The Best Dressed List

February 1, 2009 by admin

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

With awards show season in full swing, it is not unusual to flip on the tube and see celebrities parading down the red carpet wearing fancy suits, elaborate dresses, and sporting more bling than in every Nelly video combined. For a few nights each winter they dress to the nines, promoting fashion designers and posing for the paparazzi, trying to be the best looking person in Hollywood.

Flipping the channel, there are others who beg for attention – fish of every shape, size and color populate this planet. From saltwater to fresh, the array of patterns is astounding. Bland to beaming, hues and iridescence vary greatly. In this area of the world, we are lucky to have some great-looking fish which prove that there is one fashion designer above all others. What follows are some of the best looking fish that a person can catch and admire in our region of the world – the “red carpet” so to speak, for the finest of fishes.

Beauty is in the ‘eye

Few fish can compare to the walleye in popularity; its table qualities and elusiveness make it a favorite sportfish. Some of the allure must also come from the physical appearance of the fish as well. With a golden saw-toothed pattern intermixed with black vertical stripes, the fish has one of the most notable appearances in the angling world. Especially when caught from clear water over rock or gravel bottoms, the walleye has a place of it’s own in the spotlight with vibrant golds and blacks intermixed throughout.

Top the body off with two gleaming eyes, and the walleye’s ensemble is set to be one worthy of photographs.

Basstastic

Similar to the walleye, very few fish can compare to the appearance of a smallmouth bass caught from a rocky shoal in gin-clear water. The dark olive bars radiating from the eye and running up and down the lateral line are a sight to behold, a true testament to protective coloration. However, even when a smallmouth is not sporting stripes, the shimmering olive hue of this bass is a wonderful sight. With their bright red eyes, smallies always leave a lasting impression on an angler well after they’re returned to the water.

Golden-green

A great panfish picture is one of a slab crappie held high in the sunlight on a summer’s day. The blacks, greens, teals, golds and whites all mix together to form the scaling of one of the most popular panfish. Several times, I’ve stopped and stared in mid-release to look closely at the “specks” of color that give this fish its nickname in the southern part of the country.

Similar to one of those posters made out of smaller pictures, it is tough to break down exactly what colors make the crappie so attractive. Anyway an angler looks at it, the black crappie is an attractive fish.

Something with color

The pumpkinseed sunfish has an incredible array of hues. With the greens, blues, purples oranges and reds, it’s as if the fish walked through Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album cover. This fish shimmers in just the slightest amount of sunlight, and as it is looked over, colors fade and rise shocking the senses and making the angler look twice. Certainly, when the Creator was handing out colorful outfits to fish in our region, the pumpkinseed was first in line.

And the winner is…

I can recall the first time I ever laid eyes upon a brook trout. That is because it was the ONLY time I have ever seen one. While fishing a small pond in southern Idaho, my brother finally landed the fish that had been nipping at his Worden’s Roostertail spinner. The back of the fish glistened between dark and light green. His side sported spots of blue that seemed almost unnatural and within those were tiny red dots burning like four dozen eyes down the length of the body. Intermixed with the blue-red dots were nuggets of gold, shining like the mother lode of all time. Finally, the lower part of the body burned red-orange like a western sunset. We didn’t have a camera that day, but I’m quite sure I’ll have the picture of that beauty pinned up on the wall of my mind forever.

In next week’s edition, look for the worst-dressed specimens that can be found in area waters, but until then take some time to admire these fish, and maybe this weekend you’ll have your picture taken with one of the celebrities…in our outdoors.