Little kids with big smiles and bigger fish. Experienced anglers with the catch of a lifetime. Candid shots of good times on the water.

The Post-Gazette's Trout Photo Contest drew dozens of great shots of Pittsburgh area anglers.

Some of the photos attracted more than 2,000 page views.

We suggested categories of Best Fish and Best Fishing Action Shot, but Web users interpreted them in their own ways.

For some, a child's first fish will always be the best. Some catch-and-release conservationists took quick snaps of lunkers before carefully returning them to the water to fight another day.

Then there was Janice Bollman of Avalon, who submitted a wedding photo from the day she reeled in a 200-pound keeper, Gary W. Trout.

Pennsylvania anglers love their golden rainbows, commonly called "palominos." The Fish and Boat Commission stocks them fully grown as trophies. Lots of golden rainbow photos were submitted.

If Best Fish means "biggest," top honor goes to Joe Hutchinson of New Florence, who pulled a soon-to-be-confirmed state record 13-pound 4-ounce golden rainbow out of Little Mahoning Creek on the opening day of trout season.

Fish and Boat officials say once confirmed, Hutchinson's fish will beat the existing record for palomino/golden rainbow, an 11-pound 10-ouncer caught on Lake Erie in 1986.

Three weeks after catching the bruiser, Hutchinson says he's gettting antsy to get his record listed.

BEST FISH: Jason Kronenwetter of Economy. Photo by Kevin Jay.

Check out the rest of the Trout Photo Contest submissions, and we hope you'll continue self-publishing your fishing photos on Posted.

"They say it could [still] be a few weeks before it's confirmed," he said.

For some, however, Best Fish inspires thoughts of native trout that mature in the wild into beautiful and cunning fish of spectacular size.

Jason Kronenwetter of Economy knows where to find them and how to bring them in. Several shots on the contest board show Kronenwetter with massive wild trout that were caught and released. The best is a brown he estimates to have been 13 to 14 pounds. He released it into a small Lake Ontario tributary around November 2005.

Kronenwetter said he grew up in Ontario, N.Y., in apple farming country, approximately 400 yards from Lake Ontario.

"There were numerous tributaries within five miles of my folks' house, including one that went through their property," he said.

"So I spent nearly every day either fishing or thinking of fishing, obviously focused on the trout and salmon fishing -- which was excellent in the late '80's and early '90s."

Kronenwetter said his wife Susan, who also took some of the photos they posted, didn't fish much before they met. She does now.

"We got engaged in January while steelhead fishing in Erie, and after our wedding this past September, our honeymoon was a cutthroat trout trip near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Since the weather broke, we have gone on a half-dozen trout trip so far this year -- with many more planned," he said.

BEST ACTION SHOT: Pete Popivchak, full body contact wading. Photo by Chris Kilian.

Of all the fishing action shots submitted, none communicates what it's all about as well as a candid image of Lawrenceville's Pete Popivchak battling the current on the Salmon River near Malone, N.Y.

"I was going after the monster brown trout that lurk in that river," said Popivchak.

"We joke about full body contact wading -- it was some of the most difficult wading I've done in my life. Turbulent, high flow, big boulders. You can't tell from the picture, but I have a wading staff tied to my belt and boots with felt and cleats. I got a nice brown out of there."

Congratulations to the winners.