Fishing Christmas Shirt Trout Bass Walleye Sunfish Ugly Sweater Santa Scarf Antlers

A Fishing Christmas Shirt Where the Bass Takes Over as Santa

The second fish from the top is a bass, and it has taken over as Santa. A red coat wraps its body, a black belt with a buckle cinches the middle, white fur rolls over the cuffs, and a sprig of holly sits near the collar. Above it, a rainbow trout wears a Santa hat and a knit sweater printed with trees and snowflakes. Below it, a walleye wears a green beanie with a red pom-pom and a red and white striped scarf with fringe at the ends. Last comes the sunfish.

Four freshwater fish share one tall column on our fishing Christmas shirt: a trout, a bass, a walleye and a sunfish, each drawn with the speckled scales and soft shading of an old field guide plate. The shirt is meant for the angler in the house, the one who can name every species on it without squinting and would like a holiday sweater joke that gets the fish right. It works at an ugly sweater night in a lake house. It works just as well at a gift swap between fishing buddies, where everyone already knows who caught what.

A Sunfish in String Lights at the Bottom of the Stack

The sunfish at the bottom gets the most decorating. A red bow sits on top of its head, reindeer antlers rise behind it, a round red nose shines at the tip of its mouth, and a string of colored bulbs loops around its body in uneven curves. It is hard to miss. It is the detail a dad with a boat in the garage tends to spot first, usually followed by a laugh and a question about who dressed a sunfish as a reindeer. Even the bulbs are drawn one by one, in red, green, yellow and blue. Our trout bass walleye sunfish Christmas design keeps each fish in its own outfit, from the trout’s knit sweater down to those lights, so the eye travels down the column one costume at a time.

Who Else Would Wear the Trout in the Snowflake Sweater?

Anyone who fishes, or lives with someone who does: dads, moms, grandparents, kids casting from the dock and friends planning a winter trip to the lake. The design shows four freshwater species rather than a single catch, so it suits trout, bass, walleye and panfish anglers alike, from the first snowfall to the last ice fishing weekend.

The bass in the belted red coat is the one people at the table will ask about first.