There are men and women who take the sport of fishing seriously, with that approach reflected in photographs of their catches.
Mike Ruane, 47, of Murrysville is not one of those people. He might be serious about his fishing — but not about his photos.
You can catch him yelling “It’s Hammer Time!” when he’s reeling in a big one and using Photoshop to augment his “Captain Morgan” pose — holding the catch of the day with an old-timey pirate hat and twirly mustache on his “Trout Glam” Instagram feed.
“Fishing was a passion of mine as a child, but it wasn’t real prevalent in my family,” Ruane said. “I used to force my grandfather — who loved me to death but was not a fisherman — to take me out, and I fooled around in the stream until I figured out what I was doing.”
After spending much of his high school days in the ’90s fishing at the Beaver Run Reservoir, Ruane drifted away from the hobby until the covid-19 pandemic.
“I started going back out to Twin Lakes, and a buddy of mine started pressing me to go out with him the first day of trout (season),” he said. “And since the pandemic (started), I’ve been fishing just about every weekend.”
As Ruane dove hip-deep back into the creeks of Western Pennsylvania, he also began to notice that there was a very particular way anglers would photograph themselves with a fresh catch.
“There’s a real degree of seriousness in trout-fishing culture, and a lot of times that includes the photo,” he said. “I started thinking, wouldn’t it be funny if every time we caught a fish, instead of being real statuesque and serious, I’m going to start doing goofy stuff like the ‘duck-face’ pictures you used to see on social media all the time,” he said.
But while Photoshop might allow Ruane to put himself in all manner of bizarre, hilarious situations — including a shot where he is holding a fish “onstage” with Guns N’ Roses — it also has taught him the proper way to display his catch.
“With a trout photo, there are things you just can’t pick up on right away,” he said. “You have to learn to let the fish relax in the net, you need the right size of net, (and) there’s multiple ways to hold the tail.”
Among the funnier poses Ruane has nicknamed things like “The Assassin” and the “Do You Happen to Have Any Grey Poupon,” there are also plenty of shots simply showcasing a great fish he’s reeled in.
“You see all these people on the internet making money from stupid, whimsical things,” he said. “I’m taking pictures every weekend, so I figured why not try to monetize it or get some sponsors?”
Ruane’s quest to become a “fishing influencer” led to the recent launch of his “Trout Glam” page on Instagram.
“I think my niche can be how to take the photo after the fish has been caught,” he said. “And you can go in a million different directions. I truly believe there are a lot more fishermen out there like me — serious, yet fun.”
For more, see Ruane’s “Trout Glam” page at Instagram.com/troutglam.
