Cory Worischeck shot this bull using a Hoyt bow on an opening day rut tag in Arizona. The main beams measured over 60 inches. Field & Stream Online Editors
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Nick Mihelich of Pueblo West, Colo., caught this 10.9-pound rainbow from the Antero Reservoir. He was fishing a #10 apoxy black calabatis. Mihelich usually releases all his fish, but says, “I told myself if I ever caught a 10-pound rainbow or over I’d put it on the wall.” Field & Stream Online EditorsBob Miller and a spinner shark he caught in February off of West Palm Beach, Fla. Field & Stream Online EditorsSixty-seven-year-old Paul Wood caught this blue catfish at the Bagnell Dam in the Lake of the Ozarks on June 14th. He used fresh shad for bait and needed a hand boating the 50-inch, 75-pound behemoth. Field & Stream Online EditorsWilliam Waddle of Oklahoma City, Okla., drew a pronghorn tag the first time he entered the lottery. He shot this buck in Cimmaron County. It weighed 90 pounds dressed. Field & Stream Online EditorsSteve Myers of Montpelier, Vt., took a bear hunting trip to Maine during the opening weeks of the hound season. He, his friend Scott Beede, and the rest of the company harvested two sows just over 200 pounds apiece, and one 220-pound boar. Field & Stream Online EditorsAlex Sokolik shot this bull tahr in New Zealand’s South Island with his bow at 29 yards. Says Sokolik, “I love nowhere like the Rockies in September, and Zimbabwe in its dry winter season is superb, but I do not know if I was ever happier than bowhunting the South Island for Tahr. Field & Stream Online EditorsThis is my first antelope. I decided I was never too old to try new hunts. I took this nice buck southeast of Laramie, Wyoming.–Joe Leigh Field & Stream Online EditorsRobert Moleski celebrated his 18th birthday by going duck hunting for the first time. He was in Leon County, Fla., and shot his limit within twenty minutes of the opening of the season. He lost the other teal in the weeds.¿¿ Field & Stream Online EditorsJoedy Wake describes Meghan, 12, of Anchorage, Alaska, as a veteran hunter. She’s killed 3 sitka blacktail deer, one 7-point buck, and this 3-year-old cow moose. She shot the moose on the Delta Junction Bison Range during a youth hunt. Field & Stream Online EditorsThomas Slaughter shot this caribou in Adak, Alaska, in calm weather. But as he tried to pack-out the next day, it rained and the wind picked up to 70 knots. He had to hike 14 miles, and spent 36 hours in pup tent when the wind-speed exceeded 100 knots. Says Slaughter, “All in all it was a great trip…” Field & Stream Online EditorsGary Spalding, 15, of Canandaigua, NY, caught this 24-pound king out of Lake Ontario in September. An avid fisherman, this was Spalding’s first trip for kings. “The water was rough,” Spalding remembers. “I was pretty sick, but he’s the biggest fish I ever caught.” Field & Stream Online EditorsJoey Saiz, 14, caught this northern pike on the Black River in Lacrosse, Wis. He was using his favorite lure, a Daredevle.¿¿ Field & Stream Online EditorsGary Spalding, 15, of Canandaigua, NY, caught this 24-pound king out of Lake Ontario in September. An avid fisherman, this was Spalding’s first trip for kings. “The water was rough,” Spalding remembers. “I was pretty sick, but he’s the biggest fish I ever caught.” Field & Stream Online EditorsSays Chad Knutson: “Many years have gone by with no luck and a lot of time spent in a tree.¿¿ But 3 hours into the 2007 bow season I was able to arrow this beauty at 25 yards. Patience finally paid off.” Field & Stream Online EditorsJason J. Russell of Elizabethtown, Pa., caught this 25-pound, 38-inch king at dawn on Lake Ontario. He was trolling a spoon at the mouth of the Genesee River in September.¿¿ Field & Stream Online EditorsMark D. Thompson of Blountville, Tennessee, with a 4-pound largemouth he caught while in Indianapolis, Indiana. Field & Stream Online EditorsJustin Dean took this bull near Grandby, Colo., on opening day in September. He shot the elk at 25 yards with a .50 caliber muzzleloader. Field & Stream Online EditorsSandi Tsukamoto of Los Angeles, Calif., caught this 5 1/2-pound Alper trout at Rock Creek Lake, near Mammoth. She was using an inflated nightcrawler. ¿¿ Field & Stream Online Editors“Hey my name is Sam Murch, 22 and I caught this killer red drum off Hatteras Island this spring. It measured 42 inches long and 28 inches in girth. Estimated weight was 42 pounds.-¿ Field & Stream Online EditorsDylan White, 12, poses with his sisters Celeste and Tiffany and his 8-point buck. The inside spread measured 16 inches. He shot the deer in Huron County, Mich. in September while on a youth hunt. Field & Stream Online EditorsLee Hanson of Turner, Oregon, with a pair of pheasants and a pair of dogs.¿¿¿¿¿¿ Field & Stream Online EditorsIn her first tournament, Nikole Forrester won “Biggest Fish” with this 5 3/4-pound largemouth. She and her husband Casey also netted first place for their overall catch. Her brother came in second, losing by 2 ounces, but boasting about his sister. Field & Stream Online EditorsSherri Pestun, shown beside her 3-year-old son Dilon, shot this turkey in miserable weather. “But with warm clothes and some hot chocolate things worked out,” says her husband Don. Field & Stream Online EditorsPhil Berti with a 3×3 Columbian blacktail and his son Matthew in September. Trinity County, Cali. Field & Stream Online EditorsAmy Simsa with her first lake trout, caught on Lake Champlain, Plattsburgh, NY. ¿¿ Field & Stream Online EditorsKen Sherburn of Grand Rapids, Mich., caught this 46-inch, 21 1/2-pound pike in northern Ontario. He hooked the fish on a red & gold spinnerbait and fought it for 20 minutes. Says Ken, “The pike did not come close to fitting in the net. I love the brilliant, bright red specks along its body.” Field & Stream Online EditorsTone Wens of Scottsdale, Ariz., caught this 16-pound silver salmon with a 6-weight rod in Alaska in September. Field & Stream Online EditorsRyan and Eric Crays, of Grand Haven, Mich., with a 76-fish stringer consisting of bluegill, sunfish, perch, and rock bass. They caught the fish in Muskegon Lake in late September. Field & Stream Online EditorsZachary, 7, caught this salmon in the Betsie River just below Homestead Dam in September. He was using an ultralight rod with 8-pound test line.¿¿ The fish weighed 20 pounds and 6 ounces. Field & Stream Online EditorsCaleb caught this bluegill in a pond on Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Says his uncle Karl Stauffer, “As you can tell from his focus on the fish, he has been hooked on the sport.”¿¿ Field & Stream Online Editors“I was pumped to say the least,-¿ says Bryan Sromalski of catching this female chinook. He hooked the 34 ?-inch fish in the Dead River in Michigan while tossing a Rapala for smallmouth bass. Field & Stream Online EditorsNathan Brusa, 13, caught this salmon using down-riggers in Lake Ontario. He writes: “I was just finishing a handful of snack mix when everyone ran to the back of the boat yelling -¿fish!’ Reeling him in was fun, and in the middle of the fight he jumped up so you could see his whole body shining in the sun. -¿That makes the whole trip worth it,’ said my uncle.¿¿ The fish weighed 16 pounds and was a nice speckled greenish brown.-¿ Field & Stream Online EditorsDouglas Kells caught this 20-pound king in Lake Ontario while trolling for smallmouths and using 6-pound test and light bass equipment. He fought it for 45 minutes as his girlfriend Jen Worthley tried to keep the boat up with him. Field & Stream Online EditorsLater in the trip, Jen Worthley caught her own 18-pound king near the breakwall at dusk. Her tackle was no heavier than her boyfriend’s had been, and they repeated their routine of one fighting the fish while the other chased it with the boat. This time, they did have a bigger net… Says Worthley, “If you have to choose only one photo… pick me! I’m cuter than Doug.” Field & Stream Online EditorsZach caught this 10.5-inch sunfish in a private pond in Ohio. Field & Stream Online EditorsJames Gorley and his friends spent Labor Day fishing at the mouth of the Columbia River. Here, they hold their limit of coho and one 19-pound chinook. Field & Stream Online Editors“My name is SFC Ben Bundy and I’m serving in Iraq for my 3rd tour, but anyway I’ve been fishing all my life and have never seen a fish like this. I have caught 2, this being the largest, the second was slightly smaller. I caught it on a casting spoon made near Ft. Riley, KS where I used to catch white bass. I was hoping you could shed some light as to what it is–I have asked even a few locals and they are not sure either.-¿ Note from the editors: As you indicated elsewhere in your letter, this fish does seem to be a bighead carp. Bighead carp are common to the freshwaters of Iraq as well as to rivers such as the Mississippi in the United States (where it is considered an invasive species), and many areas in the rest of the world. Field & Stream Online Editors“River fishing for salmon in Michigan’s Pere Marquette River can provide a thrill of a lifetime for any fisherman.¿¿ This chromer had just come in from the lake and put up an awesome fight.-¿¿¿ –Clint Kugler Field & Stream Online EditorsDavid Nickens, from Michigan, with a big king salmon.¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ Field & Stream Online EditorsScott caught this 40-pound carp in Cattaraugus Creek, near Lake Erie. He spent half an hour getting it in. Field & Stream Online EditorsSamuel Moon with his Lab, Tornado Max, and a nice trout. September on the Pike River, Wisconsin. Field & Stream Online EditorsJim, Jim Jr., and Jeremy Snodgrass kneel with 27 geese, which they shot in a cornfield in Montezuma, New York. Field & Stream Online EditorsTim Butler of Cologne, Minn., shot his first elk with a bow while hunting in Colorado. Field & Stream Online Editors“We never got skunked that I can remember,-¿ says Mike Knape, of Montrose, Colo., shown here with a 24-pound king. He caught it off of Big Sable Point in Lake Michigan, near his old home in Newaygo, Mich. Field & Stream Online Editors“Hello, my name is Jon Ryan Waggoner and this is of a very fresh dime chrome king salmon that I caught in the Big Manistee River near Manistee Michigan. It weighed close to 25 pounds. It gave me a magnificent battle and jumped 7 times!-¿ Field & Stream Online EditorsPhil Williams shot this 10-point whitetail in Vilas County, Wis. The 6 1/2-year-old buck weighed 198.5 pounds dressed and green scored 165. Williams shot him with his bow in the evening, and had been hunting the deer for three years. Field & Stream Online EditorsJim Snodgrass shot this 6×5 bull in New Mexico in September with his bow. Field & Stream Online EditorsIn one day, Phil Scharfstein and his friends caught and released more than 20 kings in northern Michigan. Field & Stream Online EditorsLaura Morris with a spring king on Lake Michigan. Field & Stream Online EditorsAlexander Z. Gaal of Astoria, New York, killed this big black bear in British Columbia, shooting it with his bow at 7 yards. According to Gaal, the bear squares out at 7×7 feet and rates Pope & Young. Field & Stream Online EditorsSteve Brickner of Little Chicago, Wisconsin, holds the only fish caught on a snowy day on the Eau Plaine Flowage. “We mostly just played football on the ice and watched our tip ups–we do it every weekend.” Field & Stream Online Editors
