Help a southern boy out

[Gene McCarthy]

Like many others I watch the fishing shows and many are in the north and Canada.Many of the species caught are fish I have never caught, nor will probably never get the chance to catch.Seems watever type Babe or Al or whoever is catching on that show, it is the best fighter pound for pound that swims.So help me out and tell me what fish, pound for pound,has the most horsepower.Lake trout?Musky?Smallies? Pike?We do have small redfin pike and slightly larger chain pickeral we call jacks in Florida, and I can say they pack a wallop for their small size, but can't imagine a 25 pounder.Limit this to fresh water and exclude panfish.If bluegill reached 25 pounds they'd never be caught.So, in your opinion ladies and gents weigh in.I am genuinely interested in the opinions on this board, so help a poor ol' southern boy dream.

Gene

 

[Mark Hofman]

I don't know about every species of fish, but in my opinion the best freshwater fighter, pound-for-pound, is a smallmouth. As trout get bigger, they tend to fight in a differnt kind of way; more long runs but without the rapid changes in depth or direction. Largemouths get 'heavy' and lose some of their fighting characteristics. Ask Scott about the largemouths we were catching last weekend - small, but a LOT of fight in them. As they get bigger, they lose some of that.



I've also had some good fights from goggle-eye (rock bass), green sunfish and bluegill. But still, my vote for the fightin' champion would be a smallie.

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Pound for pound hands down is smallies. A friend of mine and guide just got back from Miami for peacock and said they are no match for smallies. Pike have a fight all their own, kinda like a freight train, but smallies SLAM baits, run deep, tug hard, jump like salmon, and just never give up. I have only ever boated a 6.5 smallie. State record is over 8 lbs, I can't even imagine! Smallies unlike other species do NOT lose their fight with size. They just have that much more weight to throw around. So Gene, you HAVE to come up some time and try 'em!

 

[Ken Neeley]

Right now, I agree with the smallie...however, I haven't set a hook on Champy yet!!!

 

[Staci Matheis]

Ditto what Mark said! Smallies - in streams!



me!

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Scott, I like river smallies, but you have to try deep water structure smallies. You fish 6lb line for 4 -5 lb tanks with 40 ft of water on top of them.........man HANG ON!

 

[TrepMan]

I've not fished but for smallies once in Canada but they did hit hard and fight all the way to the boat (got me 2 5lbers!), though i'd have to say that Pike fight hard, but not size for size to a small mouth. I've cought a 2-3lb pike on my fly rod and he didn't fight as much a 2-3lb spotted bass.

 

[Gene McCarthy]

Thanks for the responses.Pretty much what I suspected.When I was a kid I fished for smallies in Tennessee in a large lake in eastern part of the state.Seems they were about 2 lbs or so, but as I recall they thought they were much larger.Seems when largemouth bass get over 4 or 5 lbs they make a hard run for a stump, rock, or snag and another when they see the boat.Smaller ones make the eratic, exciting runs and leaps.Spots, or Kentuckys, seem to enjoy the fight and will fight to exhaustion all the way to the boat.Pure bad attitude!I've heard folks compare their fight to smallmouths, but I can't say.Again thanks for the replys.

Gene

 

[C C]

I agree on smallies being a good fight, since you did not limit the fish to sport fish what about gator gar? If you have not seen one it looks like a mutated prehistoric alligator. If you ever hooked into one of those you would be in for the fight of your life and/or the fight for your life, they are not a sport fish but are extremely dangerous if you were ever able to boat one. All of the gar species are very strong and great fighters but non the less labeled as a trash fish. Not that they are on your list for fishing, but if you ever manage to boat one watch your feet and hands they will take off anything they can latch on to. I did hear that there were some gator gar in the Western side of the state.



Cass

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Cass, if you're ever around Ticonderoga NY, go up Ti creek to the RR bridge. I say dozens of gator gar there last year. I boated a 14 lb and a 22LBER!!!! WICKED doesn't even begin to describe. And what they did to my pole! I tried to take a pic of one with a boy on the local pier and he got scared, laid down on the pier and starting crying. When I finally pulled my gloved hand out with that bad boy and his parents saw it, they were scared too! We've had them bite kids that jump off of the bridges swimming in the summer. Quite a few of them in the Chazy river where we were going to have the rally launch. UGGGULEEEEEEY fish! Like Bowfin!

 

[mike chip]

I will chime in a fish few will ever catch on purpose, the fish is a bowfin sometimes called a lung fish. It will hit a lure so hard it will break it in two. They are found in swamps and get to be 15 lbs. I hooked a 10 lber once and it broke my gloomis rod, a 6 1/2 foot medium heavy. Then it spooled me.

mike

 

[Carli Drake]

UGGGLEEEEY doesn't begin to describe a Gar!



Rob, I've seen them in Ti Creek by the RR bridge! Never caught one and don't want to either!



Smallies by far are the best bang for the buck! One of my favorite fighting fish! Like a runaway dump truck with a bad attitude!!



Toothie critters (Pike/Pickerel) have a whipy action to them that you can predict.....but smallies go every which direction.....and they're pretty too!



Carli

 

[Gene McCarthy]

CC you are right about gator gars. They actually are targeted by some folks in the panhandle and west into the delta of LA and MS. I've hooked a few long nose gars in the river and eddy areas in swamps.My son actually had a gar take a jack crevalle off his line in the bay flats this past Sunday.Commercial fisherman often find them in nets when fishing for mullet in the bay around creek and river mouths.Saw an edition of O'neil Outside and he was fishing with a man that targeted gars using a jighead with yarn.Tangled in their teeth like velcro!

mike you are probably on the money with ol' grindle.Few fish I've hooked, salt or fresh water, attack like these guys.They have chewed up and destroyed more than one of my wooden plugs.They are more than able to take a chunk out of you too if careless. And when they're dead-they ain't.I've eaten some sort of Cajun concoction where the meat was made into a spicy patty and was pretty tasty.But, I won't fool with 'em. I expect a road kill 'coon would be good if you were hungry and put enough Cajun spice on it, but I ain't going after them either!

Gene

 

[Marke Cicero]

Smallies are always fun. Sometimes it's disapointing when you get them in the boat and they are only a lb or 2. They hit and fight so hard I'm always expecting a state record.



I have to a gree with cecil that a big ol' fat carp will literaly pull your canoe up and down a river (unless they break your line or spool you first)



Lets not forget our striped salt water cousins. Stripers ROCK!!!



Marke

 

[stan jones]

smallies, and has anybody out there ever fished for shad. i did last year on the hudson. there a real close second,maybe even a tie. thanks stan

 

[Adam Murray]

Let's not forget fat, drunk guys on jet-skis foul-hooked with a Spook......

 

[Staci Matheis]

Lips aren't boney enough..... Hooks tear out before you get much fight outta them.



me!

 

[Jim Clevenger]

If we only counted the first 10 seconds, I'd vote for the Hybrid Striper. Wow...what a fish, but then they just give up.



Jim

 

[Marke Cicero]

Hey Stan,



I've never fished for shad but they come up the Merrimack River in MA. They can't make it to NH because there are a few dams in the way. I have heard some good things about them. I guess I'll just have to suck it up and buy a MA license too.



Marke

 

[C C]

marke, I got my NH license so you should come on down and get your MA license, it's cheaper and fish the Lawrence side of the river and you will catch a few of those monster shad. I have heard that the salmon will be good this year.



When I lived in Virginia Beach, we used shad to fish the Chesapeake Bay for puppy drum. Anyone know what the shad could be used for to catch something up here in New England?



Cass

 

[stan jones]

marke, we fish for shad with spinning outfits and 8 lb test line. we use shad darts either chartruce or pink. your local tackle shop should know what they are if you don't. thanks stan

 

[Bill McElroy]

Ever tie into a toad crawfish with a piece of sewing thread tied to a piece of bacon??...Now THAT is the sport of Kings!

Use to do that on the Raisin River in Monroe when I was a kid....talk about a riot!!! Anywhere you find rock rip-rap, or a bridge foundations...drop it down next to a rock and you'll see a pincer come out and grab that fat like cat on a toy mouse!! Givem some slack line....let'em pull it back into his little stone lair,....and when the line goes tight again,..YANK!!!!...That 'ol craw will come flyin up outa there so fast he won't know what the @#$@@ just happened!!!...hahahah....Then they'll open their pincer and fall on the rock by your foot, floppin and pinchin' like Edward Scissorhands on crack!! LOL...Huck Finn didn't have anything on me when i was a young'un on the mighty Raisin!WAAAYYY too much fun!

Mac

 

[Bill McElroy]

and BTW,...I was using braided line 35 yrs ago!!..LOL In the form of black thread,.....1/4lb test! LOL