BEAUTIFUL RAINBOW - On a very beautiful cool morning after a 20-minute battle this rainbow trout was caught by Olivia Jost just 9 years old in Rockbridge, MO, on Oct. 15, 2006. It is 6.6 pounds and 24 inches long.

BASKET OF ‘GILLS — Katy Warfield, 11 with a nice batch of hybrid bluegills she caught at her grandpa’s lake in Staunton, IL.

SUPER SLAB — Joe McMullen shows off a monster crappie he caught near Cape Girardeau , MO.

NICE STRIPER — Sheri Procter, Burnet, TX, caught this trophy on Lake Buchanan using live minnows. It was 21.5 inches and weighed 3 pounds, 14 ounces. My first big striper — it was the most amazing thing!

Mason Davis, 9-years-old, Ballwin , MO , caught the 7-pound catfish and the 2-pound crappie and the 2-pound largemouth in the middle of June at a farm pond near Springfield IL . He also caught about 20 bluegill that were the size of your hand and about 20 more bass around one pound. The catfish and the bass were caught on nightcrawlers, the crappie on a Rapala. The big story was the big catfish that broke his line — we will never know how big it was.

MISSOURI MONSTER — Al Struckhoff, of Washington MO , says catfishing has improved dramatically on the Missouri River since the ban on commercial fishing. This picture makes his point.

HUGE STRIPER — Darrel Binkley of Bink's Guide Service, caught this huge striper on Lake Norfork in Arkansas. Darrel was using a Bink's spoon in 62 feet of water.

ROCKBRIDGE RAINBOW — Alexa Masters, 13, of St. Charles, MO, caught this nice 8-pound, 9-ounce Rainbow trout on her first fishing trip at Rockbridge, MO.

CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO - — After a 45-minute battle, David Finkelstein (left), son of Outdoor Guide Co-publisher Ed Finkelstein (right) pulled this 150-pound marlin from the Pacific Ocean with 50-pound test line. David is a substance abuse counselor with the Cornerstone Program for teenagers in Denver, CO. Their sister program in Chesterfield, Crossroads (636-532-9991), also helps teens and their families with alcohol and drug problems.

CANADA BRONZE — Albert Lipka, grandson of Guide staffer Mary Lipka. Albert caught and released this beauty on Rainy Lake in Canada .

Nikki Pederson, St. James, MO, caught this 9-pound monster on a black and orange broken Rooster Tail at Little Prairie Lake, near Rolla, MO in early March of 2007. It was 26-inch long, with a 17-inch girth.

Seven-year-old Braden King, Wildwood, MO, son of Greg King, went off for a walk around his grandmother's pond this spring, for the first time without help. As I watched from about 100 yards away, To my surprise he had caught this 3-plus pounder all by himself. He caught it on a Texas rigged worm and landed and unhooked it all by himself. It was the biggest fish of the day.

WHOPPER WALLEYE — Danny Robbins caught this walleye on a 3-inch white curly-tailed jig. It weighed 7½ pounds with a completely empty stomach. Wonder what it would have weighed with a full stomach before the spawn? He caught it at Lake Lugert, Altus, OK.

SUPER SALMON — Denelle Hovde, executive director, Lake of the Woods Tourism Bureau, holds up “the biggest fish I ever caught.” She caught this salmon fishing the Niagara River.

BARRACUDA BEAUTY — Jennifer Noble, Niagara Falls, NY, landed this barracuda while fishing in Aruba.

RECORD BREAKER — Kevin McCulloch caught this huge Winnipeg River northern pike while fishing by Seven Sisters, in Manitoba, (just northeast of Winnipeg). It was a new record in Canada. It was 56 inches long and weighed in at 55 pounds.

FISHING FUN — Bill and Dian Cooper's 3-year-old granddaughter Shelby Parsons proudly displays her first fish, a big bull bluegill, caught on a friend's pond with a Barbie Zebco rod

LUNKER LARGEMOUTH — Teri Marler, graduate ACAR (Air traffic Controller Airman Recruit) stationed at Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL, was on leave and celebrating her most recent naval graduation. Fishing Lake Genevieve with her dad, Tim Marler of Crystal City, MO, she landed this whopper. The fish was almost 7-1/2 pounds.

VOLUNTEER REWARD — Ed Makauskas, a member of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, gets his reward for years of voluntary service in the form of this 12-pound brown trout, caught off Waukegan, in Lake Michigan.

TOURNAMENT TROPHY — Marc Rogers, Midwest Fishing Tackle, landed this 8.66-pound largemouth in the Joe Bass Team Trail at Stockton on April 6, 2008.

SOUTH DAKOTA TROUT — Alex Brown, of Sioux Falls, SD, caught this 3-plus pound rainbow trout. He and Jim Jackson caught and released around 40 that afternoon. Those fish were planted in an abandoned rock quarry two years ago and have been fed a commercially compounded trout pellet. They now range in size from 2-6 pounds.