I try to keep notes of my fishing adventures throughout the year and thought I'd thought share my stats
36 days fished
Fished in California and Florida
10 species caught
Trout was the most caught species
Largest fish was a 58# bluefin tuna
Smallest fish was a 4" trout
New species caught are snakehead, mako shark and brown trout
Anyone else keep yearly fishing stats?
No. I try'n remember without recording it, the few fish I land; where, how and what. It's the one'sssss that get away that haunt me, especially if don't know what they were.
My list is fish I didn't catch in 2025. No halibut, no ling cod, and no rockfish, but I'll be fixing that in 2026
PJ, I dont see albacore on your list....we can fix that. I have 5 spots still open on Ohana Tornado charter for Aug 17-19
I did 2 6 day trips to Cedros and 2 10 day trips.
Biggest fish was an 80# Wahoo! Biggest YFT was 70#.
Caught at least 22 species of fish, no new species, how'd that happen?
Overall fish count (22 species)
5 Wahoo (80#, 2 x 50#+, 2 trolling MagTrak, 2 on Bombs, 1 on 7x)
10 YFT (70#, 7 small)
42 YT (32# on swimbait fishing for Calicos)
3 Dorado
4 Black Sea Bass
6 Skipjack
1 Black Skipjack
9 Bonito
30+ Barracuda
2 Mexican Barracuda
13 Calico (2x 4#)
34 Sand Bass (1 6#)
1 Ling Cod
4 Reds
3 Sheepshead
8 Whitefish
5 Starries
2 Boscos
2 Chocolate
1 Mexican rockfish
5 Triggerfish
1 Rudderfish
Probably done for the year. Total 12 different species.
18 trips offshore.
Mostly red grouper - biggest 31" about 14lbs
No new species caught offshore, but a legal gag grouper, hogfish, and legal mutton snapper are on my list for first time catch: 2026 hopefully.
Don't track trips inshore, but at least 12.
Mostly small snook and speckled trout - all released
New species tarpon - Hooked several small ones, but they always come unbuttoned on the second or third jump. Finally brought one to the Gheenoe, juvenile about 30" maybe 8lbs? - released. Learned that "bow to the king", in this case "baby prince" does work haha.
Hope the Ohana has a productive 2026!
Catfish and crappie in the spring as normal every year . 2025 was very poor salt water fish no king mackerel and flounder caught and very few trout and pompano caught
In 2025 I started finding a few fish again. The previous five to seven years were tough.
36 days fished is fantastic PJ! I'm jealous.
Quote from: Vintage Offshore Tackle on December 29, 2025, 02:11:42 AM36 days fished is fantastic PJ! I'm jealous.
Yeah I'm happy about that. I must admit that 19 days were while I was in Florida with a acre pond next to the office. That makes it easy to catch a couple quick bass every day
I am glad PJ posted this; not so much as to "stat brag" (which you really don't see in this community) but as a post of reflection - and the truth of the matter - considering I'm retired my stats are miserable, in the single digits. Now in my defense there are 2x 8 day Long Range, my annual Trout Derby which is 3 days (coming up in 2 weeks!) and a couple of lobster trips which are usually 2 days just because of the nature of the fishery. My resolution for 2026 is more shorter "day type" trips. Not that I am not going to aspire to Benni level stats - that would be truly spectacular and for me would most likely result in a divorce ;D - john
On one hand 2025 was a rough year for me for fishing. My wife broke her legs and we have a toddler so that limited my ability to get away. But I definitely still got away every chance I got.
I went offshore 4x (all 12h overnighters out of Hubbards)
Surf fished about 15x (though some of those were only about an hour or two)
Finally started doing some proper BFS fishing with a proper BFS rig at a brushy little stream by my house (AND caught a few fish doing it)
I don't think I did any pier or jetty fishing in all of 2025, and barely any pond fishing.
I think I'm dialing it in on the 3 types of fishing I prefer the most:
-light lures in moving fresh water
-Heavy offshore bottom fishing
- 3 rod surf fishing (shrimp or sand flea in the breakers, another about 50-80yds out, and a heavy rig for either a medium sized mullet or something small that hit the shrimp or sandflea)
New accomplishments:
A keeper sized grouper (a few days after season closed but still)
Yellowtail snapper
Amberjack (no keeper size yet)
2026 goals:
-I've still never landed a tarpon. I got a friend who seems to catch 3-5 every time he takes a bath, but I've only ever hooked a few.
-i wanna catch a cobia. This is my longest standing goal, maybe I need to act upon it by actually going out and targeting them, but I don't have a boat.
-a bull Red. I've caught a thousand redfish but never a really big one.
-a slot snook. Definitely wouldn't be a first, but I didn't get any slots in 2025.
My post July 2023 and pre Aug 2024 fishing was practically nil do to my Mom's passing, dealing with her estate and coddling my five broken ribs until they fully healed. We made up for it, though, in 2025. My wife and I fished at least some on over 200 days, sometimes from our boat, but if it was too breezy to go out we would go ahead and just fish from the shore. We caught so many fish we didn't even try to keep track. Catfish, i.e channel, blue & flathead, carp, largemouth bass, white bass, wiper, crappie, bluegill, yellow perch, sauger, saugeye & walleye. Most were released except the great eaters like crappie, bluegill, perch and walleye, sauger & saugeye in the 15"-20" range. I'm fortunate that my best friend, my wife, loves to fish just as much as I do.
My reel service and restoration has been non existent, though. I haven't taken apart any reels since early 2023. Hopefully that will change as these winter months progress.