i caught this one dead drifting a olive bugger in one of my favorite streams
not trying for an insult here, but there is real irony with your pic and your signature line.
I really don’t agree with dragging them on to a muddy bank like that, unless you’re going to eat them.
The fish is alive and well to be enjoyed by another fisherman
How do you know?:?:
Nice fish!
Jeff
Same way he knows it’s 20" I suppose.
nice catch cmon guys give him credit! he caught a nice fish. why knock him?
“First of the Year”?!? No fair! I’ve caught 1 20" fish in my life.
I’ve said it before, but I’ve gotta get out more.
Seriously, nice catch. Wish I was there. 
Sounds like some of you guys have pen…, uh I mean fish envy.
jeffnles1 said in another recent thread (hope you don’t mind I quoted you here Jeff):
Personally, I think a lot of fishermen take the whole catch and release thing too far to the point it nears religion. There’s nothing wrong with eating a few of the fish you catch. Also, some of the fish released, no matter how gently they are handled will die. It’s just not worth crying over.
If you want to be sure you don’t kill any fish, stop fishing.
If you guys have nothing better to do than critique someone’s photo of a fish (and freakin nice one at that) on the internet, then you really need to take a day off and find a hobby. I strongly recommend fly fishing, I’ll bet you’d love it. I’ve caught I don’t know how many dozens of fish that ended up a little muddy and out of water for a minute. Guess what…everyone of them (except of course those I didn’t want to) swam away with as much vigor as they did coming to hand.
flyguy, nice fish. Were I you, I’d feel good about the fact that some of these guys seem to be very jealous of your catch.
Although maybe worse for the fish, you probably would have had no negs
if it would have been on an aesthetic pleasing grassy bank.
This is a fair comment.
In my opinion, fish flopping in mud are not aesthetically pleasing nor are they examples of good catch and release practice.
Not what I would expect from a SignatureFlyDesignerforUmpqua&GanderMt.Pro
Fair comment sure…but what does aesthetically pleasing have to do with it?
The guy wanted a photo…was probably alone…I’d do the same.
A man’s hand or grass is better for the fish…BS!
Nice fish, still waiting for my first 20"er…16" best brown so far.
I was alone and forgot my net and the this is where i could land the fish safely without going in over my waders. The fish is alive as one my friends caught and released the fish a week later.
I dont see how mud is any worse than dry grass, i would think grass would take more of the protective slime off the fish than mud? And i photograph quite a few of my C&R fish flopping in the grass.
???
I agree with the mud thing…
But since I fish alot at night… it is hard to take a picture by yourself…
a nice grassy area would have been a go shot…
BUT… still a nice fish…
I guess I have the best fish of the year so far…
Here is my “very first ever” 50 incher… No this isnt a brown!!
it wasnt caught on a fly rod… but was caught on a hand tied jig
We used to catch long nose gar like that back when I was in college. We had to wade out to chest deep water, and then cast out to the main current to get into the whites and saugeyes, but these guys were mixed in pretty heavily.
I took my boss out one morning to fish. He was an ex-lineman for one of the JUCO football teams, and was a big, tough guy. I hooked into a 4 footer or so first thing, it came to the top and jumped, then spun the line and cut me off. I looked around for Hank, and he was already back on shore. It took a long while to get him back in the water. I’m not sure how he got back on shore so fast. :lol:
The inclusion of the fly rod and reel suggests at least some attempt at composing the shot. It didn’t work. As a photographer, I would have passed on the shot and relied on my integrity to carry the " I caught a 20er" story. Nice fish. Lousy pic.
Mark