best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

8.5 lbs on 2 lb test line and 1/32 oz jig from the Millstone River Wednesday. Made 2 jumps much higher and farther than every largemouth bass that I saw in the past 60 years.

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

try a small hybrid on that gear , you may change ur tune....nice reort

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

Eh idk...I think carp are tougher to catch overall. Though I've never seen a carp or hybrid jump it's pretty rare.

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

Yeah, I'm going to have to disagree with ya on this one.

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

Pound for pound for prob not
But I was catching crappie and pike on an ultra light- hooked an 8lb carp or so- peeling drag, moving my kayak-
Their bigger so is a different fight
I call it a draw lol

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

Carp are definitely one of the best fighting fish around here!
I have heard of people catching 20 lb ones on 2 lb line. Idk how they did it..

Sounds like i have a new thing to try - hybrid bass with an ultralight rod and a big spool of 2lb line. Hybrids have been renowned for being the best fighters but i still have my doubts. Need to catch more to silence those doubts :D

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

ANY big fish will give you a great fight on ultra light gear. If you had hooked an 8.5 pound smallie on that rig, it would have eaten your lunch! Still, a nice catch on 2 pound test, so congrats!

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

Lucky red eyes don't grow to larger sizes !! Those fish taken off nest on UL plenty of sport & eat well too !

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

I accidentally ass-hooked a 20+ pound grass carp on musky tackle. Didn't put up much of a fight.:eek:

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

Grass carp don't fight much at all. Carp are very good fighters...they fight very much like red drum. Pike and musky are exciting fish with aggressive strikes, but pound for pound they really aren't that strong. My vote would definitely be hybrids. Can't really think of another freshwater fish in NJ that will scream drag for their size like they do. Even carp.

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

hybrids will snap your line with an explosive run and probably have the edge on drag pulling power, but they can't match the stamina of a carp, plus the lips on a carp are more delicate and so you have to be careful not to put too much pressure to rip the hook out. carp are also usually more 'line shy'so you might have to go lighter gear... one will snap your line and the other will find another way off. It's a tough call if you take everything into consideration.

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

Flatheads, snakehead, hybrids, and smallmouth lb for lb I would say fight better but I'll put carp In top 5

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

landlocks are spectacular fighters, very fast and agile, great leapers... tough to find in nj, but there are some. to me they are the overall best fighters.
other than oddballs like bowfin or snakehead, carp rate highly among the best fighters in sweet water,, channel cats too.. smb as well. but they generally don't get as big as most of us would like,,, bob

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

nice job, love Carp fishing but still hunting for ones 15lb and over in North Jersey.

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

The raritan and passaic rivers are loaded with Carp over 15 lbs. Biiiiiiiig fish broscious biiiiiiiig fish.

Re: best fighting fish in NJ fresh water
 

I agree, hard to narrow down the areas on the river, especially by me where most of the areas are residential.