Hardest fighting fish?

[no-one in particular]

Many years ago I accidentally hooked a sea trout while swim feeding in a small river (5lb line), it was winter with snow on the ground. It circled in front of me out of sight (did not know what it was) and then bolted down stream. After just about containing it , it would come back and circle for a while as if thinking , "what do I do next". It bolted upstream, downstream, headed for the bank, obstacles, each time spending a while circling and "thinking".. It was only about 3/4lb but, what I fight. As you can see, I still remember it after all this time. I have also caught a Mullet of around 5lb in an open river. Similar thing but without the "intelligence". Had to walk down the river with that one and took 15/20 minutes to land..

Neither are strictly coarse fish I know but, pound for pound my two hardest fighting fish and I have caught some fairly large carp in my time.

Just an after thought; not relevant-, once hooked a large carp and a load of weed got snagged around the line; it came in as docile as anything with all this weed hanging over its head.

 

[geoffmaynard]

The Aussies have a fighting scale for their fish. For instance a marlin is top of the chart with 10 points and trout score 5. I'm afraid carp only rate .5 though I suspect the compiler of the chart has never hooked a 12lb near-wild Dutch common.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Bonefish on a light fly set-up take some beating as the 'hardest fighting' in my opinion.

 

[barbelboi]

Pound for pound for freshwater species I'd say the Tigerfish.
Jerry

 

[dezza]

This is a debate that has been going one since man first used a hook.

If we are talking of British freshwater fish, then I would list "Fighters" and "Non-fighters".

Under fighters I would list in order of precedence and starting at number 1:

1: Rainbow trout in prime condition, particularly the "blue trout" mutants.
2: Atlantic Salmon
3: Common fully scaled river carp
4: Seatrout.
5: Male tench.
6: Barbel
7: River perch
8: Eels.
9: Grayling
10: Brown Trout
11: Dace

And now the species that don't fight:

1: Chub
2: Bream
3: Roach
4: Rudd
5: Pike (although I might make an exception with loch pike in Scotland)
6: Crucian Carp.

This is based on my own experience and covers British fish in British waters.

As to the hardest fighting freshwater fish I have ever hooked. I am torn between 4 species.

1: Southern African Tigerfish
2: Vaal River Smallmouth Yellowfish.
3: Zambezi Chessa
4: American Smallmouth Bass

And now saltwater fish.

1: The humble Thick Lipped Mullet, found in many seas and oceans of the world.
2: The Yellowtailed Kingfish
3: Springer or Ladyfish.
4: Bluefish or shad
5: Leervis or Garrick.

This is based on the fish I have caught. All fish are on a size for size basis. I have hooked marlin and shark in my life but because of their size they are difficult to rate.

But we get one of the hardest fighting fish in the world around our estuaries most summers, the mullet of course.

 

[peter crabtree]

Ounce for ounce probably the mighty gudgeon!

 

[geoffmaynard]

Last week I hooked and lost a salmon of 15 to 20lb on a 2.25lb carp rod. The speed and power took me completely by surprise. I've caught a lot of fish this size but never experienced anything quite like this before. So salmon get my vote.

 

[dangermouse]

Ounce for ounce probably the mighty gudgeon!

You beat me to it!

 

[dezza]

Just as Marlin are too big to be rated here, gudgeon are too small.

If gudgeon grew to the same size as a dace, I think things would be different.

 

[chub_on_the_block]

Interesting list . Where do Grayling sit?

Agree tench are well up the list but variable whether male or female.

Bream are the most hapless. Show them a snag and they still wouldnt know what to do with it. At least Chub have a very strong idea about their usefulness.

 

[Titus]

Pound for pound mackerel take some beating. But if we are talking about coarse fish which are easily accessible to the man on the blue seatbox it has to be barbel with carp a close second and tench in third. I was tempted to put grayling in but they are not spread like the others so not really accessible to all.
The most disappointing fight must be the bream, to quote Trefor West, "You get three knocks from a bream, one when it picks up the bait, one when it swims off and the third when it falls over".

 

[peter crabtree]

Just as Marlin are too big to be rated here, gudgeon are too small.

Didn't notice any size limits in the OP?

 

[dezza]

But only incredibly wealthy people can afford to fish for marlin.

Trolling for them involves a boat with a massive diesel inboard chewing upwards of 500 gallons of diesel a day, and more. The equipment costs around $5k per angler. Those Shimano big game reels are upwards of $2k alone. Then there is the hire of a skipper, and these don't come cheap. Similar prices to hiring a movie director!

Fishing for marlin is in the realm of the super rich and the movie star.

At the other end of the scale, who seriously wants to fish for gudgeon?

Unless you are after perch baits!

 

[little oik]

Yellow Tail Kingfish
Anything from the Tuna Family
Gt's

From a freshwater side I have only caught the non exotic European Species
So would have to be Salmon ,Barbel and Male Tench.
From the Sea Side of things, Mullet . Coalfish and Pollack .As long as they are from shallow water and you scale down your tackle to suit, and perhaps Conger ,in the boat as well as out of it .As far as I know the only fish that can swim as fast backwards as well as forwards

 

[peter crabtree]

The Grand Union Gobio Gobio society currently has 344 members, some names as well. There's a few....

GUGGS - Grand Union Gobio Gobio Society

 

[dangermouse]

At the other end of the scale, who seriously wants to fish for gudgeon?

Well there are definitely some anglers who like to fish for them or GUGGS wouldn`t exist.

One of these days I may well buy a set of scales that accurately measure grams so that I can weigh some of the gudgeon from my local canal. There are some huge ones in there and I reckon it`s probably my only chance of claiming a record fish

 

[chub_on_the_block]

GUGGS - nice site. I like the idea of giving specimen fish (>30g) names for the repeat captures.

Site is crying out for a section on specialist methods and tackle. Customised micro baitrunners for Gudgeon using spools of whipping thread on a tip section?.

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

Small chub pound for pound fight very well

 

[nicepix]

A lot of species vary dependent on where you catch them. I've had large bream in Yorkshire come in like wet sacks whereas some in Ireland fight like tench and in one local lake here in France, 2lb bream run and leap when you strike. Similarly with chub. A Dearne chub fights all the way whereas those I've caught in the Wharfe give up after one run.

What is the best fisght depends on what you want;- a thrilling running battle or a dogged static brawl.

And, the fight often is dependent on the tackle used. Catch a trout on a carp rod and you get a different experience to catching it on a fly rod. They just run around in circles.

Of the species I've caught I'd rate grey mullet as the top fighter pound for pound. It has the speed of a sea trout with the endurance of a carp. And, unlike some fish, eels for instance, they run and run, meaning an exciting fight rather than a static tug of war.

River carp also fight better and seem to run more than lake stockies so I'd put them up along with barbel as joint second, with sea trout and salmon close behind.

Of the sea species pollack take some beating on sporting tackle, but the king daddy in UK waters has got to be the halibut or tuna, both rare captures these days. In the 1930's Yorkshire was the tuna fishing capital of the world and anglers would bring in fish over 800lb. Imagine being connected to something that could pull a 16 foot wooden rowing boat with crew for hours?
Halibut fight really doggedly so I'm told and can set off on a crash dive taking all the dozens of feet of hard-earned line with them. That's two fish I'd love to catch.

 

[simon dunbar]

I was Pike fishing on the Dorset Stour many years ago , I had caught a couple of small pike when my legered gudgeon was grabbed by something that fought like nothing I had hooked before . I thought it was a massive pike , but it turned out to be a sea bass of over 9 lbs 9 oz !!

Wels catfish fight hard too. Overseas , Mahseer and Sturgeon are fish I have caught that fought well.