The first time I landed a mountain whitefish, I wasn't sure what it was.

I had heard of the scaley, small-mouthed bottomfeeder before and had a general idea about what they looked like. But living on the coast of California, I wasn't all that familiar with the odd, high-mountain species that prefers near-freezing creeks and rivers.

But on a memorable trip to Missoula, Mont., many moons ago, fishing one of my favorite trout waters of all time, Rock Creek, I landed my first mountain whitefish to cap an amazing day of fishing on the creek's upper stretches.

Monster browns, rainbows, and then my first mountain whitefish. It was a day to remember.

While I lost track of the brown trout and rainbow trout I caught on this fall fly fishing trip (I seem to remember purple streamers doing well - thanks to a tip from then-Montana Grizzlies head football coach Bobby Hauck), I remember the exact fly, presentation and conditions of the mountain whitefish take.

I had driven as far as my little rental car and a quarter of a tank of gas could take me on the dirt road that parallels Rock Creek, to a finger of the creek that was no more than a trickle.

It was the end of a long, but productive day on the water, so I didn't even have my waders on any longer, but wanted to get a few more casts in before I winded my way back to Missoula and celebrated my catches with an ice-cold Big Sky Trout Slayer Ale.

Before turning around, I pulled over, ran down to the creek's edge, a plopped a tiny beadhead nymph at the start of a little run on down to the main portion of the creek.

As the beadhead bounced its way down the run, I thought for sure I had hung up in the gravely bottom, but got a thrill when I saw a silver bullet shoot upstream.

Because this stretch of the stream was so narrow, I had no trouble flipping the mountain whitefish up into my net.

When I pulled the fish from the net, I did a double take, expecting it to be another rainbow if anything. My first thought was that it was a squawfish or pike minnow of some sort, but then realized it had to be a mountain whitefish with that dinky mouth that doesn't extend past the eye and the scaley sides.

I took a couple photos to identify the fish when I got back to the hotel and was glad when I confirmed online that it was in fact my first mountain whitefish.

Not exactly a sought after fish for fly fishermen, but a treat for an angler who spends much of his time close to sea level.

Read more about the mountain whitefish in our species section.

A look at the top stories making headlines around the fishing world this week:

• While it wasn't caught on a fly, this possible world record catfish weighed in at 130 pounds and took a pair of anglers 30 minutes to lift the whiskerfish into the boat. But will it qualify for a world record? Only time will tell.
• Also a non-fly fishing story, but one that boat-bound anglers should be aware of: a 40-ton whale collided with a sailboat off the coast of South Africa. You've got to see the photos to believe it.
• More stories about fly fishing for carp. Here's some insight on the Carp Slam on the bank of the South Platte. And another about carp being a "freshwater bonefish."
• Finally a promising story about fish surviving a man-made event. In Bloomington, Maryland, the trout on the lower Savage River appear to have survived this pas winter's draining of an upstream reservoir.
• On the other side of the country, the eradication of northern pike is helping "return Lake Davis to its historic status as the best mountain trout impoundment in California."
• And last, but not least, UpStream Magazine announced the digital publication of their first issue on Tuesday.

Make that 992.

World-traveling angler Steve Wozniak, who I wrote about earlier in the week, is now just eight species away from catching his 1,000 species of fish.

When we last checked in with Wozniak, he was up to 990 fish, but he recently landed two more species before leaving the U.S. once again.

Wozniak is now on his way to Norway in an attempt to inch closer to the 1,000 mark.

Look for an in-depth interview with Wozniak in coming weeks, or follow his exploits on his blog, 1000fish.wordpress.com.

Wozniak's quest reminds me of an old wisecrack we used to have when my high school buddies and I used to go up to the Sierra Nevada each summer.

The friend who caught the most fish that day would ask the rest of us "How many fish did you catch?" repeatedly throughout the trip until somebody landed more fish them.

Had to be there I guess.

Have you ever thought about the number of species of fish you've landed in your lifetime? Share your fish counts in the comments section below.

World renowned angler Steve Wozniak is closing in on catching his 1,000th species of fish.

Wozniak has now reached the 990-fish mark, after landing three new species in Oahu, Hawaii.

He is now 10 fish away from becoming what is believed to be the first angler to catch 1,000 different species of fish.

His quest for quadruple digits has taken him to more than 60 countries, as he works with dozens of ichthyologists and species hunters to catch and identify the species.

"A couple of trips should put me in shouting distance," Wozniak said. "I'm hoping to get to Norway, Egypt and to the Andaman Islands near India in the Indian Ocean in the next several months, so I have a pretty good shot in 2010. If not, 2011 is the year.  It's getting close."