Hello ALL Trophy Trout Hunters,
Another fantastic year of fishing
is behind us. It's amazing to me that a whole year has already passed us by. And because another year has come
and gone, it only means one thing.....it is time to award the TROPHY TROUT HUNTER OF THE YEAR AWARD.
Last year, as you may recall, the father/son team of trophy trout legend and
lure godfather, Allan Cole, and his son Eric Cole took the honors with an impressive 5 german browns over 10 lbs caught and (2) browns over 10lbs in one month (one over 21 lbs), respectively!!! I was lucky enough to personally meet with Allan in his home in Nevada and
was able to fish with Eric for an evening at East Lake. Both very humble men and was a pleasure to be able
to finally meet both of them.
A few weeks ago, 6 of the core group of TTH'ers got together and voted on quite a list of nominees for
the 2011 year. Just to be nominated, we have stated in the past that the nominee
must have caught a german brown over 10 lbs, a lake trout over 20 lbs, broken a personal record, etc. As
the voting can be very subjective, we tried to be very objective by who would win as to how much content the nominee has contributed
to the TTH site.
Here’s a fun recap and summary
list of some of the anglers that were nominated for the award for the year 2011:
Dan McAllister (aka
Hookjaw) – Dan caught a 21 lb Lake Trout out of Crescent Lake, OR.
Brian Wildish (aka B-wild) – Brian caught (2) bull trout over 10 lbs from
Lake Billy Chinook. A personal best 13+ lb, 29.5 inch bull trout and a 10.5 lb, 28.5 inch bull trout (both in the same weekend).
Ryan
Daniels (aka Coyote) – One of the core members of TTH, Hooked and handed off a 12-1/2 lb Hen Brown to his friend Dustin Liebelt. Not only, that but he got his friend Dustin's son, Cole, into his largest brown trout of his life, a great 5.5 lber!
Jake
Bunio – A great year for the founder of Trophysticks lure company, caught his 8th and 9th browns over 10 lbs with this great 11 lb hookjaw and also this tremendous 13 lb brown! Note, both of these tremendous fish were caught on Trophysticks!!! Great
Fisherman! Great Lures!
Joe
"Fish-On-Bend" Moritz – Joe caught a 13.5 lb Bull Trout on the last day of the year at Lake Billy Chinook!! Way to close out 2011, Joe!!
Monte
Martin - Brother of TTH'er, Bret Martin, just missed the 10 lb mark but still a fantastic 9.5 lb brown from Crescent Lake! Congrats Monte!
Tyler Scott – Tyler broke his personal best brown trout record with a great looking 7 lb hookjaw! He caught this beautiful trout at East Lake! Expecting big things from this young TTH'er in the future!
Mike
Scott – Mike didn't break the 10 lb mark, but got into some great fishing at East Lake
with his son (Tyler, listed above) and stuck this 8lber. I put this on here because I love this Father And Son Photo Op! Great Pic!
Josh Wedding - A
prominent fisherman in his own right, he stuck several bulls this last season, including this FAT 11 lb bull trout! Great catch!
Dan Lippis – One of our newest TTH contributors,
Dan laid the smack down on some serious Lakers this past year, including this 21 lb Lake Trout (his friend Tyler pictured with it). He lost one earlier that he saw that made this one look tiny. Also, he got his wife, Carrie into her personal best brown,
a nice 5 lber from Crescent Lake. Congrats!
Shelby
Moncreif – Daughter of premier NE Oregon fishing and hunting guide, Mark Moncreif, landed this ENORMOUS Kokanee from Wallowa lake!!! At 9lbs, 5 oz and 27-1/2" long, It was just OUNCES away from the world record! What a catch!
Mike Ryan (aka Fishmanmike) – A common contributor to the site, he is always
good for one or two 20+ lb mackinaw a year! This year, he was fishing alone, but caught and released
this 42 inch long, 28 lb Mackinaw!!! What a BEAST!!!
Honorable Mention –
Runner-Up
This year is the 3rd year we’ve
done this award, and this was the closest vote we’ve ever had. It
went to (2) tie-breakers. Because we decided that last years’ father/son
combination was a special exception, it was very difficult to decide who was going to be TTH’er of the Year for 2011. Due to being so close, we decided that we should provide an honorable mention to give
credit where credit is due.
"Okanagon"
Jim Sutherland - Jim hails from Kelowna, British Columbia and he had an amazing year. From the land of the heralded 20+ lb Gerrard Rainbow Trout, Jim is very blessed to live in such a beautiful
location with amazing scenery and access to several lakes with trophy trout. Jim
caught (3) rainbow trout over 20 lbs, including an enormous 27 lb Gerrard Rainbow. It was the largest, non-triploid Rainbow Trout that we are aware of to be caught
in British Columbia for the year 2011.
Jim also caught a fantastic 12 lb cutthroat trout as well as a fantastic 16 lb bull trout. Congratulations on a fantastic year,
Jim. One for the books!
Trophy Trout Hunter
of the Year – 2011
Phil
Brelje (aka Big Country) - Phil is the winner for 2011. Not
only did he break the 10+ lb mark for the wariest of all trout species (the brown trout), Phil did it A) on the West Coast
and B) he did it 3 times over the year!!! The largest
of those (3) browns was a 16 lb hen that he guided his friend, Bob, into. It’s
enough of an accomplishment to catch one brown over 10 lbs, but to catch 3 in one year and one of them to have been where
he guided his friend is an amazing accomplishment!! And all fish were released to live and fight another day!
Fantastic fisherman and sportsman.
Sincerest
congratulations to you, Phil! For the year 2011, you are the Trophy Trout Hunter
of the Year!
