MyFishFinder Forum
My Fish Finder Main => General Fishing Discussion => Topic started by: Mackdaddy21 on Mar 24, 2005, 10:07 PM
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My choice for hardest fighting freshwater fish I have caught, pound for pound, is a smallmouth bass. Weakest, pound for pound, is definately a lake trout. Your choices?
Tyler
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pound for pound? steelhead, or a fresh run coho salmon, weakest pound for pound is a lake trout, all though they might bite with ferocity, i had no problem beating down 10lb class fish with 6lb tackle, open water and ice fishing. thats gamefish though, panfish are different though, i think they all fight good matched with the appropriate tackle.
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Toughest pound for pound has to be the Small Mouth bass. The weakest has to be the mudcat, There is no fight at all they just curl that tail and make you drag them up.
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Without any hesitation the Atlantic Salmon puts up the hardest fight.
In close second the samllmouth bass.
Weakest fight would be a lake trout.
That's my 2 cents!
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In the area where I fish the best fighting fish would be the Small mouth bass.
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theres nothing like watching a smallmouth jump in and out for the water i caught a 5.8lb largemouth last year and he came right in.On the other hand a 2lb smally can put on quite a show.
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I'm not much of a big salmon fisherman, so I can't say too much there.
I'll say Bowfin (They're a gamefish..right? ::)) and Walleye is the weakest.....
Smallmouths are also great fighters. :)
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Hardest fighting freshwater fish, in my expieriences, a nice long pickeral, small mouth are up there. The weakest, probally white pearch.
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Here in Ia. the hardest [pound for pound] would be the small mouth. A close 2nd gos to the smooth mouth, also known as the bugle mouth bass. ::)
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I think the best fighters pound for pound here are the jumbo whitefish, with carp being the second. Worst fighters? During the spawn those burbot are lugging around 2-3 lbs of eggs and they can't really give'er too much. :D After they drop that they can really go, though. As for the walleye and pike it seems to vary from fish to fish. I don't think this is a poll that can really be written in stone...too many variables.
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Pound for pound the hardest fighting fish is a much overlooked one, an ocean fresh chum salmon. You think a fresh silver puts up a good fight bigredfishing, the chums i fish for put silvers and even kings to shame!
The weakest has to be a walleye, they just pull a little and give up. I have only fished for them a few times in the great lakes but remember being dissapointed and catching a 8 pounder that fought very little.
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The hardest fighter in my opinion would be a fresh salmon. The weakest fighter I think is pickerel
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I probibly have to go with the smallie also but you put 2lb line on a 24" ultra light ice rod and get a 9" gill and your hands are full. The same with fly fishing getting a 18" browney in a small creek on a 2x tipit will make you use your head to get it landed. For weak fighters I'd agree with the mudd cat's.
Jim
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In my expirience the smallmouth bass is the best fighting fish....The weakest is prohably yelloe perch b/c most of the time im bass fishing and dont mean to hook them and i just rip them in ;D
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In my experience, one of the gnarliest fish to convince to come to the boat is probably the fat catfish in the river. I have been hooked up for 15 minutes on light line while they dog for the bottom. Great fun. The weakest, probably the walleye or the laker.
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Pound for pound (maybe oz. for oz.) stongest ..Bluegill. Weakest.... Lake Trout or Yellow Perch.
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Here is my rankings, one being best (pound for pound) for fish I catch
1. Smallmouth Bass
2. Green Sunfish
3. Bluegills
4. Wild Rainbow Trout
5. Brown Trout
6. Northern Pike
7. Mountain Whitefish
8. Channel Catfish
9. Brook Trout
10. Largemouth bass
11. Yellow Perch
12. Crappie
13. Walleye (tie)
14. Lake Trout (tie)
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I'ed say the bluegill then the smallmouth bass imagine trying to reel in a 10 pound Gill!!! the biggest gill I ever was about 1lb 4oz and boy did that thing put up a fight. ;D ;D
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best musky, carp close second
worse sucker
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In my expirience the smallmouth bass is the best fighting fish....The weakest is prohably yelloe perch b/c most of the time im bass fishing and dont mean to hook them and i just rip them in ;D
My thoughts exactly :P
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Yeah I'd have to go with the chum, or silver too for hardest fighting. I walked into a whole new world of fight when I went to AK. A fresh chum can spool you real quickly. I hooked a few silvers with my shore caster and a spoon and they were shredding line off like nothing too.
But for the lower 48 I'd say either a freshwater eel or drum, they pull incredibly hard.
Weakest? hmm. I'd probably say rock bass or perch
Although i do suppose it all matters on how heavy or light of tackle you are using
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I'ed say the bluegill then the smallmouth bass imagine trying to reel in a 10 pound Gill!!! the biggest gill I ever was about 1lb 4oz and boy did that thing put up a fight. ;D ;D
yeah id have to say for its size a large gill or pupmkinseed is the srongest then a smallmouth bass, weakest perch or walleye thanks joe
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salmon is the best fighting fish to me and a largemouth bassthe worst .its like realing in an old shoe.
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i'm not that experianced but steelhead are the best fight but pound for pound i'd have to say bluegill and the weakest being perch
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Pound for Pound, The Smallie and Salmon are great, they both tear line and jump, cant beat either of em!
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1) Chum salmon
2) Chinook salmon
3) Wild rainbows
4) Kokanee
5) Mountain whitefish
6) Brookies
7) Suckers
8 ) Pike
9) Burbot
10) Lakers
Don't have any panfish to catch here so I didn't put them in. I did catch a few crappies down south one time and they were a blast! The chums are the kings of fight!! They've got to make up for how they taste :blink: :sick:
KRIS
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A river smallmouth has to be the KING for it's size!!!! A lake brown trout is like pulling in an old shoe!!
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You guys all putting down lake trout, try fishing wild untouched lakes with cold water, when you pull em from the depths, sure they are lifeless, but in the clear water, when they seey the surface and your boat, The last thirty feet of line before landing is unreal. They fight like crazy, ive even had a 5 pounder clear the water 3 times. Lake trout deserve more respect then they get for fighting. but i guess some of you guys live in warmer waters. maybe the lake trout dont fight at all! But from my expeirience, Lakers are great fighters.
Now, for the original topic Id say Redhorse sucker are the strongest, and weakest would be yellow perch
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well i see lakers at the bottom of everybodys list so their getting some respect making list you say they get no respect so lets take PGKris's list your saying lakers fight better than any of those 9 listed above it?
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well i see lakers at the bottom of everybodys list so their getting some respect making list you say they get no respect so lets take PGKris's list your saying lakers fight better than any of those 9 listed above it?
Every fish above lakers in PGkris's list that i have caught do not fight as good as lakers. Dont make it personal guys, This is just from my experience, In the north. This lake i am refering to is deep, cold and clear. And also is in the middle of the bush, 150 miles from the nearest community.
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Open water I would have to say a Smallmouth Bass is the best fighter. I would have to say that the worst fighter is a perch. Altought its great to feel any fish at the end of my line.
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Altought its great to feel any fish at the end of my line.
Aint that that the truth! ;)
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im not making it personal i personally have never caught a laker but seen them pulled in and i dont know how far "north" in ontario you are but most people talking here are from new york and maine so we dont know about warmer waters +nothing personal to you "in the north" just responding to your post no hard feeling we are all fisherman warm water and cold
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No doubt smallies are great fighters but wipers pound for pound are much stronger. Its a must to keep a fairly loose drag, three to four pound wipers can easily snap 12lb test like it wasn't even there. They are the closest thing to all of those saltwater dragsters. I'd have to put lake trout second for all around power. Lakers from 10 to 30+lbs have long lasting power and endurance like no other fresh water fish. I've caught king salmon well over 40 pounds and had them in, in less than half the time as a lake trout 10 pounds lighter.
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You guys all putting down lake trout, try fishing wild untouched lakes with cold water, when you pull em from the depths, sure they are lifeless, but in the clear water, when they seey the surface and your boat, The last thirty feet of line before landing is unreal. They fight like crazy, ive even had a 5 pounder clear the water 3 times. Lake trout deserve more respect then they get for fighting. but i guess some of you guys live in warmer waters. maybe the lake trout dont fight at all! But from my expeirience, Lakers are great fighters.
Now, for the original topic Id say Redhorse sucker are the strongest, and weakest would be yellow perch
I fish in high elevation Colorado lakes and the water is very cold and very clear. Lakers to me fight all right but for their size they really do not. The 16 pound laker I caught two years ago fought about the same as a 5 pound rainbow I hooked through the ice that year too. On six pound line. Went on two strong runs, both as it neared the surface. Then it tired out. Fight lasted probably 5 minutes.
Gilles, I agree wipers fight hard. I have only caught a couple, but they were both well over 4 pounds. I think they fight about half as much as a smallmouth of the same size but they don't jump. I still don't think they fight as good though as a smallmouth or wild rainbow of similar size.
Tyler
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I have fished for kings and lakers and have to disagree with giles. Kings are great fighters for their size in my experience and lakers are ok at best. It should be noted also that fresh bright kings fight much better than old rotten ones. In my experience a fresh king fights with blistering runs and jumps while a lake trout pulls hard but doensn't pull much drag for it's size. I could see lake trout competing with old kings that are exhausted but a fresh king 25 with room to run especially if you are not using heavy trolling gear will outfight a lake trout around 35 to 40 pounds.
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Kings are undoubtably great fighters and much more acrobatic for there size than most other fish that get that big. Nothing like seeing a forty pound fish jump completely out of the water. I'm just saying the endurance battle goes to the lakers at least the ones in Co.
Mackdaddy you haven't caught enough wiper, there no comparison. Trust me anyone that has caught them won't even put them in the same catagory.
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The hardest for me would be a skamania. The weakest would be a perch.
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Gilles,
Yeah that was at Aurora and I think they were full because subcatchable rainbows had just been stocked. So maybe that was part of it.
Lakers do fight well. The large one I hooked last year was at least twice as big as my biggest and he took line like I had hooked into a dumptruck doing 90. But a 3 pound laker fights about like a walleye of the same size. A 3 pound rainbow screams line and slices through the water with power that no fish but other salmonids can. The fight a 17 pounder gives is undescribable in swift current.
Tyler
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I've yet to make a trip for salmon so I can't put them anywhere yet but my best would be a smallie. Worse would probably be a rock bass.
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Apparently I have to go fish smallies...... Sorry guys I believe you all but the only lakers I've ever caught fought like mud. Just basically had to haul them up to the surface. I'm not a big-fish catcher anyways. I'd rather have 100 fish days than catch 3 or 4 five pound rainbows! Not a big laker fan to start with. I think people underrate suckers though. Big ones in river during spawning will spool you as fast as any good chinook! But I like the jumps ;D Thats why I love kokanee! How high can he go! Whooo! Almost landed in the boat! Double header! Yeeehaaa! Sorry got kinda carried away there lol ;D
Later
KRIS
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A cuttbow (rainbow cutthroat hybrid) is the hardest fighting fish IMO.
A green sunfish puts a bluegill to shame. A green sunfish is the hardest fighting panfish.
Weakest fighting fish icefishing is lake trout, weakest fighting open water fish is walleye.
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My choice would be a big Northern in the fall. I have lost track of how many of my baits they have mangled beyond repair.
Perch are pretty wimpy, but I still like catching them.
8)
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what is a wiper. isn,t that on the windshield of the truck.
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the wiper as i know it is a hybrid of a white bass and striped bass
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Catfish are also pretty hard fighters :laugh:
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BigRed where can you catch them striper hybrids? I live in Massachusetts and would love to rip in one of them things!LOL
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There are a bunch of them in eastern colorado. We don't have any here west of the continental divide though :'(
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There are a bunch of them in eastern colorado. We don't have any here west of the continental divide though :'(
Hey! Don't you be crying about being west of the divide! If they all knew how good it was over here there wouldn't be any eastern boards........they'd all have moved here! Come on! You'd trade bull trout, goldens or grayling for some kind of gentically confused bass?! ::) ;D Sorry no harm intended! ;D
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How about the alligator gar for a fighter????? They are mean and nasty.
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ever try to open a can of tuna with a cheap leatherman now thats a fight ;)
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BigRed where can you catch them striper hybrids? I live in Massachusetts and would love to rip in one of them things!LOL
they used to be stocked in a few select bodies of water in NY, but i dont believe that is the case any longer. I never got the opportunity to tussel with one myself, but i have caught white bass and stripers...they fight well. I have handled hatchery wipers, though
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BigRed where can you catch them striper hybrids? I live in Massachusetts and would love to rip in one of them things!LOL
they used to be stocked in a few select bodies of water in NY, but i dont believe that is the case any longer. I never got the opportunity to tussel with one myself, but i have caught white bass and stripers...they fight well. I have handled hatchery wipers, though
Whities and stripers fight good, but I don't know anywhere in Ny where wipers can be found. I would like to know, if anyone can tell me, I'd appreciate it very much. I know a guy who flyfished for them once, I forget where though. He said they fought great. :)
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salmon and steelhead are great but they're not freshwater fish, except for a few landlocked salmon. not trying to bust b*lls but saltwater fish have an edge and salmon live most of there lives in the salt.
just to be different i'll say carp, i've never had anything from freshwater smoke a reel like a carp, no jumping though.
weakest in my experience is a toss-up between lakers and walleye.
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salmon and steelhead are great but they're not freshwater fish, except for a few landlocked salmon. not trying to bust b*lls but saltwater fish have an edge and salmon live most of there lives in the salt.
You are right to a certain extent but i believe if you can fish for them in freshwater they are a legitamate awnser for the forum. Also Some of the strongest most fished for species are great lakes salmon that don't inhabit saltwater at all. Also because i work for fish and game i know one point you made that is false for some salmon is you last because some salmon spend an equal amount of time in fresh and salt. Silver salmon spend 2 years in freshwater and 2 years in salwater, red salmon spend 2 in freshwater and 1 or maybe 2 in saltwater.
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Catfish are very hard fighters. They aren't particularly fast but they pull very hard and can use current and bottom snags to their advantage like no other fish.
Alligator Gar would be an awesome fish to experience. It's really said they started killing so many gar just because they thought they ate tons of bass and other gamefish, when it was true they only contributed a little bit to natural gamefish mortality. They just slaughtered them and now they are almost threatened in some areas. I see the same mistake being made with the Northern Pike in my area now, which is one of the truly finest gamefish in the world.
I have heard that the hardest fighters in the world, both overall and pound for pound, are the amazon catfish, new guinea bass, congo tigerfish, taimen (giant salmonid), and the mahseer, a carp like fish that lives in streams of central asia in the himalayan drainages.
Tyler
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strongest would be salmon for me--I`m originaly from atlantic canada.Since moving to Manitoba likely northern pike.I never fished bass though.
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salmon and steelhead are great but they're not freshwater fish, except for a few landlocked salmon.
if you consider landlocked atlantic salmon freshwater, then why not landlocked steelhead and coho salmon(great lakes)? They are basically a freshwater fish that had developed the metabolic processes to continue ONE stage of their life in saltwater. Just one stage of their life is saltwater for those anadromous fish on the west coast - same reason that you can't consider american eels a freshwater fish, they are catadromous, and only one of their life stages is in freshwater.
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pound for pound I would put my money on the small mouth, But once caught a 18lb altantic salmon off the downrigger, the ball was 7ft down when he hit the ball came right out of the water it pulled my little boat for 15 minuted before I could turn it. It may be the exception but none the less the best big fish fight I ever had. The weakest fight would have to be a lake trout they hit good but give up easy.
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Smallies
Steelies or some salmon
Carp are awesome and the kids love em, take plenty of line.
Weak
Lakers
Walleye especially on deep water gear
SUCKERS
My 2 cents.
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pa- carp are the strongest
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Smallies by far the strongest, they dont give up when you hook them. Weakest would have to be a laker.
MCSLAMMER
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IN PA, CARP OR A BIG CAT. THEN SMALLIES
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weakest is most deff the walleye. the come in like logs. and the best pound for pound is deff the bluegills. but i hate catching them things i love my steelhead.
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I savor a great fighting steelhead because i know when i hook a steelhead it could be a while before i get another chance. I catch all my other species a lot more consistanly than steelhead.
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I would have to say the strongest fish pound for pound is either the small mouth or native brook trout. The weakest that I've caught would be a creek chub.
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lb for lb i have to say the salmon. but if you want a really good fight big carp or catfish. Ive caught 20lb carp and 20lb salmon(Atlantic) and the salmon by far was the much superior fighter.
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I see a lot of people throwing chubs into the equation as weakest fighters. None have mentioned the colorado native roundtail chub however. It is the weakest fish in the world... a 3 pounder is hooked and you can reel it in as fast as you want.
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The hardest for me was a king salmon and the weakest was a perch.
smitty
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Carp fight like the heavy weight champ of the world regardless of their size. I have always been impressed with the way they fight. As for Lakers, I have never caught a really big one with a pole but I have caught many between 15 and 20 lbs thru the ice at Ft. Peck reservoir. The Lakers I have caught on a tipup were head shakin fools with many powerful strong runs. In my opinion, through the ice, a laker fights as hard as an equal size Northern. Maybe there is something to the water temp thing and they fight different in different bodies of water, but the lakers I have caught have been champs. Also, I have heard little to no mention of Brook Trout. Pound for pound, they are scrappers. I have caught several in the 4 to 5 lb class, in high mountain lakes and rivers, that I thought were gonna break my light action pole in half.
IceTroll
:police:
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Toughest would be the channel cat and fresh water drum out here. I have never caught lake trout so I can not comment on them for being the weakest.