Most Beautiful Fish

[Otter]

For me it is a tough one...
Native trout, walleyes, perch, largemouth (clear water with good coloration), they're all beautiful to me...tiger muskies...

What about you, what do you think is the most beautiful fish?

[Cider]

Trout are my addiction.  I think that they are the finest of all gamefish and the prettiest.  They get the highest amount of respect from me.  I would have to say that there is nothing more breathtaking than reeling in a beautiful rainbow or brookie in a clear mountain stream or backwoods pond.  They are so awesome when glistening in the sunlight.

Last spring I hiked into a small remote pond that gets stocked with fry from the air and has very little fishing pressure because of the effort it takes to get there.  I took my float tube and rods to catch rainbows.  I caught one that was about 15-16" and was so brilliantly colored.  I had never seen such pink and blue on a rainbow before!  That fish must have been 2 or 3 years old.  I didn't have the heart to keep it so I gently let it slip back into the water to be caught again!  There is something magical about seeing a "wild" trout that has been swimming undisturbed in a remote wilderness pond.

What a great topic Otter!  Thanks for bringing back that memory for me! 

[Tournament Drifter]

There isn't a fish, I don't get excieted about seeing.    If it's going to be limited!  Male brook trout in full spawning colors... Hen steelhead ,ripe and a week away...Great purple,blue,and pink hue's on a" factory mint" dime bright, silver chrome backdrop!!!  

[oakorchardfishking]

FRESHWATER - all trout are pretty! love the pumpkin orange brown trout!
 
SALTWATER -  i think the prettiest saltwater fish for color is the dolphin (not flipper) but (mahi mahi or dorado) the color aspect on them is the best with the blues, greens and yellow! but the coolest thing is when your fishing a school of them and you hook one, your not supposed to pull it out of the water right away because the rest of the school will take off... so while waiting sometimes for the next person on the boat to hook up, the one you have may lose all its colors and turn to a silver so bright that you can see your self in it like a mirror! must be a schooling defense mechanism but man are they cool fish... (and the taste yummdillyishious too!  )

[big walleye]

 I am a walleye nut. I consider walleye the best looking fish of all.

[Tournament Drifter]

oakorchardfishking,
                               Dorado,   Are a great sport fish,, I was talking freshwater. Salt water is a whole different gig!!!  See me in a dozen years, I'll be residing on Big Pine Key, Florida...

[bigdave1018]

bluegills, in full spawning colors, are my freshwater dorados!!!!!!!!!

[Fat Boy]

i think the prettiest saltwater fish for color is the dolphin (not flipper) but (mahi mahi or dorado) the color aspect on them is the best with the blues, greens and yellow! but the coolest thing is when your fishing a school of them and you hook one, your not supposed to pull it out of the water right away because the rest of the school will take off... so while waiting sometimes for the next person on the boat to hook up, the one you have may lose all its colors and turn to a silver so bright that you can see your self in it like a mirror! must be a schooling defense mechanism but man are they cool fish... (and the taste yummdillyishious too!  )

The 2 that I think are the most beautiful fish are two that I've never caught.

The first one is... well, I'm with you OOFK, I think that I'd rather have dolphin fish on the wall than any other saltwater fish.  Awesome looking.

The other one is an arctic char.  The pictures of them look spectacular to me.  I also think that peacock bass look pretty cool too.

Heck, I like them all though...except toadfish, sheepshead (freshwater drum), and round gobies
 

[Fat Boy]

Yep and I think that Roosterfish are pretty cool looking too!

[oakorchardfishking]

Heck, I like them all though...except toadfish, sheepshead (freshwater drum), and round gobies
 

those toadfish... god what a ugly thing they are... my son(10 or so at the time) was in a kids derby off the st. petersburg pier when we lived down there! he caught this thing and took it up to the weigh station. they said it was an oyster toadfish... yuck, i thought this thing is god awful, let throw him back... well, they asked my son if he would mind if they kept it. they put it in the aquarium inside the pier! my son was happy because he got to see it every time we went there!...lol


on another note... i didnt realize we were just talking freshwater species.... didnt mean to start a war with the whole saltwater thing... but man, those mahi's are just to pretty to not think about!

[JigAwhopper]

How about the peacock bass,  the one the have in Florida canals?  I watched a fishing show and they looked really beautiful,  does not beat a trout but it's a second close i think 

[reubenpa]

My vote would be with a bright little native broookie!!

Does anyone have a pic of one of those dolphins???  I don't think I have seen any of those!!   the dorados?

[Fat Boy]

Reuben, here's a pic I found on the net.  Most of the pics aren't that spectacular, but when you see these on TV they look so cool.  This pic is pretty good:

[reelcharacter]

I like them all, so this is a tough question to answer. I would have to cast my vote for native brook trout. The colors of a true native brookie are hard to beat.

I think catching one also brings back the memories of fishing as a youth when the attire was a pair of shorts and sneakers, the pole a zebco 202, or the johnson century I spent my own hard earned money on and whatever bait I caught to use.

-Reelcharacter

[PERCH INC.]

By far it's a native "BROOKIE"!!