It's often said that a picture's worth a thousand words. But the 56 photos submitted by readers in the Post-Gazette's Trout Photo Contest, and nearly 6,500 page views and counting, speak volumes about this region's love affair with fishing.

Last year's co-winner in the Biggest Trout category, Jason Kronenwetter, of Economy, proved again that he knows were the find the lunkers. On Nov. 16, he took coworker Kevin Kline of Butler to a spot on New York's Maxwell Creek where he shot "Fall Lake Ontario," an image of Kline with a beautiful brown trout that topped 30 inches.

"It was in a little pool and there was a big king salmon there and some browns that were harassing it, I think trying to get the eggs out," said Kline, in a phone interview while he and his new wife were on their honeymoon.

The fish was caught on flesh-colored sucker spawn. When he returns from the honeymoon, Kline plans to pick up his mounted trophy from the taxidermist.

Scrolling through the Trout Photo Contest image gallery, five spectacular shots by Kevin Hospodar of Peters seem to jump off the screen. Shot with a $300 shock-proof, waterproof Olympus point-and-shoot, his image titled "Brookie" wins the Artsy Shots category.

"That wild brook trout was caught and released three weeks ago in Southcentral Pennsylvania," said Hospodar. "I like fishing for wild fish that have a really good color on them, and I don't like to take the fish out of the environment, so I have to shoot them really fast while they're in the water."

We weren't able to contact the photographer who posted the image titled "First Trout," but the photo of a father and daughter fishing together gets the nod for Kid Pix.

"Couldn't have been a better day on the stream," the photographer writes. "We are looking forward to the days to come. She could have filled her stinger that day, however, she said, 'They are too big daddy, throw 'em back.' "