Best Fighting, non-saltwater Fish

[JiggerMan]

Big King salmon would be my number one followed by the freshwater bonefish (carp), and then bluegills. 
Reasons for the ranks:
    Kings-  what other fish can take repeated 100-300 foot runs and still have alot of energy to thrash in the net.  and what other fish can hit and break 40 pound mono in a second with power not teeth.
    Carp-  The carp can fight long hand hard and dont give up untill beached.  they dont run real hard but the just keep pulling and pulling towards the bottom and away from you.
    Bluegills-  If a bluegill got to be the size of king salmon i think that they would be almost impossibale to land.  as soon as the put there bodies sideways to you and start to move there little tails as fast as they they can they are one of the strongest fish to swim in freshwater. 

JiggerMan
 

[fishermanjake]

Salmon in general have to be about the best fighting fish in North America...even pound for pound, well three species of salmon.

Red salmon(sockey), king salmon, and silver salmon(coho)

All three of these salmon have backbone in their fight (unlike rainbows)
All three of them are arial (unlike lakers)
I've about wrecked my hand many times on my fly reel when these fish run.  I use a 9# lamiglass rod and real and use 12-20 pound tippet...thats not light (well for kings it is) .  But these fish, fresh out of the salt, are unbeatable for fight.

[TGF]

I caught a 43 lb spring (king as you american boy call them) salmon last year and he put up a heck of a fight (30 min).
But the best fight I ever had was 6ft 9inch sturgeon. He came charging from the depths on his first run out of the water only 4ft from the boat. Splashed the boat and dove down and surfaced 3 more times doing incredible tail walks and head shakes. Burnt my hand trying to slow the beast down and not trying to break the 130lb test. The reel was screeching alot of the first half of the 35 minute fight then the last half I tried to get him off bottom.
Pound for pound though I have never caught a river smallie or a carp. Yes Jake those sockeye (red) salmon sure do struggle hard especially if you accidently foul hook one.

[fishermanjake]

yeah...  accidentally  right..... j/k  thats when they really beat your hands up on a fly real.

[Liar]

    Had a 46" sturgeon on 8# test and med action rod......the wife timed it.....32 mins to get  it in the boat........thats my pick!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

[TroutFishingBear]

    Had a 46" sturgeon on 8# test and med action rod......the wife timed it.....32 mins to get  it in the boat........thats my pick!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

I'm not sure if I can believe you, I mean, look at your name

[reubenpa]

thats what I thought

[bud]

smallies
salmon
carp
big pike

[Sandman]

I'll let you know when I finally see and/or land one.  They keep getting away where ever I fish.
Seriously,  I think we all have our favorites.
1) pound for pound, Smallies on ultra light. They may not make the long runs like a salmon, scream a real like a steelhead, or play choo choo train like a carp, but they are a blast.

[Mackdaddy21]

A large river trout is the best fighter. Try hooking a ten plus rainbow in fast current. They will bull dog you like no other, and sometimes come up for a high leap.
Browns of good size leap a lot too. They also roll around so much that the line often twists over them, which takes away much of their fight. But any salmonid of good size, especially in a river, is likely the best fight for it's size in freshwater.
I have caught a lot of gills in the 2 pound range. All from the same lake, as gills this size are more rare than 30 pound, non steelhead rainbows. For their size they fight great, about three times as hard as a bass of the same size.
River smallies are excellent fighters. Any smallie fights almost twice as good as a largemouth of the same size.
Large Channel Cats are a true freshwater terror, even on heavy tackle.
They are the only freshwater fish I have spent at least a half hour trying to land. I have hooked 40 pounders, only to have them snag me up on some river bottom thicket after ten 100 yard runs later.
The large lake trout I hooked at Granby Reservoir in Colorado was also one of the best fights ever, and this was on a tip up with 25 pound tip up line and a 20 pound fluorocarbon leader. Considering most of the lakers I catch, though most are only a few pounds, and that the 16 pounder, my biggest, fought only a little harder than a four or five pound bow, this may have been a state record. I think it was only 25- 30 pounds, but since it popped off about 10 feet below the hole, I only saw the length, which was probably close to 40". The way it fought compaired to the others I have caught, it could have been close to 50 pounds, though most likely it was only 20 some pounds. It was just a tiring fight, and losing my only big laker of the season so close after working so hard was such a heartbrake, you know that laker is gonna get bigger everytime I talk about it

Tyler

[MikeMo]

I would say carp, when I fish for these big boys after the 3rd or 4th fish my arms are tired.

[fishboy899]

I think it is a toss up between smallies and bluegills on light tackle.

[FishDaddy09]

Smallmouth! If smallies got the size of king salomon. they would tear up your tackel! I fish them in the big lakes up by the bridge.  Great fighters!