Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What was the best day of fishing you ever had?

Yesterday was pretty good. 24 crappie between 12 and 15 inches. Fried em up for dinner last night.

Saturday morning I kept 17 that size. those went into the freezer.

Hard to pick a "best" day fishing. Too many good ones to choose from.

There was However a day when "it don't get much better" several years ago. It was the last day of quail season. My friend and I killed a limit of quail over my pointers that morning, then went caught our limit of rainbow trout the same afternoon. That was a good day.

Peacock bass in Panama. Hands down best time fishing.

First, thank you all for the stories!

My best day fishing was with my dad. We hiked up West Clear Creek four or five miles into the wilderness. I was the only one fishing but caught so many smallmouth that my arms hurt. It actually became a game to try to not catch a fish. When we were both tired of fishing, we ate lunch and then took a nap in the shade of massive cottonwoods, listening to the water.

As we laid there we started hearing rocks crashing down the cliff face into the water. We sat and watched a group of bighorn sheep come off those cliffs and water not thirty feet from where we were napping.

The hike out was slow and easy as we relished those sheep so close and the great fishing. Back near the highway, we grabbed a Corona and a fresh lime from the gas station...best beer I have ever had because of the company and the trip.

That was, more than likely, the last hiking and fishing trip my father and I will go on as he is up there in age now. However, it is something I will never forget.

26 dolphin offshore one day was my best, but no pics.
So here is a good bass day.

best day has nothing to do with numbers or size for me. And we've had those days.

But just Dad and I on the Kenai, we wanted to catch some silvers and had the day before.

Great guide on a drift boat in a no motor zone.

Guide needed money like we all do and talked us into rainbows the next day.

It was cold and wet, we had clothes on. Dad was a cardiac patient and had to kinda watch out for him but he loved fishing.

We even had a small heater, courtesy of the guide, in the boat. I dont' think we ever took a picture, but I have no clue how many rainbows we turned loose that day on little diving plugs.

Dad enjoyed that and talked about it forever. As did I.

But he also talked about climbing down a hill in CO once,to a tiny stream and catching 6-10 inch brookies all afternoon until we were tired and I had to help him back up the hill. Very slowly.

Those were 2 of the best days I"ve ever had. He's been gone since 2005, and I think about those 2 trips often.

Jeff

Well, why did you release him in TN??

One of the rare days my father and I were not butting heads. We anchored up at the top of a riffle and started throwing wet flies for half pounder steelhead. In an hour and a half we boated about 85 ... catch 'n' release. Got bored, if you can imagine that, and headed for home early. We ran into his new neighbors parked at their landing so we stopped to talk. We hit right at dinner, "oops." We got handed cold beer and steaks just off the grill, hung around 'til about 11:00 pm and had to row the last 2 miles home in the dark. Not a bad day on th' ol' crick, not bad at all.

Tom

I didn't want to keep that slimy bastid.

Would you?

Hard to pick a single best day. As far as single best catching day, that would have been dipnetting on the Kenai a few years back. Here's a pic from a slow year, when we had time to take a pic.



On the good day we netted 65 sockeye in two hours, about 500 pounds of fish.

Last year I started the season by taking my boys out for a few days of fishing and camping. First full day of the trip we hit one of my favorite spots and managed a limit of yellow eye rock fish.



The best part wasn't the fishing, it was having a pod of Dall porpoises buzzing around the boat while listing to tunes with amazing weather.



Feasting on shrimp tacos and ceviche on the water wasn't too shabby.

I'm trying to decide if it was fishing with my Dad, fishing with my kids and seeing them catch their first ever, a particular fishing trip with a good buddy or one of many trips to a particular stream where my brother and I learned to fish for trout. All of those trips have something in them that makes my inner eye light up and my heart sing just a bit.

does dip netting "reds" in chitna count?? 70 fish in 4 hours (2 of us) from my boat, just above the canyon... 2 monster kings included .... hard to name a best tho !

I've had many memorable days afield but one sticks with me. In 1961 I was working on Oxbow Dam on the Snake river. This was before Hells Canyon dam was constructed downstream. We spent a weekend camped downstream from the Oxbow area close to where the Hells Canyon dam is now. We used spinning gear and lures and through a couple of stretches in the river caught large Rainbow trout, Smallmouth bass, one was about 4 lbs. and channel cat, all on lures and pretty much in the same area.

There used to be huge groups of Chukars along the Snake, probably still true. I was armed with a Winchester Model 37 single shot 12 Ga. I was able to harvest enough of these for a couple of good meals to go along with the bass filets.

No pictures available. It was 53 years ago.

In 2011 I spent 143 days in a row camping and fishing in the Rockys, came out about once a month for supplies. 50 years in the planning and worth every second.

Uh .. forgot one, the most-est best-est of all and I didn't even catch a single fish.

Early May 2008. I went to Colorado Springs to see my daughter graduate from college. After everyone else left for home I stayed a couple extra days. One morning we picked up a couple daily angler licenses and went up to Rampart Reservoir. This happened:



She squealed like a little girl.

The dads out there know: some days it's truly good to be me.

Tom

I owe an explanation of why that was my best day ever.

As a young kid I became fascinated with fly fishing and one of my dreams was to catch a steelhead on a fly. It was a life long pursuit that culminated that day.

I'd caught plenty of steelhead before that ... good numbers and a few big ones but the majority were on spinning or casting gear.

I drove down to the Anchor the night before and slept in the back of my P/U camper shell. It was was cold night (20 degrees) and I got up early that morning and headed down to river. There was ice on the edge of the river and the fish weren't biting. Then it started to drizzle and rain. My $150.00 POS "waterproof" wading jacket leaked at the seams and I got soaking wet. Not a good start to the day but it was typical of the many days I had spent steelheading in the fall and winter all over N CA and Oregon. The Sacramento River, Trinity River, Klamath River, Smith River, Mad River, the Umpqua, Coquille River ...

Good news is the rain brought the river up a tad, colored it up just right, and it warmed the water. The run I was fishing in is only a few hundred yards upstream from the highest point of tidal influence river so the fish were fresh.

The rush of dime bright fresh steelies started coming in on the high tide just after the rain stopped at about 10:00 am. For the next 2 1/2 hours the bite was ON and I landed eleven steelhead. Most were 4 to 8 lbs, a couple over 10 lbs, and the biggest was about 14 lbs.

That day I experienced true steelhead nirvana and it was a pay-off for the countless hours I spent learning the art of fly fishing. It goes back to when I was six years old flaying my dad's bamboo fly rod with a waxed linen line in the driveway at home. Dad gave me a few pointers when I started out but I flailed that rod to death and taught myself how to cast. Then on to years of trying to perfect casting, the double haul, shooting line, roll casting, mending, stripping, reading water, knots, leaders, using sink tips, tying flies, how to battle a large fish on fly rod ... etc ... etc .. etc.

Yeah, it was a day I'll never forget.

I have had several BEST.
They were with my Grandfather,my Dad and just wade fishing in the gulf of mexico.

These were back when you went fishing to eat not to just play with them,then let them go.

I still get a kick while watching those plain corks laying flat on the water,then watch them dance when a bluegill is playing with it.

Wished i lived back on the MS.coast still.

It would have to be one Sunday morning when my youngest daughter was home from college. We got up at dark-thirty, caught 20 channel cats, topped it off with a 28" walleye. Even though we had to quit early to drive 80 miles to a family dinner, it was one of the best memories I will ever keep. Now the grandkids are starting to come of age. Equally good was the time both daughters were still home, and we made a trip to a bluegill hole and brought home a nice batch before it got hot out. Thankfully both girls are home often with their families, and I plan to keep going full bore as long as I can,fishing, hunting, camping, dance recitals, sports............ Marty

I've caught steelhead and salmon in AK and those were great days.

My best day was probably the first time I caught native brook trout in the mountains of VA in a little mountain creek small enough to jump over in some places. That day just sticks out in my memory.

When my son was in early teens, we waded up a small river to a hole behind a small dam. In the fall the smallmouth stack up behind the dams around here. We caught fish on most every cast, so to say we had many doubles is an understatement. Finally after a several hours of none stop catching and tired arms, we just kinda looked and each other with big smiles and waded back to the truck.
On another occasion, he took me on a trip to AK to visit some of the places he fished while there in the Army. It was also way cool camping and fishing together.
And then there was the time..........
Tim
PS: cool thread

Size wise this was one of my better days of fishing in Nebraska.









Numbers wises I have several days of catching 80 to 100 LMB a day.