Best Fish of 2022

[DomR]

Made it through 45 years of hard trout fishing and NEVER came near one of the abominations until 2022, turned the trick strictly by accident.

 

[Schaefer406]

I can tell your hands are wet and you are not squeezing the trout. Also you are looking upon the fish with reverence. Well done sir!

That’s my go to pose is the “stare” lol. I usually don’t take pictures of fish but that first one was special since I started to learn the water a bit more and it was sitting where I would expect a larger fish to be

 

[JeremyW]

A nice post spawn rainbow, on a Montana tail water... he was sipping BWOs, I did have the help of a guide, who has better eyes than me for those teeny tiny flies.

 

[caddisflyer]

That’s my go to pose is the “stare” lol. I usually don’t take pictures of fish but that first one was special since I started to learn the water a bit more and it was sitting where I would expect a larger fish to be

Very nice fish and photo.

 

[rustbeltwilds]

not biggest but cool colors

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Some beauties, everyone!

My most memorable this year were piggies from very pressured Lehigh Valley limestoners. First one was late April, second was early May at another limestoner in the region, both while nymphing. The collage is a pair of June streamer fish, also in the LV. I lost another 20 inch class that day too. Unreal! I expect to encounter fish in the 20s on bigger rivers, but I really enjoyed fighting these in small to medium size creeks that receive a TON of pressure.

 

[krayfish2]

Made it through 45 years of hard trout fishing and NEVER came near one of the abominations until 2022, turned the trick strictly by accident.

Congrats on your lightning trout! She's a beaut. I've made it through 41 yrs if fly fishing and never had the pleasure of peeking into the net only to be met with the brain damaged gaze of a lightning trout 🤣. Keep an eye on your inbox. If I'm fortunate enough to stumble across one of these unicorns, I'll be contacting you for any tips to fool these wiley critters. 🤣. In all seriousness, I've tried to catch one but couldn't. I used trout techniques but it didn't work because they don't behave like trout

 

[krayfish2]

Man, you guys are killing it with quality fish! Who's taking me with them next time?

I looked for an impressive fish pic but nothing stood out... but I did find a pretty cool shot I took. If you look on the left side of this photo, you'll see the almost imperceptible rise form of a giant trout sipping a #12 ISO. I had seen the rise and got the camera ready for when the caster got a fly in the feeding lane. Caught it perfectly. Fish was on for < 10 seconds before coming unbuttoned. And for all of you fish handling enforcers, yes, my hands were wet before taking the picture.

 

[ryansheehan]

Man, you guys are killing it with quality fish! Who's taking me with them next time?

I looked for an impressive fish pic but nothing stood out... but I did find a pretty cool shot I took. If you look on the left side of this photo, you'll see the almost imperceptible rise form of a giant trout sipping a #12 ISO. I had seen the rise and got the camera ready for when the caster got a fly in the feeding lane. Caught it perfectly. Fish was on for < 10 seconds before coming unbuttoned. And for all of you fish handling enforcers, yes, my hands were wet before taking the picture. View attachment 1641228064

Your hands may have been wet but clearly you squeezed the camera too tight.

 

[caddisflyer]

Some beauties, everyone!

My most memorable this year were piggies from very pressured Lehigh Valley limestoners. First one was late April, second was early May at another limestoner in the region, both while nymphing. The collage is a pair of June streamer fish, also in the LV. I lost another 20 inch class that day too. Unreal! I expect to encounter fish in the 20s on bigger rivers, but I really enjoyed fighting these in small to medium size creeks that receive a TON of pressure.

Very nice. I like when they get that duck bill look.

 

[wildtrout2]

Very nice. I like when they get that duck bill look.

I always thought of it as the gator look. Duck bill describes it well too.

 

[krayfish2]

Fine. I'll just hold them by the eyes from now on. I'd also like to add that I normally don't let old people get that close to me but I made an exception

 

[Grassrod]

holdover that made it to the cast iron at deer camp, only to make room for native brookies of course

 

[Fish Sticks]

Nothing brought me closer to nature than catching this swimming creamsickle colored freak at 1am last week. It makes one appreciate 100’s of rounds of fish husbandry between brother and sister in the name of making a WVU Mountaineer colored trout for the masses.

 

[freestonebrown]

 

[Fish Sticks]

Someone was complaining about jot enough native fish on here above i believe. And while I too love catching the big brown lantern flies with fins just like everyone else heres some of my favorites from this year.

chain pickerel deep in roadless area of the pine barrens

redfin pickerel from deep in NJ pine barrens

Snake river fine spotted cutt

Mountain White fish snake

Redbreast swatara creek

 

[Shimedog]

Here’s the best brown I got this year. Found him on pine creek in October. Here’s a few other photos taken during the trip.

 

[rustbeltwilds]

ok heres a good one i was after this one for 3 months finally got him during a squall in nc pa before thanksgiving

 

[Kyle]

This is probably my favorite fish this year.View attachment 1641228051

amazing! very nice

 

[Terry Murphy]

Some fish from 2022 .