FishwithJD

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A good start to 2011: A 20-pound steelhead!

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Klar (left) and Moore with a little New Year's Magic!

Talk about a way to get your year kick-started! Curtis Moore of Healdsburg, CA (fishing with guide John Klar) just this morning, Jan. 4 at 9AM, caught and released this beautiful 20-pound wild steelhead in the Smith River.

Klar, via “boat phone,” said that they hooked the beast at the top of Jed Smith Park. “It was an epic fight,” say Klar. The fish jumped several times and just tore holes in the water.” You can tell what Klar was talking about when he called the fish “flawless.”

Moore hooked the big daddy on a peach Fish Pill, some orange yarn and a small cluster of eggs. Nice work!

Pending World Record Bull Trout from the Flathead River

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Mmmm...cork...it's what's for dinner! (IGFA Photo)

Bo Nelson of Oro Valley, AZ was working an egg pattern on British Columbia’s Flathead River with guide Kim Sedrovic, when this tank of a bull trout came calling. The fish took 10 minutes to land and, upon being weighed, pulled the needle down to 14 pounds, which just may qualify it for a 12-pound tippet class world record.

Nelson’s catch bested the current 12-pound tippet record — a 12-pound bull that came from Montana’s Kootenai River back in 2003 — and is now being reviewed by the International Game Fish Association for consideration as a world record.

Going BIG with topwater: A pending IGFA World Record Jack Crevalle

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Smile, dude...topwater is fun! (IGFA Photo)

You know me…I’m a huge fan of throwing topwater for anything that swims…but I’ve never come close to having my plug sucked down by anything like this pending all-tackle IGFA world record jack crevalle!

The 66-pound, 2 ouncer smashed a Willamson Jet Popper tossed by Carlos Alberto Leal Simoes, of Luanda, who was fishing Barra Do Dande, near Angola, Africa with guide Marcio de Oliveira Inocencio. The beast took 15 minutes to subdue and weighed nearly 8 pounds more than the current IGFA record, a fish that was also caught in Africa 10 years back.

Damn, I want some!

Reason for Living

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Our good friend and fellow member of the semi anti-social and fully masochistic Society of Steelhead Junkies (see if you’re one HERE), Roy Gray sent an email after his recent B.C. trip with this photo. There was no text or description. All it said in the subject line was “Reason for Living.”

Amen, brother!

A 30-pound laker on 2-pound tippet!

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IGFA Photo


While I’ve never quite understood the fascination with fighting monster fish on super light line (especially for the sake of the fish’s health), I must say that a 30-pound, 8-ounce lake trout caught on 2-pound tippet is a pretty impressive feat.

Frank Bluch of Corio Victoria, Australia pulled off the feat on August 7, while fishing Great Bear Lake, in Canada’s NW Territories with guide Captain Mike Harrison. The monster mack munched a white streamer and was weighed and released. If approved, will obliterate the current IGFA 2-pound tippet record, a 13-pound, 8-ounce fish from Canada’s Wellesley Lake.