My personal best musky

LOVE THIS PICTURE - and that fish!

A nice pretty little rainbow

My first steelhead release!

This 13lb (ish) steelhead is my first fish ever! Also noteworthy it came on a flyrod. Super excited to get this fish, take a picture, and release it on its way.

A decent Muskie!

A nice topwater musky that bit in two feet of water!

My personal best pike from a first person view.

Big pike on!

My dad's pike that I had to land for him.

My dad with his largest fish he's ever caught.  A huge northern pike.

Another decent pike!

My fattest pike of the weekend - my personal best for sure.

Paddling at Craig Lake State Park- Michigan's most remote state park.

This musky is my new personal best - out of a kayak and in a fairly small river system.  This fish smoked a 8 inch jointed pike swimbait.  IT WAS AWESOME!

Another big pike - caught while trolling a large size 5 bucktail yellow and red color.

A little tiger musky - or barred musky.  Not entirely sure which variant it is...  but a musky nonetheless.  Dad caught this one and I landed it for him.

Catching a FAT smallie on the fly :)

A underwater release of a nice one.

A nice smallie on the fly.

A huge smallie - maybe a personal best - I didn't get a measure on it.

A little walleye that smoked the rat!

A Double rainbow that popped up after catching a huge 20 inch at least smallmouth.

An explosive smallie that smashed my topwater lure on the Brule River

An underwater shot of a 20 inch smallie ( I didn't get an official mesaurement... but I think it was 20 )

A nice topwater explosion from this bass.

24th bass of the morning.  Came on a topwater spook.

Nearly a 19inch largemouth - sightfished directly beneath my kayak.  

Beautiful surprise musky

A late-night 18 incher that hit topwater.

Another musky shot

A pretty cool walleye that bite on a senko.  Surprising me.

A smallish musky that hit on my new Whopper Plopper lure.

A decent musky that bite in Crystal Falls town.

This was a legitimate 20 inch Smallmouth.  One of a handful I've caught so far this summer.

My second whopper plopper musky of the night.  Two in one day!

A nice wacky worm smallie

Here's a nice smallie that I filleted up on the river.  It was hooked badly and was going to die.  This picture is showing its carcass where I found a bunch of crayfish it had been eatting.  

Filleting up the smallie

Posing with my trophy of the night.

A little piggy caught in my favorite spot 

A small musky caught in the evening

A really healthy smallie.  First ever fish on the rat lure BBZ1.

A small musky caught on the Paint River.  A really pretty fish- although small.

My personal best Walleye - a nice fish that bite on a topwater Rat.

A nice lure shot- I think this was my 20 inch fish of the night.

Here is the walleye with the rat lure in its mouth.

This 17 inch smallmouth was hiding under a log - it then got my tangled in the log, but I still managed to haul her in.

A nice 18.5 inch Smallmouth Bass that happened to fall into my lap :)

A Lake Mary largemouth caught on a huge crayfish jig.

This huge hit at 5:50 am right at the shore - on my second cast while still on video.  A nice 19 inch specimen.  

A nice Smallie that took a spinnerbait on the second cast.  19 incher I believe.

A nice nearly 19 inch fish - notice the huge bulbous head - never seen a smallie like this before.

Pushing 18 inches - was scooping up mayflies and then it hit my topwater spook.

An underwater picture of a huge school of perch that I cast into.

Fishing in the rain - this largemouth bite a topwater frog as soon as it started to rain.

Ottawa Lake clear as ever, oh, yeah, and a pig of a smallie.  This is the over the back view of another pictured fish.

Wacked a Rat-L-Trap Chartreuse crawdad 1/2 oz. lure.

An absolute trophy fish.  IF I was the type to mount a trophy- this fish would definitely be on my wall.  A 19.75 inch fish that was absolutely chunky.  Came on a topwater bite in about 2 feet of water.

A topwater giant - 19.5 incher that was the last fish of the night.

A smallmouth with a massive mouth :) 

Caught June 1st - first topwater fishing of the year

Fat Smallie on a zara puppy redhead

Topwater pike

Underwater view of a pike I caught

Sideview of a topwater pike

Beautiful topwater fish that hit right next to the kayak

Another pike from the side

A fat at least 19 inch smallie.  Perhaps longer...

Nearly my new personal best Smallie.  Definitely the largest I've caught in 3 years.  Just at 20 inches and really thick.  Hit on the first cast of the night.

A pretty Brookie caught on a Rooster-Tail spinner.

A trout I hooked poorly so I had to keep it.  It tasted wonderful :)

The Paint River Dam in Crystal Falls Michigan.  A lot of water was flowing today.

The rod bend of my first Musky of the year.  It was pulling hard to stay beneath the kayak.

2017 first Musky :)

Musky with the lure I caught it with.

A brookie caught on a tiny 1/64th once jig.

First decent nice of river fishing this year.  Nice smallie with a Kalin's grub.

First walleye of the year.  Actually my 2nd walleye of my entire life.  Very pretty fish.

Kayaking Dunn Creek early spring 2017.

Another walleye I caught on the river.  I love the colors.

The first crappie of the year.

The first decent largemouth of the year.

Trout with a messed up tail

First smallie of the year :)  Caught on a blue and black football head jig with a green fluke trailer.

A massive school of largemouth bass following my lure.  I had 50-100 fish chasing my lure.  Seriously.

A splake or brookie.  Definitely stocked.

First bass of the year.  Small, but exciting to be fishing again.

Posing with a Dolly varden.

A nice dolly varden being taken home to be lemon peppered up.

Beautiful dolly varden being released back to swim another day.

A moose we stumbled upon about 20 minutes away from our house.

A nice spring Lake Superior tributary Brook Trout I incidentally caught while fishing for steelhead.

Slate River Falls in Baraga County Michigan.  A nice little walk up the river to get here.  Didn't catch the fish I wanted to though.

Fishing with the sun going down behind me on the Zimbabwean side of the Zambezi river.

Another beautiful rainbow covering Melanie and I at Victoria Falls.

Some children in Zambia and I.

Mel and I near the Tanzania / Zambia border.

Elephant close up.  Chobe National Park Botswana.

Showing off the GoPro footage.

A kingfisher that is much better at fishing the Zambezi than I am.

Posing with Mel on a mountain with a vista.

Playing soccer with a figurative horde of children.

Looking out on the veldtland of Africa.

Enjoying the sun and hippos.

Playing jump rope with some of the village children (and Kate).

A tower of giraffes in Botswana.

More photos with a view.

Elephants and I.  Fishing close to them was amazing!

Mikey kicking the ball I passed to him.  He was my favorite kid we met.

Close up of reel and bracelets while fishing in Africa.

Posing with Mel and the sun in Africa.

Melanie and I- and a few elephants for kicks.

Mel and I with a rainbow from Victoria Falls.

U.P. Native Brookie

Musky hookup right at my feet.  Part 1.

Musky snapping my line.  Part 2

My current personal best Musky.  Caught on a small Upper Peninsula River.

Musky underwater shot

Largemouth with a large mouth 

First topwater catch of the year.  Largemouth on a bonewhite Heddon Zara Spook.

This 14-15 inch Smallie was torn up by a Muskellunge that attacked it 3-4 times as I was bringing it to my kayak.  The musky held on almost to the kayak and my net.

Notice the bite marks on it's side.

My father's first ever Musky.  I had to land it for him.

Quetzalcoatl and I watching the sunset at Fortune Pit

Bond Falls in the Western Upper Peninsula.

Decent Musky.  Mid summer 2016.  Tiger hybrid Musky or just a regular...?  I don't know.

Dolly Varden caught on the fly.  Lake Kenai in the background.

Melanie and I sitting at the top of Nohoch Mul - a massive pyramid in Coba, Mexico.

A nice halibut caught in the Gulf of Alaska.

I was fishing for trout and accidentally hooked into this salmon.  Didn't think my 4-6lb. test would do the job, but I got it in eventually.

Yelloweye Rock fish with Resurrection Bay mountains in the background.

1st mate of the Jackpot.  Taking her back into port.

Fishing a glacial runoff stream for rainbows and dolly varden.

Skiing at Ski Brule

Pyramids of Tikal - in Guatemala.

Standing at the bottom of Nohoch Mul - a pyramid in Coba, Mexico.

Melanie and I hiking to Machu Picchu.  That's the iconic blue and yellow train that is the only ground transport to Machu Picchu.

Of course it rained the day we were at Machu Picchu, Peru.

Machu Picchu one of the seven wonders of the world.

Our road was literally under water.

Cusco, Peru.  Center of the Incan empire.

Saksaywaman.  Pre-Colombian fortress.  Look at the size of those rocks...

Huacachina, Peru.  A desert oasis.

In the sand dunes of Peru.

Sunset on the dunes in Peru.

Huaraz , Peru.

Me in my Incan hat in Peru.

The sky on fire.

Chan Chan, Peru.

Posing in the exact location where I was mugged at knifepoint a year or two prior.  Quito, Ecuador.

Melanie's order of "Arroz marinero" or fisherman's rice.  She was not expecting an entire crab.

Puerto Lopez, Ecuador.  A beautiful sunset on the Pacific. 

Melanie with a piranha we caught in the Amazon.

Amazonian piranha I caught.

Fishing for piranha for dinner.

How we traveled in the Amazon.

What Melanie traveled with for 6 months throughout South America.

Panama City, Panama.

The Panama Canal.

Copan ruins in Honduras.

A deadly and beautiful Lion fish a invasive species in the coral reefs off the Mexican coast.

A spotted eagle ray in Mexico.

Snagging some salmon in Alaska.  And it is LEGAL.  As long as you are in saltwater you can snag anything.  Never in freshwater.

Snow still on some of the mountains in the Alaskan summer.

A nice stream rainbow.

A nearly zombified salmon.

A dead whale in the ocean.  The smell was strong.

Jeff with a massive dolly.  It was delicious.

A nice Lingcod

A huge lingcod.  A basketball could fit in its mouth.

Half of fishing is in the preparation. 

Action shot 1 - grabbing the fish and holding it for Abbey.

Action shot 2 - holding on while Abbey swings the bat aiming for its head.

Action shot 3 - Us cousins grinning with joy.  This fish fed an entire family.

Melanie making a spear/club/thing.

Getting ready to bite a herring head.

Posing with the decapitated herring.

Deckhand in Alaska.

Peace.

The most comfortable ride on the whole boat.

In the wheelhouse.

After a day on the Jackpot with my father.

A few fish we caught.

Likin' the lichen.  

Melanie and I at Exit Glacier in Seward, Alaska.

Us.

Exit Glacier.

Resting at a hut near the beginning of the Harding Icefield.

The Harding Icefield in Seward, Alaska.

Fishing partner - Quetzalcoatl.

Horserace rapids.

Fishing, kayaking, and holding down a puppy.  Way too much going on.

Quetzalcoatl about to jump out of the kayak.

Upper Peninsula Michigan fall colors.

20.5 - 21 inch Smallmouth.  My all time personal best.  Absolutely massive for being in a river system.

Aaron with his first Brook trout (or splake).

Some rainbows and dolly varden for dinner.

A healthy smallie.

A fishing spot in the Eastern Upper Peninsula.  My favorite place to fish as a kid.

Fishing between the pylons. 

Above Bond Falls.

My fishing partner getting some sun during winter.

Always fishing.

Some pictures of the Wall of Haight that Melanie and I constructed outside our house.

The three of us.

A big day for catching Lingcod

One of the rare times I am by water and not fishing.

Good day to be fishing in the Gulf of Alaska.

A fat spring brookie in the UP