching dinner for our families!

[Retro Rocket]

Top picture is a 40lb Chinaman fish, caught using 20lb line on the barrier reef, second pic is a massive mangrove jack, 75cm's, also caught on the reef..



Third pic is of me just after I came out of hospital after a major surgery, lost some weight  , fish is a queenfish at 1.1 meters long and last pic is in the mid nineties with a snapper on the left and an amberjack on the right, excuse the blue "fishing pants"   , the bathurst jumper makes them acceptable...

[Retro Rocket]

Nice hat, Retro. I mean fish 

I was chock a block full of immunosupressants mate, trying not to get sun burnt...   Its an Akubra, famous Aussie hat...

[riverfever]

Mmmmmm.....Dolphin. I did the deep sea thing once but just didn't think it was fun. I'd rather be on a flats skiff with a fly rod.

Retro...I thought that last pic was of Jeff Spicoli. Nice fish man.

[Retro Rocket]

Mmmmmm.....Dolphin. I did the deep sea thing once but just didn't think it was fun. I'd rather be on a flats skiff with a fly rod.

Retro...I thought that last pic was of Jeff Spicoli. Nice fish man.

You'd like the reef mate, you can do it all, fly fishing for mackeral and tuna as well as trevalli and even dolphin fish, they all take fly's, a 50 to 80 lb spanish mackeral on fly would be the ultimate.. 

[754]

Are you letting any of them go?

[riverfever]

I never keep anything. Honor the fish. That big Pike took about 5 minutes to bring around.

[Retro Rocket]

I let lots go Frank, the only one that wasn't eaten out of the pics I posted above was the first one, It carries a toxin called "ciguatera" and is quite dangerous, I would have let it go but it died in the fight, took about 30 minutes to land and it came up dead, it put up quite a fight on 20 lb line...

[riverfever]

I caught this little gem today. It is small but I dare you to find a more beautiful fish.

[scottly]

Nice hat, Retro. I mean fish 

I was chock a block full of immunosupressants mate, trying not to get sun burnt...   Its an Akubra, famous Aussie hat...

Not much protection from the sun with that Akubra, mate.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Beautiful fish, Retro and riverfever. 

Retro, you were rocking that long hair!  Let me take a wild guess and say you like or liked AC/DC!    

[riverfever]

Retro, you were rocking that long hair!  Let me take a wild guess and say you like or liked AC/DC!   

Don you got me in stitches over here!

[754]

Is that a Dolly Varden?

[scottly]

Last pic I recall of Mick, he was still rockin the same doo, more or less (with the emphasis on less ).
The first time I went fishing was in Colorado, somewhere near Co. Springs, on a family trip in a '59 VW bus to visit all our relatives there. Rainbow trout were our prey, and we ate 'em.

[Retro Rocket]

Beautiful fish, Retro and riverfever. 

Retro, you were rocking that long hair!  Let me take a wild guess and say you like or liked AC/DC!   

I was in a band then Don, but i've always had long hair...  Scott,  had too cut it all off about 2 years back before having a skin cancer op on my head... , its one reason I don't fish much in the day time now...

[70CB750]

Are you letting any of them go?

Not me, I grow them in the pond for food, stocking every few years.

[70CB750]

When I was kid, I fished trout a lot, we had rainbow trouts in creeks, 8" was the legal limit and 12" was a BIG one 

But with my friends we would catch by hand and release most of the time, it was fun not a hunt.

Trouts are easy to grab, they sit under a rock and if you reach under it, you can bring it out of the water no problem.  I learned that when I was 11.  Hardest part is not to jerk away when you touch fish.