2025 Fly Fishing Ambitions

Mikey2006 said:
Catch a native brook trout over 10 inches, which I failed to do last year. Also catch a few wild brown trout over 20 inches, if not that big at least a couple in the 17-19 range. I had one hooked with just a few days to go in 2024 but I lost it.

Also I plan to finally make it up to central pa and fish Penns, spring creek, etc. Maybe even make it up to kettle creek where I hopefully could catch one of those big brookies.
Click to expand...
Came soooo close to breaking the 10” mark for a native brook trout today. Out of my home water in sc pa too, didn’t have to travel as far as I thought I would have to in order to find fish of that size
IMG_2638.jpeg
IMG_2634.jpeg

9 1/4 inches. I thought for sure it was going to be the one when I first hooked it, but it ended up being just short. I’m confident that I’ll break 10” this year if I put in the time though
 
Mikey2006 said:
Came soooo close to breaking the 10” mark for a native brook trout today. Out of my home water in sc pa too, didn’t have to travel as far as I thought I would have to in order to find fish of that size View attachment 1641240148View attachment 1641240147
9 1/4 inches. I thought for sure it was going to be the one when I first hooked it, but it ended up being just short. I’m confident that I’ll break 10” this year if I put in the time though
Click to expand...
Nice looking brookies.
 
Mikey2006 said:
Came soooo close to breaking the 10” mark for a native brook trout today. Out of my home water in sc pa too, didn’t have to travel as far as I thought I would have to in order to find fish of that size View attachment 1641240148View attachment 1641240147
9 1/4 inches. I thought for sure it was going to be the one when I first hooked it, but it ended up being just short. I’m confident that I’ll break 10” this year if I put in the time though
Click to expand...
Awesome man! 9-1/4” is a nice brookie! Stick with it. You will get it done! Post a picture when you do.

Then next year you can shoot for 10-1/2” 🙂

~5footfenwick
 
Beautiful fish! Looks fat for a freestone brookie this time of the year especially from that region of the state. Limestone influence in the watershed?
 
Looking to dive into streamer fishing more this year, have done it here and there in the past, but ready to commit some more time or (days) to it.
 
MJMFlyfisher said:
Crossing a big one off the list this year finally. Doing a week in the Bahamas for Bonefish.....a couple guided days and the rest DIY.
Can't wait!
Click to expand...
Would very much like to hear details on this as it unfolds!

I am burying money in the backyard to try to do a DIY trip hopefully next year, but I don't have logistics / which island / etc. figured out yet. Hoping for a place I can plant the family on the beach and then explore.
 
hooker-of-men said:
Would very much like to hear details on this as it unfolds!

I am burying money in the backyard to try to do a DIY trip hopefully next year, but I don't have logistics / which island / etc. figured out yet. Hoping for a place I can plant the family on the beach and then explore.
Click to expand...
My wife and I are heading to Abacos Island, splitting an AirbnB on the beach in Cherokee (Very reasonable) with a buddy (Who is also a fly fisherman) and his wife. We already booked a local guide for 2 days to fish "The Marls" . Been doing some research on walk and wade spots as well and hoping the guide also gives up some areas we can have to ourselves wading.
Been gathering tackle for months! Rod, reel line, flies pack, shoes you name it. LOL
 
Roofin' Trouter said:
I'm thinking keep more stockers in 2025. One of my new buddies smokes them so somebody will eat them up. I'm curious to see how the smoking process changes the look of the orange skin Palomino.
Living in a new area, my hope is to find a place that comes to mind when somebody says " honey hole".
Click to expand...
I did this last year, making the conscious decision to keep fish no smaller than 16", all for the purpose of smoking. My "smoking trout experience" has taught me anything smaller than this is just too much hassle when picking bones. Fish of at least 16", when smoked correctly, keep from becoming overcooked, and come off the bones easily in one slab.
Good luck with it...hope this helps when you enjoy the fruits of your labor!

OMS
 
MJMFlyfisher said:
Crossing a big one off the list this year finally. Doing a week in the Bahamas for Bonefish.....a couple guided days and the rest DIY.
Can't wait!
Click to expand...

Just an update , because I accomplished this one. 😁
✅

Since it was a combo vacation with my wife and a buddy and his girlfriend we didn't get to fish the entire time but we made the most of the 5 sessions we got to fish and learned a lot in the process for future visits.
Happy wife happy life , so we had to find that balance of wanting to fish nonstop and keeping the peace. LOL So we did a good bit of girl time too.
All in all I think we did pretty good!
I landed 20 bonefish , broke off 2 and lost a few others.....plus some missed strikes. Landed a couple dandies I think. That biggest one is just a hair under 28" and not sure of weight. Maybe 7+lbs?
My buddy landed 12 and the same, broke a couple and lost a few others.
We had 2 great guided days, but all of our biggest fish were on foot exploring on our own so it was especially satisfying.
So for a couple PA trout guys to land over 30 bonefish on our first try feels pretty good!

The wind was kicking our asses some days as well as clouds and spooky fish but we started really dialing it in towards the end. Tides, sun, and wind direction and speed seem to be 90% of it.
Lots of other wildlife interactions too, including a million sea turtles, rays, barracuda and sharks all the time. My buddy had a 5-6 footer sneak in behind him to within 10 feet on the first evening in hip deep water. 🤣 He thought he was dead.

Just a couple of the 1000 pictures we took. 😉

Abaco6.jpg

Abaco1.jpg

Abaco14.jpg

Abaco21.jpg

Abaco17.jpg


Bone2.jpg

bone1.jpg
 
Mikey2006 said:
Catch a native brook trout over 10 inches, which I failed to do last year. Also catch a few wild brown trout over 20 inches, if not that big at least a couple in the 17-19 range. I had one hooked with just a few days to go in 2024 but I lost it.

Also I plan to finally make it up to central pa and fish Penns, spring creek, etc. Maybe even make it up to kettle creek where I hopefully could catch one of those big brookies.
Click to expand...
IMG_5012.jpeg
IMG_5276.jpeg
20 inch wild brown ✅
Caught him on a size 16 pheasant tail on an unnamed natural repro. creek in central pa. Hopefully first of many this year, I’ve already had multiple chances at fish bigger than this one.

The net has marks that go to 10 inches on either side so I know it’s 20 at a minimum, I tried to tape it but it was too hard to keep it still in the water. I know it’s somewhere between 20 and 20.5
 
Last edited:
I’ve fished 3 streams on my remaining “to do” list. They were pretty and fun exploring, but all three were duds fishing wise. (Only 3 times I’ve fished this year.)

And I’ve added 6 more. So, back to 10, though most are still ANF. Happens. Good problem to have. Thanks to a couple guys who chose to share some info with me via PM on a few streams I had written off (seemingly mistakenly) for one reason or another.
 
I have yet to catch a trout this year. So I am going to adjust my “goals” for the year to (a) actually getting out to fish for trout this spring, and (b) actually catching some species of fish that happens to be a trout.

Kids spring sports are killing any fishing plans I had to start the year.
 
Catch golden trout in both their native waters and in high alpine lakes in the John Muir Wilderness.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Harman's North Fork Cottages


Real Time Data From
the USGS Site

Share this page

Back
Top