We’ve caught lit-up sailfish by the dozens in Guatemala, no-two-are-alike peacock bass in the jungles of Brazil, and gorgeous leaping rainbows in Alaska – yet some of our favorite catches were of fish that many people would consider “ugly.”

My 30-pound payara was the fishing highlight of a very good year in 2019, and when my friend Leroy Boss got his replica before I got mine I was more than a little jealous. Two weeks later mine arrived from the great white north and it was truly worth the wait.