Where is your favourite spot that you ever fished. What was the best fish you ever caught there.

Red Water Lake in the Ocala National Forest, Florida! Can not get there by car, (need a truck), can not fish from shore, (need a boat). The lake is not huge, maybe 20 acres, full of OLD Cyprus trees standing out in the water with gnarly old roots that dig down deep in the lake hiding those legendary big mouths. In the trees the southern moss hangs heavy in the branches and the eagles build their nests high up in the trees. The morning burns bright with the mist rising up to greet the day! You can hear the the subtle splash every now and then, of a large mouth removing a morsel from on top of the water. Your heart starts pounding as you cast a top water in that direction,,,,BANG!!!! hang on as another monster fights for control of her home! As you bring her to the boat, you smile and thank her for the enjoyment as she slides gracefully back to swim to her hang. This is only one of most precious memories.

That sounds awesome. I love the fight of a largemouth. So intense. Thanks for sharing.

Favorite spot: Rocky Mt National Park for the Greenback Cutthroat.
Best fish: a huge fat gorgeously colored cutthroat in a small cirque lake at about 12,000 feet just below Gray's Peak just east of the Continental Divide in Colorado. No photos, just the vivid memory and shear beauty of the setting and the fish.

Perhaps not my favorite spot, but the most memorable one. Ice fishing just off the boat launch at the bottom
end of Schroon Lake. Two strikes, one took the bait, part of the line, hook and all, the other held on long enough for me to land a 44 inch 24 pound Northern Pike. When she made her first run, I didn't have the right grip on the line, and it made a nice deep incision in the top of my finger.

Tom DuRose

My favorite spot has to be about 30 yards off of my inlaws' dock on Lake Nebagamon about 20 miles south of Superior, Wisconsin. I have caught walleye, small mouth, large mouth, northern pike, huge crappie, and bluegill (one 12" long) from that spot. Years ago pilings from an old train bridge were dumped there. I have lost a Bass Pro Shop's worth of tackle inventory there (until I learned how to fish it) and one boat anchor (until I learned how to use a boat there). It is crowded with ice fishing shacks in the winter.

Many fond memories over the last 30 years, fishing in the Sierras at the June Lake Loop. Of late, I would have to say bass fishing in the local San Diego reservoirs, mainly because I got to spend some QT with a really good friend who I lost a couple weeks ago, Dr. Bruce Cunningham. I'm so glad we got to go several times and went bendo on every trip! Pic is Bruce with a nice pre-release largemouth on San Vincente reservoir:

I have been lucky to have fished a lot of great places including some beautiful mountain trout streams, the Florida Keys and the Great Lakes. But just above the mighty Ohio River at #2, my #1 spot is still the old back yard bass & catfish pond built into the side of a sloping mountain. It never disappoints.

Brian-- I am jealous. But if you are tending a shore frying pan in that photo, then I'm really jealous.

Mike N

haha, Mike, it's really a Weber charcoal grille!

Sorry, but I have two.

Kamuchawie Lake, about 125 miles straight north of Flin Flon. Lake trout, northern pike and occasionally a few walleye:


Great native Indian guides and superb shore lunches:


and lots of great food!


Only drawback is it's on the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border so both licenses are required.

My 1st and all time favorite is Woman Lake in N central MN. Mid October is prime walleye, muskie and northern time with the ciscos spawning , but it gets a little cold now and then:

Favorite place to fish?... Does somewhere out of the dim shadows of the past count?

I was probably 10 or 12 years old, growing up in a little oil/steel mill town in Northwestern PA. Despite the hills, every kid had a bicycle and one of our favorite “what are we gonna do today?” activities was to just jump on the bikes and “go exploring”. On one of these road trips (with my buddy George), we started out on a road that led up the hill into farm country. We took a right turn off the highway for no particular reason after about four miles of peddling, rode past a few scattered houses for another mile, to where the pavement turned to dirt and gravel. A short distance and a farmhouse driveway branched off, and the rest of the road went down a slope to a culvert over a little creek coming out of the woods to our left. But to the right was a ...dump! Don’t know if it was a township dump, or just that of the local farmers, but it was a dump! Full of unknown treasures! George and I spent many trips at the dump- found many “treasures”! The best being a denture that had a gold tooth set in it! We ran that down to the local Second Hand dealer who gave us $5 for it!

Now on one of these trips, I walked over to the culvert. A little creek (or actually what you might call a brook) flowed through. Then I noticed a dark little “something” dart from upstream to the shade under the culvert. Hmmm? A fish? I yelled to George, we carefully sneaked up the creek into the woods. There were no paths along the banks, and it was never more than 6 or 7 feet across nor more than 2 or 3 feet deep. Lots of shaded, cold water. Son of a gun, we saw a couple more fish darting away!


Obviously, at the next chance, we were back, this time equipped with our fishing gear and a can of worms. And we caught a half dozen of those little fish! From books, I recognized them as Brook Trout! I hadn’t even known they existed in this part of the country! Beautiful little things, dark and brilliantly spotted! We returned all of them to the water.



George and I took an oath not to tell of our find- neither of us ever broke it. We returned there dozens of times, right up until I turned 16, got a driver’s license, and could drive to bigger waters (although I did sneak back there once or twice!). I found out later from a topographical map I had bought at the local Army Surplus store, that the little creek actually had a name. It was called “Sam’s Run”. We explored it a half mile or so upstream to it’s source in a spring fed bog. Then downstream past the dump (never caught a fish below the culvert, though). These little fish were what made a life-long trout fisherman out of me. To this day, I can clearly picture holding those beautiful, perfect creatures in my hand and the quiet, private setting along Sam’s Run. Never saw a footprint, often spooked deer and grouse while sneaking along the creek. What was my best fish from there? Difficult to say- each and every one was a treasure. Some fish are remembered for their size... some are just remembered.

Hanging in our family room I have a print of two little Brookies laying in a little pool of dark, shaded water. A gift from my wife on our anniversary after my seeing the print in an art store and telling her what memories it brought back.



Several years ago, my wife and I went visiting back that way and I made a stop at the creek. It was still there, hopefully the trout were, too, but we failed to startle any under the culvert.

It’s my hope that all of you had or have a place like this.

(The pic of the print is mine, but not those of the brook and the trout, but they could have been! And I changed the name of the little crick, I wouldn’t want to break my oath to George!) Best---- Joe Walkowski (ORCA)

Joe, I believe we fished the same creek and caught the fish. A different state and maybe a little different time, but your story brought back the same memories to me. There's nothing in the world that can compare to a young country lad discovering that mythical monster brook trout in some forgotten creek! The trout maybe small but they built big lifetime memories! Thanks for the story.
Randy

Other than the open ocean (which is by FAR the best place I'd love to be but at least 4.5 hours away to Charleston, our nearest port from NC), the 3 docks at our place in Lake Greenwood, SC are our favorite place to fish! Never disappoints, even in the dead of winter. Thanks for asking, Billy! You have a knack for asking the right questions we love to answer!

Tight lines,
Keith & Ethan (my youngest) in Arden, NC


Sunrise at 6am

Sunset at 6pm


My brother in law caught this on my vintage Penn 209 Level Wind! I was upstairs cleaning the kitchen. That's a place I seem to spend a lot of time at the lake.

Ethan's impressive 1.4lb brim!

I do occasionally catch something, but usually it's kitchen duty!

Joe W, that story was well-told and reminded me of my youth and the small creeks behind our home. Alas, salamanders and freshwater crayfish were the dominant species, but we didn't mind. Getting on a high-handle bar, 3-speed bike with a banana seat and taking off with your buddies on a sunny July morning was about as good as life gets for a kid.

WVA isn't far from NW PA! Good to hear you had the same experiences as a young 'un. My bike was a Schwinn "American" (I think that was the model) with the two speed sprocket that let you switch gears by backing up on the pedals just a bit. Luggage rack on the back fender and saddlebags! Had to have somewhere to put my stuff when the bike took me camping! I think if everyone thought about it, there would be some "crick", pond, lake, or "secret spot" that meant a lot to them as they were growing up.

And yea, within a short walk of my house, we had what we called the "Cow Patch Crick". It was really just a tiny little spring that ran out from a swampy spot in a farmer's woodlot- just a trickle. No fish, but it did hold "spring lizards" (as my Mom called them), and crayfish. Used to have many a great day catching the little critters! We tried bringing some home in jars a couple times to have as pets but they never lasted long so we gave up on that. We were really satisfied just letting them go again. We'd sometimes build a little dam... just to see how deep we could get the water.

Yep- "taking off with your buddies on a sunny July morning was about as good as life gets for a kid".

Best---- Joe Walkowski (former stump jumper from PA)

Good Grief! Found a pic on the internet! This is my old Bike!

I don't mean to hijack this fishing spot thread, but since Joe W posted a photo of the bike he took fishing, I had to post a google pic of what my bike looked like in 1970, when I was 12 years old. Of course, it only looked this nice for about a week after my parents bought it at Sears.

I've many favorites from the little town of Califon NJ to Cozumel Mexico where I can disappear before the family gets up on the east end of the island. Early doesn't mean better fishing just the ability to see the sun rise. Then to be in the water at that times priceless. Another great favorite would have to be on the Island in the back waters again before the sun rises. The striped bass fishing is great with the water looking like mouth wash! Its crystal clear and with every cast there's no telling what you'll catch from 4' needle fish in late September to 20*lb bluefish. That was my personal best but put it back. It was 50", my largest bass though was in the Bronx at 54". All fish went back, been there done that nothing to prove. I've been blessed to have so many memories fishing, there's little I haven't done. Marlin fishing in Mexico and the Carolinas to peacock fishing in Venezuela I've seen and experienced a lot. With next couple years I'll be looking seriously at a retirement home, maybe Cozumel? Who knows Tight Lines Nick in Mexico? Someday. .......

One of my favorite spots is on the other side of this dam on the Mianus river in Stamford, CT.

When I was a kid I caught a trout up there that was far too large for the 4 pound test I was fishing... and I didn't have a net.

It was a long battle and eventually the fish went over the dam. I scrambled around and down as fast as I could and resumed my fight below the dam.

I finally landed it. I was just 12 and it was the largest fish I had ever caught. I remember it as being as long as my thigh to the ground.

Having never caught a trout before I had no idea what kind it was... other than darn big.



Dean.

Beauty spot Dean, unlike you at 12, I didn't land my fish but about 25 miles north west of your spot at the bottom of Croton Falls reservoir I hooked into a brown also with 4 lb. It was estimated at 12lb * It was a male with a lower jaw hook that extended about 3" through its head.....a once in a lifetime monster! Oh well next largest brown at the bottom of Croton reservoir but this time only 9 lbs and 28"! Tight lines Nick in NY

Gotta tell ya, the ability to post pics with your stories is AWESOME! Keep it coming guys! Love the stories! Gorgeous pictures and great history!

Tight lines,
Keith

My favorite place is a spot along the road on Laurel Creek in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. My largest fish there was a 13 1/2" rainbow caught on a little black nymph I tied on a 6 ft bamboo rod with Medalist fly reel and Scientific Angler's 4 wt fly line. That's not a big trout by most standards, but it is pretty big for the Smokies. Anyway, it was my most memorable fish.
Joe

Middle Fork of the Stanislaus, Sand Bar Flat. Native browns to 5 lb., plus. A trophy stretch of river in some of the most beautiful area of the Sierras that exists.
Mark