Hardest fighting fish and weakest fighting fish in NJ?

[TheDreamCatchers]

Just wanna start an interesting topic cause it's a common question. This can be fresh or salt.

For freshwater Ive gotta go with hybrid, pike, and carp as strongest. And for weakest its gotta be crappie or walleye.

Saltwater has got to be bluefish or mackerel. And the weakest are flounder and dogfish.

[bassnblues]

Salt:
Hardest: Albie
Weakest: skate

Fresh:
Hardest: carp
Weakest: rockbass

[JDTuna]

Salt

Hardest: Bigeye tuna
Weakest: Ling

Fresh

Hardest: hybrid, with honorable mention for carp and flatheads
Weakest: largemouth

[HerringKing]

Salt:
Hardest- sheepshead
Weakest- ling

Fresh:
Hardest- bowfin
Weakest- largemouth and rockbass

[Chrisper4694]

Wow largies getting shat on!

Sw: h- bluefish and blackfish

W- porgy!

Fw: h- carp and hybrid striper

W- warm water lake trout (cold water they give a good fight though! Same with walleyes. That's why the fair weather fishermen always calling them wet towels)

[briansnat]

For freshwater pound for pound the strongest is hybrid striper, with sm bass honorable mention.

Weakest is crappie. I've caught monster crappie where I thought I was reeling in some weeds. Honorable mention to yellow perch.

I haven't done a lot of saltwater fishing but of the ones I caught:
Strongest fighter - Bluefish
Weakest - Blowfish

[Lard Almighty]

Freshwater:

Strongest - Smallmouth
Weakest - Fallfish

Saltwater:

Strongest - Redfish
Weakest - Skate

[Jigman13]

Sweetwater:

S: hybrids & river smallies; Carp have size and sustained power

W: yellow perch

Salt:

S: big eyes and bluefin tuna

W: skate, pout, hackle heads, ravens and all of those smaller deep dwellers.

[Dave B.]

I have to agree with most, for Fresh it's stripers and smallies as the hardest with an Honorable mention to Carp for pure tireless bulldogging power. As for the weakest Fresh, LMB are lame and Fallfish give up real quick too.

For the salt, blues obviously have a huge edge over most other species pound for pound but albies beat them out by a good bit. As for pure power in the salt cow rays are just plain tough! Lamest salt fight IMHO goes to...horseshoe crabs. Okay just kidding, the tamest salty IMHO is either blowfish or northern stargazers.

[bulletbob]

Depends a LOT on how you define "hardest"...
a 5 pound carp or channel cat is a strong bulldog of a fighter..
a 5 pound Landlock is fast as hell, pulls plenty hard, and makes spectacular aerial leaps..
.. a big bluegill fights hard as well, just doesn't have the weight, but fights as well as a SMB ounce for ounce..


Overall, I would say top 3- 1-Landlock
2- SMB
3- Carp/ Channel Cat

The esox family.. meh, they're good fighters when you get a big one, but in my book, a channel cat or carp fights just as well or better..
Walleyes are not great fighters, but they give a decent account when you get a good one say over 21-22 inches...

Weakest- Probably crappie..

Salt water??.. All around inshore, nothing beats a Bluefish, but nothing is FASTER than the small tunas... Albacore, Bonito etc, pull hard, not quite as hard as a Bluefish, but for me I think they are better fighters all around because they combine a hard fight with spectacular speed...
honorable mention goes to tog.. Bulldogs when you get a good one..
honorable mention II- Porgies.. big ones fight like hell all the way up/...
Weakest- Skate, NO question

bob

[bulletbob]

I have to agree with most, for Fresh it's stripers and smallies as the hardest with an Honorable mention to Carp for pure tireless bulldogging power. As for the weakest Fresh, LMB are lame and Fallfish give up real quick too.

For the salt, blues obviously have a huge edge over most other species pound for pound but albies beat them out by a good bit. As for pure power in the salt cow rays are just plain tough! Lamest salt fight IMHO goes to...horseshoe crabs. Okay just kidding, the tamest salty IMHO is either blowfish or northern stargazers.

Only ever caught 1 Stargazer, but yes, that is a LAME fish.. NO fight, and so ugly I was afraid I was going to turn into a stone statue or a pillar of salt or something when I looked upon it...
btw, Spider Crabs are worse fighters than Horseshoes...lol...bob

[stevelikes2fish]

Saltwater:
I think pound for pound the porgy is high on the hard fight list.
Weakest might be a cunner (bergall)

[acabtp]

fresh
hardest: SMB, but i haven't caught hybrids to compare
weakest: LMB, have many times reeled in a 4-5" larry that i didn't even know had hit the bait

salt
hardest: cownose ray, big ones like trying to reel in a freight train, so much wing area, they can really put the power down
weakest: blowfish

[Chrisper4694]

i'm sorry but i have to defend crappie! a 15-16" crappie fights a hell of a lot harder than a 15-16" largemouth bass! plus you can't put the same pressure on a crappie due to the 'paper lips'.

[Chrisper4694]

Saltwater:
I think pound for pound the porgy is high on the hard fight list.
Weakest might be a cunner (bergall)

half the time you fish for porgy you need a sinker to get down to it which means you need heavier gear than what matches the fish and that's why porgies suck haha

[NJSquatch]

On Pound for Pound basis

Hardest - Small Mouth Bass

I would say hybrid stripers but could you imagine the fight a 5-8# SMB would give plus the ability to jump? lookout!

Honorable mention - American Shad

Weakest- warm water Walleye. little perch a 5th there size pull harder.

Don't do enough on the salty side to have an opinion.

[Skunk City]

Strongest: Hybrids and River Stripers, bull Bluegills


Weakest: Rainbow Trout, Largemouth Bass

[thmyorke1]

The log of a branch I reeled in one time was pretty hefty :D

From the few fish I've caught, pickerel put up the best fight. The small ones are fiesty for their size.

[ScowardNJ]

Fresh water
Hardest - pound for pound Hybrids but a 15lb+ carp competes with the biggest Jersey brid. Big river suckers that hit you when trout fishing make some good runs also.

Lamest - tough one, but I'll go with the small whities and crappies that get attached to my jigging raps when deep water wally jigging in the late fall. I'm usually convinced they are sticks until they get to the surface. They are scrappers in warmer water though.

Salt (inshore)
Hardest - Bluefish are up there but pound for pound I'm giving trigger fish an honorable mention - feisty little bastards on light tackle..I gotta get offshore...

Lamest- Skates that spiral up to the boat and pouts that just open their big mouths on the way up

[bassnblues]

A nice porgy on light tackle puts up a nice tussle.

[baetis]

Freshwater Hardest- hybrids and SMB. Especially river SMB.

Freshwater weakest - rock bass.

Saltwater Hardest - I agree with others porgies are impressive for their size, and bluefish.

Weakest - Skates (if they even count)

[icemusky]

It all depends on the depth, the size of lure/rig, and the weight Oz etc., that you use that all plays a role in the most and weakest fought fish. Another aspect is water current water temperature and pre spawn or no spawn. The size of fish also matters sharks fight the most but a whale will fight more. Carp may fight better but what about the Fiesty little golden shiner. It's tough to say I'd say this is a very opinionated question and you'll never get the right answer hope this helps. To each is own.

[briansnat]

I think LMB are getting some disrespect here. Sometimes it is the lake. Perhaps the more they are caught and released, the less they fight. It's like "here we go again, I'll be back in the water soon".

I fished on Fayson Lake for many years and a 5 lb largie gave a bit of a fight, but not what I would expect. Heavy presure there, but mostly catch and release. When I fished Lake Gerard in Sussex County with very limited pressure, a 5 lb LM bass would never give up. They jumped like smallies and would dive into the weeds. Tough to bring in.

Now that I live near Lindy's Lake, I have hooked LMB there that take my canoe on a "Nantucket Sleigh Ride" and I'm thinking I have a monster bass only to find that it is barely 2 lbs.

[Ken Lyons]

Not all fish in a given species are equal. Some fight harder than others so generalizations can be misleading. No fish I ever caught compares to the 8 lb Albie I caught off the beach in Mantoloking on a fly rod. The circumstances count in my view. People with far more experience offshore than I rank the Yellowfin at or near the top. I also remember a 6# LM that jumped five times before I lipped her. That hardly ever happens but that it could...

[Jigman13]

Pound for pound bluefin and big eye eats yellowfin for lunch. Swords will also test your endurance like no other.

Freshwater: when a 25+" hybrid crushes a top water or floating plug at night in 8" of water and dumps half of a 175 yard spool off a spinning reel... pure f'n magic.

[TheDreamCatchers]

For you guys talking about skates, try hooking up with a 50 pound barndoor skate in the middle of the Navesink river. Things glue themselves to the bottom and slowly take drag and just pull you around the bay. 15+ mins to get in

And if the largemouth are fat and healthy and has some decent size they fight pretty good. But nothing compared to smallmouth or bowfin.

[njmultispecies]

Fresh

Hardest = Although not in NJ, Tilapia can be real hard fighters. Down in florida I have caught giants that fight real good
Weakest = Creek chub.

Salt

Hardest = Bluefish 100%
Weakest = Skate

[Ken Lyons]

I have been fortunate enough over the years to have caught upwards of 6 Tarpon. Most of the time the fight is spectacular. Imagine a 150 pound fish shooting ten ft up in the air spinning and somersaulting at the same time. If it's a sunny day those scales are like mirrors that flash all around. They are not overrated.

[NJMudpuppy]

Have to rate this on a pfp basis right? In NJ freshwater the pound for pound king is a RIVER small mouth and I'd say weakest would be bullheads.. In the salt I'm going with the mighty tog....but porgy are impressive pfp and I've been told steelhead are like pissed of tog ....the weakest? I'd say ling.... Hard to gauge inasmuch as a false albie has so much speed as opposed to the raw torque of an angry tog.....blues of course have a good mix of both....lets go catchem

[NJMudpuppy]

Sheepshead not steelhead.....stupid auto correct

[bassnblues]

I've never caught a sheepshead in nj but caught plenty when redfishfhing in Louisiana. Fight was pretty weak compared to a red.

[tycomps]

I have to agree with most, for Fresh it's stripers and smallies as the hardest with an Honorable mention to Carp for pure tireless bulldogging power. As for the weakest Fresh, LMB are lame and Fallfish give up real quick too.

For the salt, blues obviously have a huge edge over most other species pound for pound but albies beat them out by a good bit. As for pure power in the salt cow rays are just plain tough! Lamest salt fight IMHO goes to...horseshoe crabs. Okay just kidding, the tamest salty IMHO is either blowfish or northern stargazers.

+1 for the cownose, this 30lber fought for 20 minutes!

[HerringKing]

I've never caught a sheepshead in nj but caught plenty when redfishfhing in Louisiana. Fight was pretty weak compared to a red.

A 10 pound sheepshead fights way harder than a 10 pound redfish. Doesn't even compare.

[TheDreamCatchers]

+1 for the cownose, this 30lber fought for 20 minutes!

thats not a cownose thats a roughtail stingray. Much different

[Dave B.]

thats not a cownose thats a roughtail stingray. Much different

Good call! I hadn't looked closely at the thumbnail till you called it but you're dead on! Lots of good 'scallops' right there!