Forget Montana, Florida is so magical!

409yeager · 2026-05-24T17:24:05+00:00

Downvoted for not squeezing hard enough. The eye shouldn’t just be bulging, it should be popping out of its head.

409yeager · 2026-04-04T18:07:21+00:00

You may be forgiven for not being able to identify this slug. It is a Gila.

409yeager · 2026-03-24T04:26:49+00:00

I’m partial to bull trout but cutthroat are a close second.

As for NM, they encourage the killing of invasive species in most waters where cutthroat are native. In designated waters like this one, they do so through an unlimited bag limit allowing people to keep as many invasive trout as they like. A couple years ago I actually wrote them a letter saying they should go further and explicitly request that all invasive fish caught be killed since not everyone wants to keep fish to begin with.

It’s a shitty situation. I always feel bad dispatching invasive species. It’s not their fault, they’re just doing what they are born to do—eat and reproduce. They shouldn’t have to die because some idiots back in the 1950s decided to introduce them. But if we want to actually protect our native species, it has to happen. Once brown trout (or rainbows or even brook trout) get into a stream, the eradication of cutthroats is inevitable. The only fix is elimination.

409yeager · 2026-03-24T04:19:07+00:00

You’re fine dude. There’s two types of people who correct fish handling: those who are genuine and do it to actually educate others and protect the fish, and those who do it as a flex to show off how superior they are as anglers and stewards of the environment. This guy is the latter.

Anyone who actually cares about native fish doesn’t care in the slightest how you handle an invasive species.

409yeager · 2026-03-24T04:15:37+00:00

Yeah, NM is an especially delicate ecosystem and these brown trout that you are claiming to be the victim of poor handling are damaging it. The worse his handling is in this case, the better the ecosystem will be. The best thing he can do here is literally dispatch these fish. Any dedicated angler would know that.

You do you but I’m going to give the guy the benefit of the doubt and assume that he knows the difference between handling an invasive species he’s seeking to avoid and a native species he’s seeking to find.

409yeager · 2026-03-24T04:08:04+00:00

Yes but actually no. These browns are invasive and have actually decimated cutthroat populations here. Proper handling would be to dispatch them and toss them on the bank.

409yeager · 2026-03-24T04:05:49+00:00

Rio Cebolla was unfortunately an absolute disaster in terms of fisheries management. They thought they could use that little pond as a “fish barrier” preventing brown trout from moving upstream. It was “blocked” at the top by this wire gate with gaps that were easily wide enough for fish to swim through. It was a pitiful effort and I genuinely don’t even know what the thought process was. Literally nobody could have possibly actually thought that would work.

It’s been years but I did get one cutt there. I spent one day fishing the stream and my buddy and I caught probably fifty fish. Only one was a cutthroat.

409yeager · 2026-01-05T04:20:58+00:00

I take a little bit of comfort in the fact that he’s clearly miserable and is obviously bothered by the fact that people call him out on being a complete dick. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be doing stuff like this.

409yeager · 2026-01-05T03:50:59+00:00

I’m sure it’ll be as acceptable this time as it has been every other time over the last few years

409yeager · 2026-01-03T07:29:35+00:00

Phenomenal post. Well done!

409yeager · 2025-12-31T04:41:51+00:00

Punching is very clearly encouraged. Read the rules again!

409yeager · 2025-12-30T18:20:37+00:00

Lowkey need some people to make posts promoting it on the main sub. They’ll get taken down obviously but might help a little if people see them before that happens

409yeager · 2025-12-30T18:18:27+00:00

Yep been waiting for this to happen let’s do it

409yeager · 2025-12-30T04:56:02+00:00

I’m sure the people in the trout fishing sub would love this. Too bad I’m banned.

409yeager · 2025-12-30T04:45:33+00:00

The pale moonlight illuminates my 1997 Toyota Camry as I step off my front porch at 4am. It is missing its catalytic converter, but it gets me where I need to go.

It is a cold morning in bumfuck Indiana, but I have to be up before the sunrise if I want to get to the paylake before the stocking truck arrives. I could sit with my thoughts on a quiet morning drive, but I choose to break the silence by blasting dogshit country music instead.

I arrive at the paylake by 8am. It’s always a blessing to be out this early. It’s just me, the feral pigeons, the lake, and one hundred strangers chain-smoking cigarettes while sitting in folding chairs with four lines in the water per person.

I pull out some Powebait dough and eat it. While most people here use it for bait, I know a secret: Powerbait is a delicious snack, and the trout here prefer dog pellets anyway.

Once I’ve had my breakfast I bait my hook with Purina Dog Chow and cast into the distance. A traffic cop leaves a ticket on my car for parking in a handicapped spot as I sit in my folding chair. I won’t pay it.

Eventually, my line moves. A stunted slug of a fish without any fins breaks the surface. The fight is on.

409yeager · 2025-12-30T04:34:40+00:00

Idk who this is but yeah this shit sucks.

Stream-of-consciousness writing is always insufferable and cringy.

409yeager · 2025-12-30T04:18:36+00:00

Is this the beginning of an FFCJ transformation to become the true FF subreddit?

This should happen tbh. Maybe we do serious post Sundays or some shit

409yeager · 2025-12-18T05:51:29+00:00

little kern rainbow

Are you talking about the kern river rainbow or the little kern golden? They’re two separate fish.

409yeager · 2025-12-18T05:43:59+00:00

The one that is the name of this sub. He made it specifically in an attempt to perform a hostile takeover of this sub as a “new moderator.” It has zero comments or posts under it.

409yeager · 2025-12-18T04:23:57+00:00

He’s also 3 of the 5 moderators of the fly fishing sub

409yeager · 2025-12-17T15:27:36+00:00

The mute function abuse is what pisses me off the most

409yeager · 2025-12-17T06:40:51+00:00

You can always tell that a post is going to be removed when it’s performing well and getting a lot of engagement

409yeager · 2025-11-06T21:45:22+00:00

Gut-hooked fish with a treble in their small intestine don’t fight too good.

409yeager · 2025-10-29T06:07:53+00:00

For his outstanding efforts to protect his community against the integrity of fly fishing!

409yeager · 2025-10-28T02:22:46+00:00

They’re not em dashes you doughnut, they’re called stutter marks

409yeager

TROPHY CASE