# Hardest fish to catch



## riverman (Jan 9, 2002)

Winter sucks boredom so let’s be entertained. I considered easy to catch browns and to a certain degree, steelhead, they eat,strike, anything in front of their face. How many of you have targeted river bows? Bows over 16inches? Fish that have never left the river. Only a couple of streams in Michigan give you the challenge. I have had success in the upper manistee and recently in the pm. I don’t care how you catch them, congrats!!


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## plugger (Aug 8, 2001)

Bows are partial to spinners!


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## plugger (Aug 8, 2001)

riverman said:


> Winter sucks boredom so let’s be entertained. I considered easy to catch browns and to a certain degree, steelhead, they eat,strike, anything in front of their face. How many of you have targeted river bows? Bows over 16inches? Fish that have never left the river. Only a couple of streams in Michigan give you the challenge. I have had success in the upper manistee and recently in the pm. I don’t care how you catch them, congrats!!


 If you get too bored we got that snow you were looking for. We got a foot here at the house.


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## riverman (Jan 9, 2002)

plugger said:


> If you get too bored we got that snow you were looking for. We got a foot here at the house.


Sorry for not returning your call. Figured you were going to say lots of snow


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## TroutFishingBear (Aug 31, 2007)

Grew up fishing river bows out west, would have some 40 fish days a piece in the winter, most 2-6 lbs although occasionally a bit bigger. Drifted night crawler beats everything for river bows. You can probably find some of my old pics on the internet, used this handle at coloradofisherman.com growing up.

This past may I was fishing a grand river trib for browns and hit a 21” skinny bow on a chub chewed worm lol. It was prolly too late to be a dropback in retrospect, and too early to be a skam although it had the textbook skam body. My theory is it was a stocked steelhead smolt that never ran.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

I've fished for Steelhead in MI rivers for close to 50 years, and I've caught 1000's of them. But I have never caught one of those Striped Suckers that are pretty common in our rivers.


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## Clairebear (Mar 28, 2021)

I've found that the hardest fish to catch is the one you can see and are trying the hardest to catch.


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## unclecbass (Sep 29, 2005)

whitefish, hands down the most difficult fish to catch in my experience


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## 6thMichCav (Nov 8, 2007)

I’ve always found the hardest one to catch was the one that just slipped from my clumsy hands…


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

How do you know a >16” Rainbow in the PM never left the river?

Missed one like that in the next system up on Sep. 30 this year - above a Dam. I was just stupidly standing on the bank when an omg fish took a swipe at a spinner and missed. But now I know where to drift in the minnow from farther away…


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## Manolin (Feb 20, 2021)

unclecbass said:


> whitefish, hands down the most difficult fish to catch in my experience


Patience, and location, location, plus location. Like Menominee.

So, we mean hard to catch once we find them? Or just to find them? 

There’s supposed to be some isolated coaster brook trout, still on the Michigan side of Superior. I couldn’t prove it in anyway. Of course a king that’s been in the river being targeted on the beds is pretty much hard wired to not bite. I’ve fished water that holds sturgeon, quite often, but caught two in 40 years.

Got a buddy who swears he’s caught natural tiger trout in not one but two UP creeks. One was pre-cell phone, the other, might have been real .


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## riverman (Jan 9, 2002)

B.Jarvinen said:


> How do you know a >16” Rainbow in the PM never left the river?


. I don’t know, but in recent years the pm has been giving up some nice bows like this one last May. Hopefully I can catch it again this spring


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## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

plugger said:


> Bows are partial to spinners!


Yes, they sure are. Big ones.


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

Michigan grayling. I keep fishing the rivers here in Grayling but I never catch em.
Now Alaska is another story.


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## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

brushbuster said:


> Michigan grayling. I keep fishing the rivers here in Grayling but I never catch em.
> Now Alaska is another story.
> View attachment 812993


Maybe second place would go to Coaster Brook Trout.


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## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

Steve said:


> Maybe second place would go to Coaster Brook Trout.


My great Uncle caught one at a creek mouth near Copper Harbor. Wrapped it in newspaper for the drive home. Had a heart attack and died on the road. Never did get to show it off. That was 50 years ago.


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## Manolin (Feb 20, 2021)

Wow!!!


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## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

Shoeman said:


> My great Uncle caught one at a creek mouth near Copper Harbor. Wrapped it in newspaper for the drive home. Had a heart attack and died on the road. Never did get to show it off. That was 50 years ago.


Wow, that's a pretty crappy ending.


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## 6Speed (Mar 8, 2013)

Steve said:


> Wow, that's a pretty crappy ending.


Or a very good memory to check out with!


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## piketroller (Oct 24, 2016)

Atlantics in Lexington Harbor. It's like the trout pond at the fishing shows, but far fewer bites.


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## PunyTrout (Mar 23, 2007)

Tiger trout have got to be the rarest fish that swims in Michigan. They're not stocked yet can be caught in rivers that have naturally occurring hybrids of brookies and browns.


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## Vicious Fishous (Sep 12, 2006)

For me, a sight fished carp over 35# on the fly.


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## 6Speed (Mar 8, 2013)

Anyone ever caught a mermaid? I can't seem to find the right bait. Maybe a bag of bitcoins would do the trick???

Just my humor thing..


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## piketroller (Oct 24, 2016)

6Speed said:


> Anyone ever caught a mermaid? I can't seem to find the right bait. Maybe a bag of bitcoins would do the trick???
> 
> Just my humor thing..


I don't think you would like catching a modern mermaid.


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## 6Speed (Mar 8, 2013)

piketroller said:


> I don't think you would like catching a modern mermaid.


You're sick. Got the omicron bug???


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## piketroller (Oct 24, 2016)

6Speed said:


> You're sick. Got the omicron bug???


Nope, just the ain't caught a fish in 6 weeks bug. It's a lot worse than the 'cron.


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## 6Speed (Mar 8, 2013)

LOL, the skunk bug is nasty!!! Spit on your hook and move every half hour...


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## neazor91 (Aug 4, 2008)

PunyTrout said:


> Tiger trout have got to be the rarest fish that swims in Michigan. They're not stocked yet can be caught in rivers that have naturally occurring hybrids of brookies and browns.


Another vote for tiger trout. I've only caught 2 in my lifetime of trout fishing. That's 66 years. I caught them both in the same little stream on the same day.


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## Manolin (Feb 20, 2021)

Lost this one by the pier.

I’m told there’s a tournament in South Haven.


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## nichola8 (Oct 7, 2013)

neazor91 said:


> Another vote for tiger trout. I've only caught 2 in my lifetime of trout fishing. That's 66 years. I caught them both in the same little stream on the same day.


I've been blessed with tiger trout then. Caught about a 10" back in 2005 in Lake County, was waaaaay back in, we put it on a stringer and kept fishing upstream, came back and some thing nabbed it up.

2nd was in 2013, caught a 14" on the holy waters in May on a sex dungeon.

The picture is in my M-S archives.

We get lucky on big bows in certain spots on the white in mid summer, big whole crawlers only.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Boardman Brookies (Dec 20, 2007)

PunyTrout said:


> Tiger trout have got to be the rarest fish that swims in Michigan. They're not stocked yet can be caught in rivers that have naturally occurring hybrids of brookies and browns.


The one I caught didn’t look like they stockers from other states or even others ive seen photos of from Michigan. It looked more brookie than anything. 


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## Sublime505 (Mar 19, 2013)

My vote for MI hardest fish to catch in MI would probably go to the Coaster. I think the only stream that has them in any numbers is out of reach. Huron mountain club keeps it off limits. An Isle Royal trip is probably the best option.

For hybrids Tiger would be sweet. I’m surprised that no one has mentioned the Meanmouth.

For all of fishing as a whole I’d say the Taimen trout. The cost alone is probably keeping 99% of anglers out of the game.


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## PunyTrout (Mar 23, 2007)

Boardman Brookies said:


> The one I caught didn’t look like they stockers from other states or even others ive seen photos of from Michigan. It looked more brookie than anything.



I've caught two tiger trout thus far in Michigan. One was from my home waters and was barely 7 inches. They other was from a Muskegon tributary and measured 17 inches. I'm still waiting for the taxidermist to finish working on it. 





















He's been working on it for years...


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## tincanary (Jul 23, 2018)

plugger said:


> Bows are partial to spinners!


I seem to catch the most on plugs. Countdowns, Ultralight Minnows, Pins Minnows, they all work good. One thing I've learned is the larger trout tend to feed more on baitfish, more energy gained for less energy expended. It's the little ones that like the spinners. Just my experience, YMMV. I like the 1/16 to 3/16 sizes. This is a great color if you can find it, orange fire tiger.


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## plugger (Aug 8, 2001)

If you have big fish around, especially browns, try larger Rapalas in natural colors. When we float we always have one rod with a spinner and one with a Rapala, usually an 11. I am partial to black and gold or black and silver. The guy I usually fish with is partial to a vampire husky jerk. We tend to catch large fish but occasionally a smaller one will tackle the bait.


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## Manolin (Feb 20, 2021)

PunyTrout said:


> I've caught two tiger trout thus far in Michigan. One was from my home waters and was barely 7 inches. They other was from a Muskegon tributary and measured 17 inches. I'm still waiting for the taxidermist to finish working on it.
> 
> 
> View attachment 813991
> ...


That’s the single most amazing fish I’ve seen in Michigan. Just shocking.


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## tincanary (Jul 23, 2018)

plugger said:


> If you have big fish around, especially browns, try larger Rapalas in natural colors. When we float we always have one rod with a spinner and one with a Rapala, usually an 11. I am partial to black and gold or black and silver. The guy I usually fish with is partial to a vampire husky jerk. We tend to catch large fish but occasionally a smaller one will tackle the bait.


Trout patterns work especially well for me. Brookie, rainbow, and brown are all great producers.


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## PunyTrout (Mar 23, 2007)

Manolin said:


> ...Just shocking.



_Shocking? _


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## Manolin (Feb 20, 2021)

Heard of naturals up to 10-12 inches. That’s a real fish….


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## PunyTrout (Mar 23, 2007)

nichola8 said:


> I've been blessed with tiger trout then. Caught about a 10" back in 2005 in Lake County, was waaaaay back in, we put it on a stringer and kept fishing upstream, came back and some thing nabbed it up.
> 
> 2nd was in 2013, caught a 14" on the holy waters in May on a sex dungeon.
> 
> ...




Pics or it didn't happen as they say. 












I searched the archives and found it.

I hope you don't mind me finding it and posting it here. Nice pic and an excellent catch!


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