Best/favorite catches of 2020!

[anthrax2244]

Wow, Some pretty amazing fish caught in 2020 both in and out of NJ!

This is a great thread.

2020 was not my best fishing year, but it wasn’t my worst. The wife and 4 kids keep my fishing to mostly short solo trips, some family trips and some short trips where I try to bring one of the little ones at a time.

The spring consisted of a few trips to the sbr and nbr for trout. Nothing big, but lots of action. This transitioned into quick trips to the Raritan and D&R canal chucking meat for whatever was willing to bite. Mainly walleye and smallmouth with a few channels cats. The 1st trip to the canal in late April, was a heartbreaker. My buddy and I were at our 1st spot of the morning. I was livelining a rather large baitfish. My line stopped, I gave a little tug to free the “snag”. I felt a Little resistance, maybe a little head shake and set hard. My rod bent sharply And I didn’t feel much of any movement....for a moment...just enough time for me to consider that I’m probably stuck on a large branch....Then my drag started singing as the fish took, peeling line as it shot upstream. It felt every bit as strong and heavy as the 20-30lb carp I’ve caught but with more head shakes. It tired after a few minutes of head shakes and bulldog runs up and down the canal. It finally came to the surface and I couldn’t believe that #1 it was a musky and #2 it was close to 4’ long, if it wasn’t. My buddy reached the net down and as he did, it rolled Away from us and out of the reach of the net and it cut the line in the process. And that was that. I was lucky that it didn’t cut my 12lb Berkeley xt mono leader sooner. I’m glad I was able to see it, but it still haunts me.
I Caught a decent northern pike the next weekend (My first) out of the river and also got a few nice walleye up to 24” and smallmouth through the spring.

May was a hot time for carp. My buddy and I were dialed in on a local Raritan River trib doing quick trips and catching 8-20 lbers.

During the summer it was game on for channel cats. Nothing huge but 20-24” were the norm. Got a few nice smallmouth as well and some decent crappies.

Fall was kind of a bust aside from a monster Pb lmb that I was not expecting. It was a good fight on my 5’ UL with 4lb test trout rod. Took my son to shore fish RVR many weekends and we only caught 1 rainbow. It
Was great to get the quality time in together and the fish would have just been a bonus.

[Chrisper4694]

2020, the year everyone lost their damn mind and i fished more than ever before... started off with the shortest ice season I've ever encountered (yes even shorter than this one we just had haha) followed by a few local trout outings and a carping session with saxmatt.

early in the year, I upgraded the tincan by buying a bigger princecraft and with the help of njsquatch and mikeytopaz, got it ready to fish the crap out of NJ. I promptly named it 'The Essential' so that no government nonsense could stop me from fishing!

Multispecies mayhem ensued throughout the year, with some of the more memorable catches being the first musky on one of my first trips in the new boat at the 'closing bell'; some xl landlocked salmon; night walleyes and hybrids; beefy bass and panfish; pretty much stalked most species NJ has to offer, especially the deep dwelling lakers!

I didn't do as much saltwater fishing as usual, but did take a trip to cape cod late summer to bag a huge bf tuna with my high school buddies! probably the memory that will stand out the most for the year!

Happy new year and i'm going for more of the same in 2021!

[Chrisper4694]

sorry idk how to do collages haha

[FASTEDDIE29]

Great year Chris! Beautiful pics as always! Keep the MAYHEM going in 2021! Hell yassssssss!!!!

[NickM221]

All things considered, 2020 was a great year fishing wise!

Caught multiple PBs with the most memorable being a 38" pike, 29" laker, 23" largemouth, 20" brown from a creek that's less than 6 feet wide, and a brookie that we hiked about a mile up a mountain with the canoe to catch.

Some of the highlights include a trip down to Florida for peacock bass and clown knifefish back in February, first time hitting the night bite, first time flathead fishing, first time fishing for salmon and steelhead, exploring a bunch of new water close to home, fishing with new and old friends, overnight camping/fishing trips with the guys, and ice fishing for the first time.

My favorite trips this year definitely were our trip up to the Adirondacks and hitting the salmon river for the first time. I'm addicted now and can't wait to get back up there

A big thank you to everyone who helped make these great moments possible!

Happy New Year and Tight Lines in 2021!

[Mikey topaz]

Beautiful work Nicholas!👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[ScowardNJ]

2020 man..glad it's over, but lookin through this thread makes me think there will always be good memories of a prior year to anyone that shares our passion. I had a good year fishing wise.
Some memorable catches, some PB's and some firsts.

Spring rolled in and i spent some nights on the big pond. I had some good nights with a mess of wallys and my PB Hybrid taped at 26".


I did limited inshore stuff but had a few worthy trips boxing some warm water species. Got a PB trigger. Didn't measure it, i just ate it.


Spent a weekend on the LBI surf throwing big baits and hooked up with all kinds of critters. Had a hell of a time landing anything but I did get this sand tiger to the beach. A first for me.


A crazy thing happened late summer going into fall where Monksville turned on like I've never experienced. I had many afternoons where I boated 8 or 9 eyes. A few double digit evenings when i had someone else with me. Good sized fish up to 26" with zero skunkings!


We had a great couple weekends up in salmon country with some of the NJF veterans and some youngins that kicked my ass on the river. I did connect with my my first ever fish on the fly rod and my first ever coho. No steel for me yet but it'll come..


Late fall/early winter i spent more time jigging the bigger lakes where the walleye bite was on fire and ended the year with nice muskie.


I picked up a completely rotted out 16' Sea Nymph on trailer for nothing a couple years ago. I ended up completely gutting it, worked on it off and on and finally got it mostly restored. She was first launched end of September and I think i've worked out most of the bugs. Keep an eye out for the Bacon Strip!