---
title: "Fish America: Best Fish Gallery"
description: "It’s not all about the fish, but it’s a lot about the fish. Here are some of the memorable catches from Maine to Washington and back. Enjoy!"
date: "2011-01-05"
modified: "2011-01-05"
authors:
  - name: "Rick Bach"
    link: "https://www.outdoorlife.com/authors/rick-bach/"
url: "https://www.outdoorlife.com/photos/gallery/fishing/2011/01/fish-america-best-fish-gallery/"
categories:
  - "Fishing"
---

# Fish America: Best Fish Gallery

![](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/CVSSYIPPT2YEPFPK3VQEOXWWVE.jpg>)

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2011photo1001321579slide1_15.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/2KFEEVUTY7Z3HM2T6DRZUJHJFA.jpg>)
*This largemouth bass crushed a Rebel Pop R on Lake Powell in Arizona, fishing with guide Danny Woods.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2011photo1001321579slide2_14.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/QPCMPY4M2JWI3RR5PJUUWHDVMM.jpg>)
*Shane Kobald of Meeker, Colorado is all smiles after catching the biggest brown trout on the day, besting both his father John and I, on the White River.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide3_4.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/KMONNH4YPUATZSUXY7DLLLQGIM.jpg>)
*This was the biggest flounder we fooled fishing with Dr. Julie Ball out of Virginia Beach, Virginia.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide4_4.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/GGXQP7WEILV7TX455NZ6AUKH74.jpg>)
*This was the biggest rainbow trout I caught on the fly, out of the White River in Meeker, Colorado with guide John Kobald.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide4a_0.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/FUUEPNKWGK7JQFX2PN3RQNXJ7U.jpg>)
*Matt Wettish fooled this enormous brown trout on the Farmington River in Connecticut by drifting a mealworm on 2-pound-test fluorocarbon.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2011photo1001321579slide5_13.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/KPVYEXDUNYKVPT46X5YNMDPWVM.jpg>)
*Fishing off Virginia Beach with guide Herb Gordon, I was worn out after wrenching up this 47-inch AJ that hit a butterfly jig.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide6_4.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/XGSL37A2CNOR35DSM5DLQRKTZQ.jpg>)
*Guide Randy Oldfield caught this 8-plus-pound bass on Lake Fork in Texas.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide7_4.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/4UVM2V4AUVICU65LIWTNOTOYVY.jpg>)
*Thanks to guide Mickey Maynard, we found some fast smallmouth action on Lake Champlain in New York.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide8_3.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/NTRN3QKZSMKTYMWM2FCC7W2GZI.jpg>)
*Guide Chris Senyohl put me on this spawning chum salmon in the Green River outside of Seattle, Washington.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide9_4.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/BHWUUXTIQMJRXN4YRGYOER75MM.jpg>)
*This was one of two 10-pound bass that B.A.S.S. pro Preston Scott caught on Lake Orange outside of Orlando, Florida, pitching through a hydrilla mat.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2011photo1001321579slide10_16.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/GZTIJARTPDXXN3YCQF36HL3VOY.jpg>)
*I just happened to walk by this impressive catch, a 40-plus-inch redfish caught from a jetty in Port Arkansas, Texas.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2011photo1001321579slide11_17.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/O3QUGEBAEVFKMQLUBDOBBOMWGQ.jpg>)
*This largemouth fell for a slow-twitched creature bait on Lake Amistad in Texas.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide12_3.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/6XR77TBEMSQEAOC5AZFM2ZNNTM.jpg>)
*Despite torrential downpours, Kevin Shaw and I found some hungry redfish in Corpus Christie, Texas that were willing to cooperate.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide13_4.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/6DB4NLLTOBPDXCJWDQI3EBPD4E.jpg>)
*I hopped a headboat, The Black Hawk II, with Captain Greg Dubrule out of Connecticut and stayed out of tangles to land this bruiser bluefish.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide14_4.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/4I2DNNGX5IUC7PNWCBIZVAX6M4.jpg>)
*John Kobald took this beautiful brown trout on the White River in Meeker, Colorado, nymph fishing.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide15_4.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/U4UDEDGK6KTAK74BIU2BNA3C34.jpg>)
*I caught my first silver salmon on the Green River with Chris Senyohl in Seattle.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2011photo1001321579slide16_14.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/ANSL4XF66ZLPULXCDJVLZFUGZM.jpg>)
*Thanks to guide Ryan Rowan, I caught my biggest snook of the trip, wrenching it out of the mangroves in Boca Grande, Florida.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide17_2.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/74RWN42NERG727YRS4PZEXM674.jpg>)
*Willy Goldsmith and I just had some old-fashioned fun, chumming the Charles River in Boston with balled up bread to catch these carp.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide18_4.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/I6GVERXC4EXW6UNKPMXKYNDPEU.jpg>)
*Islamorada guide Bob Jones unhooks a blacktip shark before releasing it in Everglades National Park.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide19_4.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/MEYLCYCQ3KMQRSFXKTZT3I2E3Y.jpg>)
*Guide Mickey Maynard shows off a pike that slammed a black spinnerbait on Lake Champlain in northern New York.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide20_4.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/62HYHHW6BGPI56ZLXTVIKRWD3I.jpg>)
*Guide Bruce Pollock holds up a hammerhead for a photo about 20 miles from Islamorada.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide21_3.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/7F46QHEN4KC35H43YR2TIRVSDQ.jpg>)
*I caught my first bowfin in the lakes connected to the Mobile River in Alabama with Pat Ogburn.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2011photo1001321579slide22_10.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/3RHTNLWFL5LWVDJ2FJFGQXMXAE.jpg>)
*One of my favorite fish of the trip, this was my first land locked salmon that I caught dry-fly fishing on Grand Lake Stream, Maine.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide23_1.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/WDI73OFEXRBP233LL6Z23GPF4M.jpg>)
*This was my biggest brown trout caught on the fly on the White River in Meeker, Colorado with guide John Kobald.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide23a_0.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/Z7YUTX62F4Y5L6KWNSMCZ2EAZ4.jpg>)
*It was freezing on the Madison River in Montana, but Greg Thomas and I tiptoed across some ice to fool a few rainbows on the fly.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2011photo1001321579slide24_9.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/6NTF2VME7NAPVJ4IU2ZW7XHZT4.jpg>)
*Thanks to guide Rocky Thickstun, I caught this redfish on a soft-plastic swimbait outside of Venice, Louisiana. I'm giving it a bit of a push, but it was every bit of 12 pounds.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide25_1.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/XEUYFR2BCOPKU6SLVIFKJ2ACOA.jpg>)
*Along with guides Hans Kaspersetz and Al Ristori, we caught stripers up to 40 pounds on the 4th of July off Sandy Hook in New Jersey, fishing bunker chunks.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2011photo1001321579slide26_8.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/ZMTSZI3R4IM4PKFKUA6ULER3YU.jpg>)
*Guide Chris Robinson and I ran into a school of redfish pushing bait around an oyster bed and it was fish-every-cast good for about a half hour off the Florida panhandle.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide27_1.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/OUIHVT7S7FSYTPG5NO46HYWRPA.jpg>)
*This dusky shark gave us about a 20-minute battle fishing with Bruce Pollock and Bob Jones in Islamorada.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide28_1.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/RQN3QYMGBB27C5PPEWLCNAIVUM.jpg>)
*Aboard the Catch 22 out of Bud N' Mary's in Islamorada, the first mate shows off a bonito.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2011photo1001321579slide29_6.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/YDQN6N3MH6NDN353ZV55SHQHKE.jpg>)
*Rom Whitaker Jr. holds up a mahi that was caught trolling out of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide30_1.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/ELZUFPBWPVIHYJ26LTEUVRQPC4.jpg>)
*I caught this red on a soft-plastic with guide Tommy Scarborough out of Georgetown, South Carolina.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide31_1.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/6QI5Q6EHNZEGC72UWPZTVBDC4M.jpg>)
*This lake trout, or "togue" as they are called in the area, was the first fish I caught on the trip, with guide Brooke Hidell on Lake Sebago in Maine.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide32_1.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/NGNSU2NREOEJD2UAEQWDVPAY3I.jpg>)
*I put on a wetsuit and climbed into the Montauk surf on a pitch-black night in July with seasoned surfcaster Mike Coppola.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2011photo1001321579slide33_5.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/K5O2OL2B5U5FZQ4YRGJLTAMP7I.jpg>)
*I tried something different, lobster hooping in San Diego Harbor, and brought home dinner.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2011photo1001321579slide34_5.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/5BUDDCOBSUGW7OMB6EEQK2CQMA.jpg>)
*I caught this fluke in Martha's Vineyard Sound in June, hopping squid strips along the bottom.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide35_1.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/3AECHBHBTD5HUNRQDCF3PFGNQA.jpg>)
*Guide Rocky Thickstun shows off a fly-caught redfish outside of Venice, Louisiana in September.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide36_0.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/YSQLVGEBMUAT2M5NH7DUL34LXM.jpg>)
*This two-plus pound vermillion rockfish will make a nice meal, and was caught outside of San Diego.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide37_1.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/PTCEXJLV4KBNEJRYI5YBZM6P2Q.jpg>)
*Kayaking around Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, Rob Alderman and I ran into a mile-long school of blitzing Spanish mackerel, this was one of the more impressive fish we landed on metals.*

![httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images201101slide38_1.jpg](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/23/KTQ2SFJA3DMG3VCBBF5NQ4UT3Y.jpg>)
*Guide Chris Robinson of Apalachicola shows off a Florida Panhandle redfish caught on light tackle.*

It's not all about the fish, but it's a lot about the fish. Here are some of the memorable catches from Maine to Washington and back. Enjoy!