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Surf Snook from Costa Rica!

April 5, 2012 By JD 9 Comments

JK with his snook. Yeaaaa....finally!


O ur pal and regular fishwithjd reader Jay Kennedy risked life, limb and several layers of epidermis for this Costa Rican snook taken in the surf. Here’s his tale…

I woke up at 3 am on Thursday and headed to the mouth of Rio Baru and fished util about 10 am, changing lures like crazy,” says Jay. “And finally, I saw a beast chasing a school of mullet. My steelheader instinct took over and I threw on a gold and orange 3/4 oz Little Cleo. After about 5 casts…WHAAAAAAAM!!! Snook!! Well, these fish get pissed in the surf and it rolled, clearing a good 3 feet out of the the water before taking off and burning my thumb! Click here to read more…

Filed Under: Trophy Room Tagged With: costa rica, jay kennedy, snook, surf fishing

Was this a World Record King Salmon??

March 10, 2012 By JD 7 Comments

This huge king carcass measured 59 inches...without the tail!!


Holy crap! Get a look at this: Ray Fairfax sent in this photo of a giant Chinook salmon carcass he ran across earlier this winter while steelhead fishing on the Smith River in Northern California.

“We were fishing the Bailey Riffle and found a salmon carcass of amazing length,” says Fairfax. “All that was left was the jaws and backbone, but what a fish it must have been! I straightened the backbone out the best I could and laid my STR1025C Loomis down next to it. It measured 59 inches…minus, of course, the tail!!”

Fairfax says that the jaws looked almost as if the fish was a female, which is even more mind-blowing!

“If you add a conservative few inches for the tail, how big was this beast?” he asks.

Well, just for comparison’s sake: Les Anderson’s 97.3-pound All Tackle World Record Chinook was 58.5 inches long!! Of course, we’ll never know how big the King of the Smith was in his prime…but let’s just hope he spread a bunch of his genetic material around!

And here’s another one: The 50.7 incher found dead in a tributary of the Sacramento River a couple seasons back: GIANT SALMON CARCASS FOUND

Filed Under: Trophy Room Tagged With: kenai river, king salmon, sacramento river, Smith River, world record

Lake Michigan kicks out Potential World Record Brown Trout!!

February 22, 2012 By JD 9 Comments

Eric Haataja and Browntosaurus


Talk about super-sized! Check out his potential new All-Tackle Length Record for brown trout! This massive kpyed-up buck measured 38.2 inches (the current length record is 25.2 inches)and was caught in Milwaukee Harbour on Lake Michigan by Eric Haataja, who was casting a skirted jig.

The fight lasted 10 minutes…after which, Haataja snapped a couple quick pix and then released big daddy to go about his business. If approved, this will be the new length world record for browns. The length record is a fairly new catch and release category so that anglers can get recognized for trophy catches without killing the fish. Read more at IGFA.org

Filed Under: Trophy Room Tagged With: brown trout, igfa, lake michigan, world record

Little Kid…Giant Bass!

February 9, 2012 By JD 4 Comments

Eric Doppee and his giant!


Kerin VanDam and Skeet Reese have never done it…nor have most of the professional bass anglers in the word. But 13-year-old angler Eric Doppee has!

The eighth grader from Pleasanton, CA caught a bass Saturday that only exists in the dreams of most…an 18-pound largemouth!

The behemoth set a new lake record for largemouth at Shadow Cliff Reservoir in the Bay Area. You can read the whole story at Pleasanton Weekly

Filed Under: Trophy Room Tagged With: largemouth bass, record fish, shadow cliffs reservoir

Extreme Fish Porn: 30-Pound Steelhead Edition!

February 2, 2012 By JD 10 Comments

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!


Well, sometimes you just need a little fish porn. And man, what a week it’s been for that! I probably should have saved this fish for last because it dwarfs the 20 pounders below, but holy giant rainbow trout, Batman…that is one amazing specimen is it not?

All I know about this leviathan is that it was caught last weekend and measured 44 inches by 24 inches, which using the steelhead weight formula, comes out at 32 freaking pounds! WOW!!!!! My jaw just hit the floor!

And, just for kicks, here are a couple other 20 plus pounders…

This one was taken by Paul LeFebvre of Brookings, OR. He caught and released the fish Feb. 1 on the Chetco River while fishing with guide Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing. The steelhead hit a cluster of roe and took a half hour to subdue!

Twenty plus pounds of Perfection!


Our pal Greg McElroy sent in this pic of Tim Obert who fished just south of the Chetco, on California’s Smith River with Mad River Eggs for this low 20’s buck.

Damn, raise your hand if you work day just got totally screwed…

Filed Under: Trophy Room Tagged With: 20 pound steelhead, 30 pound steelhead, chetco river, olympic peninsula, Smith River, Steelhead

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