Good morning fellow members. Its snowing right now here in Utah and for some reason It got me thinking about past fishing trips. And how many more I may experience. How will I make memories for my children and about the anglers legacy challenge.

   What was your most memorable catch or fishing experience? Was it your first catch, or a difficult species? Or was it something else?

Brian

 

Fishing! enough said.

my most memorible catch was this ice fishing season of 2010 i caught a 9 pound rainbow trout on 4 pound line it took 5 minutes to reel it in and we had to gaff it. so far it is my most memorable catch

My most memorable catch actually wasn't one.  Unfortunately for the guy who's catch it was supposed to be, it didn't turn out to be his either.

I was fishing the first day of trout season in Catherine Creek in upstate NY, little place outside of Montour Falls.  As soon as the clock struck the right time we all waded on in.  I was just 14 and this was really my first experience on my own, so to speak.  Well, this guy hooks a big laker, the kind that just bends your pole in half.  I am closest to him, someone hands me a net...big mistake...never netted a fish in my life.  I got the net underneath this cow, tail off one side and head off the other when she flops up into the air, jerks her head and snaps his line.  Down into the creek and off to avoid another fisherman somewhere upstream.  I'm standing there with this net in my hand and all you can hear is the water rushing past, not another sound.  This poor guys looks at me and, you know what I mean, you can see it in his eyes.  He's just thinking..."I probably will never again catch a trout that big again." 

I was so dejected, felt so guilty I lost all interest in fishing that day.

That must have really sucked to feel that way. I can almost see the guys face in my mind. probably looked something like tossing your fathers favorite rod overboard. No it didn't happen to me but I was always worried about this when he let me use his favorite fishing rod.

  Actually my most memorable catch was not my first but my first by myself. It was just a small 8" planter rainbow from a nearby mountain stream. caught it on a salmon egg. all my father did was observe to make sure i didn't fall in and drown. This was a church get together and I was so proud when i got back to camp.

Brian

Fishing! enough said.

One i remember was putting a white grub taken out of milkweed canker w/flyrod i lowered it down old mill shaft over 100'. As soon as it got near the water a monster struck! After couple minutes i managed to get her out of hole to come up shaft, wondering if my pole would break. It was a nice 23" Brown Trout in Manchester Vermont's Lye Brook. I released him upstream.

Another memorable moment, 'catch'.  I was fishing off Lake Worth Pier in Fl., had just lost my gear on a hang up and was tying on another steel #1.  I had always, to that point in time, grabbed the piece of line I stuck through the twists in my teeth to draw it tight.  Well...you guessed it, it slipped and in less than a heartbeat I was my own most memorable catch.  With my hand over my mouth I walked the length of the pier to where my friend was and showed him what I had done.  When he finished laughing, we grabbed some ice and went into the men's room.  Iced down the lip, cut the barbed end off and shoved the hood the rest of the way through my lip.  Went back to fishing and caught a 20 lb Cobia on his pole, he had gone to the other end of the pier for a bit.  All in all, a good day!

Ok my most memorable catch to date... was on lees ville lake Ohio. It was my first big catch. My father in law took me for my 25 birthday and we rented a boat and we thought it would be fun to troll for musky cause the guys at the marina said they had been biting all morning. So we used hot n tots let out our lines and trolled for about an hour. well he reeled his in and i was starting to reel mine in and i felt something bite. i never thought it would be a musky. The crazy thing is we did not have anything to get this beast in the boot. Ity was on 10 test line and just a small rod and reel. We did have a small net but it didn't fit in it...but we got 1/2 of it in the net and then my line snapped and we lost hold of the net. So we thought it would be gone but it didn't it staid on top of the water till we could get the boat closer to grab the net luckily we had a cutting clove to grab it or we would not have got it in the boat. When i got home I called my mother and told her my big fish story she didn't believe me....then i got the pics done up and there it was. The most exciting catch thus far.

My most memorable catch was with my dad while i was on vacation visiting him & mom in florida , i caught a huge chain pickerel in the withalacoochie river. I had two big ones break my line prior to that one because we didn't have a steel leader & they would bite the line just before i could get it into the boat. I got so angry i slipped and said a sware word just when my dad stuck his arm into the water with the dip net and he pulled the fish out of the water and drug it into the boat. The net was way too small and he drug it against the boat to get it in. I was so happy to catch that fish , i got so excited when it jumped out of the water jerking it's hear , but i was so ashamed i slipped and cussed in front of my dad when i thought i just lost my third fish in a roll. Here many years i am now a ordained minister , but i still feel bad after i think of how i reacted to almost losing that fish.

My most memorable catch was with my dad while i was on vacation visiting him & mom in florida , i caught a huge chain pickerel in the withalacoochie river. I had two big ones break my line prior to that one because we didn't have a steel leader & they would bite the line just before i could get it into the boat. I got so angry i slipped and said a sware word just when my dad stuck his arm into the water with the dip net and he pulled the fish out of the water and drug it into the boat. The net was way too small and he drug it against the boat to get it in. I was so happy to catch that fish , i got so excited when it jumped out of the water jerking it's hear , but i was so ashamed i slipped and cussed in front of my dad when i thought i just lost my third fish in a roll. Here many years later i am now a ordained minister , but i still feel bad after i think of how i reacted to almost losing that fish.

My most memorable catch was with my dad while i was on vacation visiting him & mom in florida , i caught a huge chain pickerel in the withalacoochie river. I had two big ones break my line prior to that one because we didn't have a steel leader & they would bite the line just before i could get it into the boat. I got so angry i slipped and said a sware word just when my dad stuck his arm into the water with the dip net and he pulled the fish out of the water and drug it into the boat. The net was way too small and he drug it against the boat to get it in. I was so happy to catch that fish , i got so excited when it jumped out of the water jerking it's hear , but i was so ashamed i slipped and cussed in front of my dad when i thought i just lost my third fish in a roll. Here many years later i am now a ordained minister , but i still feel bad after i think of how i reacted to almost losing that fish.

Wow this question brings back some memories. I'll never forget the time, I wasn't even 5 yet and my father took us to our grandfathers cabin on kentuckey lake. The house was about 100  feet from the water just off one of the fingers and just the ride down the motorized rail system my grandfather had designed to get the boat from the boat house to the water was a memory to never forget, but the first trip to the pier was the thing that stuck in my mind the most. Dad had handed me a 16 foot bamboo pole that I rembered was just hard enough to hold steady, I had baited my first hook with a worm and dangled the line just to the right of the pier. Thats when my father said to me the bigger fish are over there as he was pointing to the left. So I picked up the line and struggled to get leverage on that long cane pole and dropped it into the water where he was pointing. Thats when something happened, The pole got yanked darn near out of my hands but being determined not to follow in my older brothers footsteps and watch one of his prize bamboo poles go launching outwards I held on tight. I was off that pier so fast and down in the row boat boat about 3 or 4 feet below us before I knew what  way was up. But I did catch my first cat fish and managed to save the pole. I even remember hearing him say "keep the tip up" as he laughed louder than I think I can ever remember. God bless you dad for the memory.
Remember to take a kid fishing, any kid and some day this could be the memory someone writes about you. I've got a grand niece to make memories with today.......Happy fishing every one, stay safe this memorial day.

A 4lb Largemouth. It wasn't really the fish that was memorable but how proud my father had been of me when I had done it. I've always wanted to be like him and what he said really hit home.

i have 2 stories to tell right now.

the 1st. 1 is more of a pic that my folks have of me when i was around 2 and half yrs. of age. we where on a family vacation in northern michigan. and it was a very wet week. my folks are always telling everyone that i love fishing more than anything else and then they show this pic. i'm sitting under a tarp that was hanged up over the picnic table and i'm holding a fishing pole with the line in a bucket. watching the bobber and they claim i sat there all day.


my 2nd. story-- i just turned 7 and i was on the ice in front of our house on gull lake in michigan. my next older brother and i had been fishing for about 3hrs and my dad had came home from work and came out on the ice to see how we where doing. we hadn't had a bite before then. dad came to me and ask me a couple of questions and checked my line for depth. i remember he reset the depth and turned to check on another line.
i remember him handing me that rod and turning around and i watched my bobber go down. i jeked on the rod, stretched out my little arms, took 1 step back and started to scream for help. when my dad turned back around all he could see was me standing there with my arms up and a 10lb rainbow thrashing around on the end of my line with it's tail still in the hole.

Mine would have to be, 2 Fridays ago, after supper, I was goin over to this little pond by the house to see about some Bass. My 5yr. old wanted to go, now I had thought I'd ruined him from fishin, trying to keep him out there to long in the past hoping he would catch something, with no luck, and he wanted no part of it. Well this evening he wanted to go. I set him up with a 10in. Culprit worm, it was coolin off so I positioned him right at the corner where I believe the Bass pass from the deep end up to the shallows in the evening to feed. First cast BANG!!! My son reeled in his first Largemouth, a 5lb, 19in Biggen.I'm not sure which one of us was more excited. So to date I'd have to say that one ya'll is mine.

                                                                                                                                       Vince
                                                                                                                           Life Member.

my most memborable fishing moment was
it was a cold winter in northern Georgia i was fishing a creek leading into lake alatuna for cat and bass, i was fishing with my favorite rattel trap at the mouth of the creek i was casting under a tree that was hanging off the side of the other side of creek. but i got hung i didnt want to have to leave it here hanging there and besides it was my lucky lure. so i decide to swim acrossed there was no one around so i stripped into my boxers and jump in it was so cold i could bearly do it but i managed few minutes after i got dressed i caught a 4 pound bass. that has to be my mos memorable moment.

Smiller,  sounds like it was worth getting wet and cold!

Brian

I have taken my time to post here, I wanted to think about this and with 50+ years of memories, it took a while. That said, here it is: Back in the late 60's, my family spent spring break in Florida visiting my grandmother along with my mom's brother and his family. 9 of us in a 2 BR house. My uncle and dad planned a fishing trip for the guys, the 2 of them and my cousin and I. Of course my sister wanted to come along! On the day of the trip, we all get up early and head out to the dock to meet our charter captain, a fellow my dad and I had fished with a number of times. We climbed aboard his 44 foot boat and headed out into the Atlantic. I was riding on the flybridge with the capt and he asked who would sit out first as the boat was set up for 4 to fish. I told him to put my sister on the 'wire', a wire line baited with 2 spoons. Not 5 minutes in, she got a double that nearly pulled my sis over the transom. After landing the fish, she decided that she had had enough and changed into a swimsuit and hit the front deck to get a tan. The rest of us proceeded to land 36 more King Mackerel of which the smallest was 20# and the largest 40+. Tom

My most memorable catch wasn't actually a fish at all it was my favorite fishing pole. I was fishing for catfish in my local creek behind my house. I turned for a moment to go grab something and i came back to find pole just gone. I had it tied to a chair and the chair was gone too! I was obviously distraught and mad. I immediately started casting over therewith my other pole and finally i hooked onto something i didn't know what it was. At this time it was too dark to see, so kept it hooked and tied the other pole to a tree. I came back the next mourning and slowly started to drag it towards me i could drag it about maybe 5 feet and the line snapped!!! I was furious, still not knowing if it was the pole or not. I again tried casting near it with a 1/4 oz. jig head and after 4 hrs I finally hooked into something again!!!! I started to lift and wouldn't you know it there is my medium action ugly stick and eight bearing real, hooked in the top guide of the pole!!!!!!! I slowly work it back and work it back and ..... again it came off! At this point it is about 15 ft from shore so i jump in with a rope around my waste. I was just feeling around with a garden rake and in like maybe 50 degree water shivering, shaking and finally hooked it. I grasped it in my hand and was over joyed!! I still use my ugly stick today it works fine. I cleaned up the reel and its still smooth as silk. I learned my lesson because I will NEVER GO THROUGH THAT AGAIN!

Sorry kind of a little bit of a delay in my response to this .

My most memorable catch so far for me is a large mouth bass that i cought at herrics cove in rockingham vt. We were out on a fun day of bbqing and fishing with the kids and other friends . We had been here all day . About 6pm we started to pack things up and as i was going to grab my pole a friend of mine also had a bite. So here we are both reeling in fish and struggling at the same time. I had to holler for my husband to help. He came over and coached me it seemed like about 15 mins of reeling in then finally my fish of a life time as i call it. I had hooked and managed to reel in a 6lb 21 inch long large mouth bass. trying to figure out how to post the pics we took. we measured and weighed and then immediately released the bass back in to the  set backs. Wish i could post the pics here. 

Bout two years ago me and a couple of buddies were fishing a decent hole on the snake within walking distance from home...The day b4 my catch my buddy had caught a 30 pound flat head after not catching a single fish all day...the following day we went back down to the same whole (which was a train trestle)...one of my buddies hated when i caught fish and he didnt so he liked to cast over my line and was always a fight to keep him out of my line...it was getting to be mid afternoon and fishing slowed down so i walked down and shimmied down another pier to the water...i was grubbing for bass when my pole doubled over (6ft okuma rod and real...8lb test)...i fought this fish for bout 10 min b4 i got it close enough to grab...when i pulled it out it was a 20 lb flat head...i have caught many cats jiggin for bass but never one that big then to top it off i pissed off a few people in a boat who hadnt caught anything since we arrived in our spot and my buddy wasnt able to snag me up...GOOD TIMES