Official 2013 AOTY thread.....

The Cascades are about as far east that you'll see an actual cutthroat, at least until you reach eastern Idaho and Montana.

 
You don't have Lohantan Cutts to target? 

The Grande Ronde is plenty doable via kayak, has lots of steelhead and is close to you.  The Columbia isn't that far (same as PDX to Depoe bay) and has all the salmon you could ask for. 

btw, please don't take what I'm saying as "bitching'.  I'm just giving food for thought since this is the one time of year for input on AOTY.

I'll still be entering AOTY next year no matter. (to support the site more then anything else)

So as for added fish? Carp? really?I've never caught one.. maybe Bow Fishing.. I could see Stripe Bass maybe.and Catfish, not alot around here But I hear there are some.I did get A  large pike minnow.this year and they seem to be everywhere ,I Still have yet to catch alot on the list as is, so it seems pretty good to me ..

Just to belabor it a little more...the scores of competitors 2-7 this year have surpassed all prior AOTY winner's scores.

Well, the points have been adjusted a lot since the first year. But I agree the quality of fish keep going up.

Just to belabor it a little more...the scores of competitors 2-7 this year have surpassed all prior AOTY winner's scores.

Well, the points have been adjusted a lot since the first year. But I agree the quality of fish keep going up.

And it's not just AOTY doing that either.  Look at the top 10 fish from the ORC.  They have been getting consistantly bigger as well.

@jgrady

Carp are awesome to catch.  I've landed them with heavy gear all the way down to a #6 fly rod.

Believe it or not, some people actually eat them.

Justin, you've mentioned carp and catfish - do you have any other recommendations?  Were brown trout one of your ideas?

It looks like sturgeon may be a no go for much of the NW in 2013.  If this happens I vote for  the Carp to take it's place in AOTY 2013.  They pull hard, get large, and are spooky.  The fact that they bite flies is pretty cool too.  An underrated game fish for sure.

Justin, you've mentioned carp and catfish - do you have any other recommendations?  Were brown trout one of your ideas?

there isn't anywhere over here that you are allowed to keep Brown trout.  However, they should be piled on with Rainbow and Cutthroat in the same group.

Justin, you've mentioned carp and catfish - do you have any other recommendations?  Were brown trout one of your ideas?

there isn't anywhere over here that you are allowed to keep Brown trout.  However, they should be piled on with Rainbow and Cutthroat in the same group.

Doing that essentially eliminates 1 of the fish that I like to target, and takes away the need and a little of the desire of me traveling to eastern Washington.  I like being able to head to Omak lake to target Lohantans and AOTY makes a good excuse for it.  If Cutts and Rainbows were to be combined, I'd just target lakes with broodstock releases, and that isn't really fun.

I'd like to see browns added.  Brookies also.  But, I would like to see the categories stay at the 20 mark.

This is an idea I suggested in 2008...

I'd like to see the "trout"  split into 3 categories by Genus. 
1) Salmo: Browns, Atlantics
2) Salvelinus: Brookies, Lakers, Bulltrout
3) Oncorhynchus: Rainbows, Cutts  (note: keep separate from the "salmon" )

By combining Rainbows and Cutts it would allow the addition of Browns without going over the 20 category mark. It would also eliminate the need to figure out where to put those pesky cuttbows.
 

I think targeting the Broodstock should be considered cheating.  It might as well be a fish farm.  There wouldn't be anyway to prove one way or the other though.

I'm not familiar with the Sturgeon situation in Washington (Washington folks chime in please) but retention looks like its becoming very limited in Oregon.  I'm on the fence regarding the "end of the sturgeon world as we know it" theory many profess. It does seem that populations are down, some claim to critical levels.  Should we shelve sturgeon from the AOTY list of species if populations are thought to be at levels that can't sustain harvest in the major river systems they were once plentiful in?  I love my canned jalapeno smoked sturgeon but at some point an angler has to make the decision between what they "can" and what they "should" do.  I'm undecided regarding my future sturgeon retention in general (kayak or otherwise).  Are twelve 1/2 pints left in my pantry the last personally caught and smoked Sturgeon I'll eat??

Are twelve 1/2 pints left in my panty the last personally caught and smoked Sturgeon I'll eat??

OK, we all know you're an awesom fisherman and all.  But you might want to rethink that storage method.