Hey Hall of Fame family,
Happy new year! We hope 2026 brings you big fish, no snags, tight lines, PBs, and everything else good. In this blog post, we’ll be recapping some of our favorite moments on the water from 2025. From trout to tautog to bass to catfish, there truly were some epic moments! Hope you enjoy.
Paul, our cousin Jordan, and Erik started January 2025 off strong. The three of us bundled together in my single cab Ram 1500 and headed out to do some trout fishing at Meramec Springs. It was an absolutely frigid mid-January day. We left my house early in the morning with temps at 8 degrees and everything covered in ice. It was 10 degrees upon arrival an hour later, and temperatures would not surpass a balmy 14 for the day. Despite these arctic conditions, our trio slayed trout! We caught 47 fish between us, both brown and rainbow trout alike. We might’ve even mixed a rock bass or two in there, as well. No question, it was the coldest weather any of us ever had that much fishing success in. We have a full blog post about this epic freeze out here: The Coldest Day We Have Ever Caught Fish – Hall of Fame Outdoor Co.
Erik had a poor February 2025 down on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He fished brackish and saltwater at Keesler Air Force Base, a public beach and several Back Bay access points in Biloxi, and the Tchoutacabouffa River in D'Iberville. Erik spent 2 weeks of February 2025 in the Biloxi, D'Iberville, and Gulfport area, fished almost every day after work, and only caught 1 largemouth. It was an important bass, nonetheless, as it was Erik's first bass of 2025. Despite the lack of success, it was still a ton of fun to explore a new part of the country and attempt targeting both fresh and saltwater species. Time spent on the water isn't wasted, after all. Check out some of these stories here: Fishing Coastal Mississippi for the First Time – Hall of Fame Outdoor Co. and Fishing Coastal Mississippi: Round 2 – Hall of Fame Outdoor Co.
In March of 2025, Erik and his friend Ron had the best day of trout fishing in their entire lives. They started the morning off at a wild trout stream and got skunked, except for a micro bluegill on a live nightcrawler. It was a tough and slow morning, as we did not even see any trout. Montauk State Park was not terribly far from the wild stream, and Ron had never been there. Erik and Ron decided to change it up and make the short drive, in search of trout. We were in the water fishing at Montauk by 10 am, and by the end of fishing hours, we had caught over 100 trout! It was literally one after the other, and we could not keep them off our lines. It seemed like every single hole held hungry fish. The trout were eating whatever baits we wanted to throw, too. Live minnows and nightcrawlers, BFS/ultra-light gear, flies, it did not matter. This took place a few weeks after opening day for trout in 2025, and plans have already been made to return in March of 2026. This adventure was one of the most fun times we’ve had on the water, and definitely one of the top highlights from 2025! Check it out here: Laying Down the Rainbow Trout Hammer! – Hall of Fame Outdoor Co.
Come April 2025, Paul and our friend Robby went bass fishing, looking for some big spawners. Little did he know, Paul would catch one of the biggest bass of his life that day, going 8 lbs 4 ounces. This fish came from a public pond and was caught on a pale gold shiner colored Terminator Pro Series spinnerbait. That pre-spawn mutant came off a rock pile in less than 2 feet of water. It absolutely smoked that spinnerbait and fought like mad! Paul saw the wake of that fish right before it bit. Robby had a good day on the water, as well. He caught several fish over 2 lbs and one over 3 lbs. Later in April, Paul caught another 5 lb 8 oz bass at that same public pond on a perch colored Zman Original chatterbait off of a grass edge. Oddly enough, that lake seems to be at its best around the spawn. What a great big bass April!
In May 2025, Erik was up in Newport, Rhode Island doing some saltwater fishing with a very cool guide, Tall Tailz Fishing and Captain Connor MacLeod. Definitely check him out at if you are ever in the area! Erik wanted to target striped bass, but unfortunately, Captain said it would be a 2+ hour boat ride to find them. He recommended tautog, a hard fighting, crab eating fish that get pretty big. Captain Connor actually held the Rhode Island state record for Tautog for a short time! They’d be a lot closer and he promised they’d be fun to catch. As it turned out, he was right! Tautogs are absolute bruisers, tugging down unlike any other fish I've caught. Erik only caught 8 tautog total, but my biggest one was 8 or 9 pounds. Not a bad fish and an awesome fight! We have a full blog post about this story here: Rhode Island Tautog! – Hall of Fame Outdoor Co.
June of 2025 brought our annual epic, week-long camping bender, where Paul and Erik spend most of the time in a kayak. We go without electricity and running water, while sleeping in hammocks. Last year, cousin Jordan joined us on the journey to the Dakotas and Minnesota. Roy Lake and Mille Lacs Lake, specifically. This trip is always one of the best weeks of the year, and 2025 was no different. During that week, we caught pike, smallmouth and largemouth bass, crappie, rock bass, and bluegill. Erik lost a couple musky along the way, too… He still hasn't gotten over it. Jordan broke several PBs on the trip, including largemouth bass (several times), smallmouth bass (several times), pike (several times), and crappie. To be expected, we did better bass fishing at Mille Lacs, but the Dakotas were no slouch either. The pike fishing was phenomenal in South Dakota, to the point where we started targeting them instead of bass. Central Minnesota and northeastern South Dakota/southwestern North Dakota look like two entirely different worlds! Wooded and colder in Minnesota and warmer with big open skies in the Dakotas. We are currently in the planning stages of the 2026 camping bender, and the anticipation is already mounting!
July 2025 was a month of PBs. Over the 4th of July weekend, Erik, cousin Jordan, and our friend Alex took the kayaks out to the Carlyle Lake Spillway and Kaskaskia River. Erik and Jordan have caught multiple personal bests there, and that warm, mid-summer day would only add to the spillway's lore. It was a slow morning, and it got hot quickly. By high noon, we had not caught a fish. Out of desperation and just looking for shade, we left the spillway and paddled down river to a creek arm. There, Jordan tied on a blade bait and started targeting the deepest part of the creek arm's mouth. After a few casts, Jordan thought he got snagged. He will tell you that it felt like dead weight on his line. But when he started paddling over to the 'snag' and began trying to get it unstuck, his rod went berserk! Using a spinning rod and 8 lb line, Jordan quickly realized he was outgunned. After a nearly 25-minute fight, we netted the beast, a 19 lb flathead catfish! It's definitely the biggest flathead we've ever seen in person. Later that afternoon, Alex and Erik each caught a common carp, a new species for them both! We actually broke our common carp PBs later that day, too. Despite the heat and slow start, it turned out to be a great multi-species day.
Erik spent a week in August in Pensacola, Florida with his friends and in-laws. Erik and his friend Brandon fished every day, catching several small pinfish and a variety of other small fish throughout the week. Nothing to write home about. Erik did land his first Spanish mackerel, though, marking another new species caught in 2025! Fishing was slower down on the Florida panhandle than it had been in years past, but Erik was just happy to have any saltwater success after failing on the Mississippi Gulf Coast!
In November 2025, Paul, Erik, and cousin Jordan took an overnight camping trip to Kentucky Lake over Veterans Day. Kentucky Lake, and the Tennessee River in general, are one of our favorite places to fish! We camped at the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, at quite possibly the steepest campsite I've ever seen. Whiskey was shared, laughs were had, and we were hopeful for a decent Veterans Day on the water. The three of us (barely) survived cold night with sub-freezing temperatures, and Jordan had a couple hilarious mishaps throughout the night. (Totally check out the full story at the link below!) The following morning when it was finally time to start fishing, it was extremely windy. Honestly, too windy for our water vessels. By mid-day, fishing had been slow and it was still very windy. I did end up landing a nice smallmouth on a matte ghost Yo-Zuri 3DB jerkbait, but that was far and away the best fish of the day. Jordan caught a new species for himself, a small yellow perch. Erik caught only one more fish, that being a decent white bass, and Paul caught a small largemouth. Fishing was slow, the weather was not great, but we had a great time nevertheless! Can you tell one of our favorite things to do is go camping and fishing? Read more about this Veterans Day trip to Kentucky here: Hall of Fame Outdoor Co's Kentucky Lake Winter Bash! – Hall of Fame Outdoor Co.
The last highlight of 2025 came in December, in the form of another great day of trout fishing! This adventure took place at Bennett Springs State Park. Erik and cousin Jordan arrived by 9 am and started fly fishing at the spring. This time of year, it is fly fishing only, plus catch and release only regulations. Erik and Jordan did not have a ton of success for the first hour or two, until they reached a dam in Zone 2. Seemingly all of a sudden, in the deep hole right above the dam, Jordan and Erik started catching trout after trout. All smaller rainbows, but still a blast! We did not leave that spot for the rest of the day! Why leave fish to find fish? We were catching more than everyone else in that area, too. Erik and Jordan ended the day with 19 trout each, all on fly gear. That day was the best day of fly-fishing Jordan has ever had!
Looking back, 2025 was a pretty dang good year! It was filled with PBs, camping trips, new miles and scratches on the kayaks, and many, many fish catches. These stories became lifelong memories that Paul, Erik, and everyone else involved will look back on and smile. We cannot wait to see what 2026 has in store for us on the water! From us here at Hall of Fame Outdoor Co, we really hope you've enjoyed this blog post. Here's to 2026!
Tight lines,
Erik and Paul Hoffman, Hall of Fame Outdoor Co