Best Fight in Fresh?

[XXlyakattacker]

Pound for pound I also would have to vote for hybrid followed by smallmouth with river smallest better than lake smallies.

[Eskimo]

Originally Posted by XXlyakattacker

Pound for pound I also would have to vote for hybrid followed by smallmouth with river smallest better than lake smallies.

I would put it at a tie between these two.
Hybrids are powerful and very fast.
Smallmouths are strong fighters and they can jump. They seem to use the tension on the fishing line to launch themselves out of the water. If I'm using a barbless hook, I can keep them from jumping in the air by dipping the tip of my rod into the water when I'm bringing a Smallmouth in. This way they can't throw my lure.

[Chrisper4694]

I can't believe only one person said carp! You can't argue they have great stamina and power but the kicker is their soft mouth...you can't put too much pressure on them to control or you'll rip the hook out very easily. An intense fight that tests your skill even small ones! My only issue fishing for them is the angling methods kind of bore me...cast out, sit and wait.

Every fish has its pros and cons, different fighting tendencies, seasonal tactics. Taking everything into consideration though I'd still pick toy stripes if I could only target one species ever again.

[acabtp]

pound per pound expected to see hybrids... but overall best fight? surprised nobody's mentioned pure strain stripers yet. just ask eddie, they get pretty damn far into the sweetwater and it's hard to find bigger gamefish in our rivers

[Suntzu]

Carp easily to me.
Followed by Hybrid and SMB

[briansnat]

I haven't caught a carp in in over 40 years, so I can't speak to their fighting ability. I've only caught a few wipers and they are relentless. My first was caught on UL tackle and it took me close to 15 minutes to bring it in. I recall my partner saying "Don't lose this thing because I just want to know what it is." It was a 3 lb wiper in a lake that I didn't realize that they were stocked. A few years later in that lake I caught a 6 lber and it put up one helluva a fight on my bass tackle.

But pound for pound I still say smallies. The aerial show is a huge part of that. I caught one this summer in my canoe on an Adirondack lake and it dragged my canoe around like a "Nantucket sleigh ride". When I finally boated the thing I was surprised to see that it barely broke 2 lbs.

[JDTuna]

Hybrids and smallies do fight well, but in my experience I'd have to go with the peacock bass and snakeheads I used to catch in south Florida. Pound for pound peacocks and snakeheads will outfight hybrids and smallmouth and snakeheads add in a nice tail walking show. I also agree that carp are good fighters as well. Never caught a flathead so I can't really comment on them. The king salmon I have caught up in the Great Lakes deserve a mention as well as they have some great runs in them.

[liveitup1.75liter]

I've fought shiners for at least 3 min when my fingers r numb!!!

[bassnblues]

Never caught a hybrid though I hope to one day.

It's hard to say with all the different tackle and environment s but for me, I'd say smallmoth bass or steelhead.

[yumasdad]

Do not forget the LL SALMON. High octane, aerial displays that are tough to compare. I have seen many fish go 6-8' in the air multiple times this past spring. For a two-three week period I would not even try to fish for anything else because it was just so good.They give it all before you can get them to the net & are usually spent by that time you net them. They won my respect this year & have closed the gap on the river SM on my list, vaulting over the musky.
Musky's fight like crazy with brute strength that probably unmatched but give up kinda of easy after the second or third run. Getting them in quick is paramount to save the fish.

I cannot say a HYBRID STRIPER is king since I have not caught one but hope that I can experience that 10/31 or sooner.

On light tackle nothing like the sunnies on a top water when they are spawing. If they were 8-10 lbs a lot of folks would just focus on them.

Shad deserve mention but the window of opportunity is so small that they are overlooked in this discussion.

I plan on focusing back on the LL now that the water temps are down & they will be more active...will have the video camera on standby next trip & hope to share some fun footage.