Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Salt vs. Freshwater fish fighting characteristics

O.K. Bruce, here we go!

I side with Travis. There isn't anything in fresh water that fights harder than the saltwater pelagic species.

Stripers or HSB DO fight hard, but I think any pelagic species will pull them backwards, if the fish are the same size. Well, maybe not Dorado.....

While BG have a good initial fight, they lack stamina.

I've never had a freshwater fish swim so fast that a rooster tail came off the water on both sides of the line - the line was zipping thru the water that fast. Wahoo

If I didn't use 50# test, I'd get continually rocked by 12#-18# fish - Yellowtail

while i havent really done any saltwater fishing, i will propose that a 5-10 lb steelhead in a small stream or a 20-30 pound king in a small river on light tackle may be the single most technical and difficult fight in the fishing world.

I strongly agree with Scott and Travis...
Haven't caught a Wahoo but a King Mackeral is clocked at 45 mph!
A Yellowfin tuna will put you on your knees.
Salt water fishing is a diferent world from fresh water and there is no comparison.

Not even close. Saltwater fish are far superior in speed and strength.

A 2 lb pompano tied fin to fin with a 2 lb bluegill would drag the bluegill down its migration up the gulf without even knowing it was dragging a bluegill along.

5 lb redfish dominates a 5 lb carp.

8 lb little tarpon or snook on conventional gear will fight 6-8 times longer than an 8 lb largemouth.

10 lb barracuda is twice the battle as a 10 lb muskie or northern.

20 lb tuna will wear you out when using the same tackle as catching a 20 lb salmon or trout.

I have always been an ultra light tackle fan. Casting to breaking schools of Spanish mackerel with 4-6 pound test catching 3-6 pound fish is incredible. False albacore or little tunny are the champions of this method... 40 mph+ runs! If you're fishing with cheap reels, they're blow them up! As far as fish that just pull hard but not fast, I gotta go with black drum. Trying to do battle with even a moderate sized black drum trying to get back to the rocks is incredible!

My favorite freshwater fighter are American shad. Technically they aren't truly freshwater though. They are anadromous ascending freshwater streams to spawn in the spring. They will make multiple runs for the deep water and when you think you've won, they'll take to the air to throw the hook. Horse them too much and their soft mouths tear and you're left with a broken heart! Freshwater drum are probably my favorite freshwater fighters. But again, they are closely related to their saltwater cousins...

George, while a sailfish is supposed to hit 60 mph, the ones that I've seen caught are painfully slow compared to a wahoo. I have no doubt that a wahoo can swim 60.

Yellowfin Tuna are tough, Bluefin are a bit tougher, but Bigeye beats them all. They will flat a.. wear you out!

I've never fished from the charter boats that have fighting chairs, all my fishing has been done stand up style.

Travis, how expensive is it to fish for the larger Bleufin Tuna off the east coast? How successful are they? I'm talking anything over 200#.

Speaking of blown up reels, you'd get laughed off the 2 day or longer trip boats if you were to come aboard with a coffee grinder (spinning) reel. They'll blow up in a heartbeat fighting the larger fish. The bait casting reels don't have the level-wind system on them either for that same reason. They can't stand up to the strain of the drag pressure that's needed. I had to learn to use my thumb when reeling in to distribute the line evenly across the spool.

I caught a Horseshoe Crab by hand once in the Atlantic....does that count?

It was nearly dead so it put up little fight!

Scott, the price usually runs in the $1000 or so per person when split for a 48 hour trip. Or about $400 per person for a 12 hour trip. Usually 4 or 6 guys per charter splitting the costs. I've gone on two trips out of Massachusetts. One trip we only caught 2 fish around 80-100 pounds. The second trip we did well with several fish in the 100-150 class and 2 over 200.

4 friends of mine from work are planning a trip in October. I think they said it was $4500 split between them. Pretty good odds of fish in the 100 range. Not so good for 200+ fish. When they get over 200 range though, I believe the regs say the fish becomes property of the boat and the chartering anglers only get a small cut of the proceeds when the fish is sold. So if you are looking to keep some tuna and sell the rest, those 100 fish are the best.

The hardest fighting fish I ever caught was a tuna (dont' know the species). It was also the most boring fish I ever caught. It was like hauling up an anchor using fishing tackle.

When I was a kid we use to fish for Sand Sharks using medium weight tackle. That was a lot of fun. Sharks are quite strong and put up one heck of a fight.

Dad and I use to make annual trips to the Sea of Cortez.

Yikes! When I was going on the trips, they ran somewhere between $150 and $250 per day ($1100 for a 5 day trip) including all meals. The angler kept all the fish, no matter what the size.

CA regs were that the fish couldn't be sold unless everyone on the boat had a commercial fishing license.

Like the deer, I kept enough for myself and gave everything else away.

I love all kinds of fishing, but the answer is saltwater, no question, pencils down, game over. Agree with above posts, tie 10#s of most any saltwater fish to10 # of any freshwater and the NaClH2O wins everytime (with rare exception)

That may be true Gallop but personally I have never had as much fun fishing as I have fishing my pond and fellow pond boss forum member's ponds.

Fishing on Bob Lusk's ponds with the cast and crew of "As the Pond Turns" (read that as the forum members here on Pond Boss) is still one of the best memories that I have left in my follically challenged cranium.

DIED and I fishing together at his pond or my pond has been some of the most enjoyable fishing I have ever had. There is just something about fishing with a good friend in a small Alum boat, drinking beer, on a private pond that is very tough to beat.

Agreed, did not mean to lessen the experience of freshwater fishing. I toohave my best memories of fishing with my boys infreshwater. I was merely comparing fight of the fish. "some men fish their whole lives without knowing it is not the fish that they are after"

AGREED!!

Nice George!

I never got a chance to do any salt water fishing, and the closest I came to it was an alternate. Corporate travel agent tried to hook us up, but it had to be on a Sunday.

Back in the late 80's, I spent 9 weeks in Puerto Rico working as a contractor to Westinghouse. I wanted to hit the Caribbean Sea, and could easily bump a paid charter with the right amount of cash. I don't play those games, never have, and never will.

I have a lot of stories about that adventure in PR.

I have also caught my share of 30+ lb King's (Chinook Salmon) out of Lake Michigan, they put up a good fight.

Lake Trout are like pulling up log's. We got quite a few with Sea Lamprey still attached, and more with the obvious same markings.

One fish that was one of my favorites were Jack's (Coho).

George, nice Bonito! About 8#? That must have been fun on the fly.

Scott, I’ll take 8lbs – ... you and Travis and Nate and I know that Bonita don’t normally grow much over 10lbs. Pound for pound, they are the toughest fighters and fastest fish that I have ever fished for.

For a few years I would charter a Bertram 35 ft twin diesel sport fishing boat for my wife and sons for blue water sport fishing. It was captained by the best captain in the busines. The boat was owned a professional blue water tournament fisherman.

A couple of fishing buddies and I would also charter the same boat to make annual fly fishing trips for blue water species, as well as hire a guide for flats fly fishing for redfish and specs.

I caught a trophy King Mackerel on the fly and our captain said that was the quickest he had ever seen one landed, and couldn’t believe it was on fly tackle. It was the talk of the marina the next day.
I fished my favorite Sage 12 wt heavy saltwater fly rod and fly reel with 300 yds of backing. It’s true, you can land a big fish on a fly rod quicker than on a stiff boat rod because the fish is fighting the rod – not only the fisherman.

Memories are great.

Fishin' the oil rigs - anchored shrimp boats were my favorite

Great stuff George!

My dad and I use to make annual trips to the Sea of Cortez. We found a couple of fishing resorts we liked, low key and fun. We would typically like to fish for Tuna and Dorado. The day would begin by fishing for Bonito (Bonita, whatever). We'd slow troll for them and after catching a bunch we'd cut them into strips, put them on a huge hook and troll the strips for the Tuna and Dorado.

Some of my best father/son memories were made on fishing trips.

Nice Dodo and Yellowfin. That's what fishing is about - making memories.

Did you just call me a dodo?

Scott, Travis, Nate and all you other salty fishermen, I found a record of a 288 lb 12oz Blue Marlin, caught on a flashy profile fly.
Sorry I can’t document by AGFA records - have to be a member to access records.

Florida Fly Fishing Tackle Records
http://www.keyskayakfishing.com/fishing-records.html


Amberjack, greater 103 lb 12 oz
Barracuda, great 37 lb 12 oz
Bonefish 15 lb 8 oz
Cobia 83 lb 4 oz
Dolphinfish 51 lb 8 oz
Drum, red 43 lb
Grouper, goliath 356 lb
Jack, crevalle 37 lb 8 oz
Mackerel, cero 9 lb Mackerel
Mackeral, king 55 lb
Mackerel, spanish 6 lb 13 oz
Marlin, white 68 lb
Permit 41 lb 8 oz
Sailfish, Atlantic 55 lb 8 oz
Shark, blacktip 122 lb
Shark, bull 389 lb 4 oz
Shark, hammerhead 154 lb
Shark, lemon 288 lb 8 oz
Snapper, gray 10 lb 12 oz
Snapper, mutton 17 lb
Snapper, yellowtail 3 lb 8 oz
Snook 30 lb 4 oz
Tarpon 202 lb 8 oz
Tripletail 21 lb 2 oz
Tuna, blackfin 34 lb 3 oz
Tuna, yellowfin Vacant
Wahoo 28 lb 12 oz

I would love to have seen that 83 lb+ cobia being caught on a flyrod. Those things are unforgiving fighters. They will blow up your reel...

Travis, I can't even imagine a 83lb cobia - it must have been quite a battle.
Salt water fly reels for these kind of fish are simple compared to conventional.
The drag system is the most comlex and important item.
My salt water fly reel has a drag that will stop a Mack truck - retail cost is $600 bucks plus.

I haven't fished the salt in about 20 years. I also can't imagine an 83 pound cobia/ling.

About 30+ years ago, some friends and I decided to try kingfish with jointed rapalas and Ambassadeur reels with a standard bait casting rod. The boat captain thought we were nuts until it started working. He got on the radio talking to the rest of the boat captains and we had a crowd waiting at the dock. Later, it became quite popular on the Texas Gulf coast. We each took 3 reels in case the kings stripped all of out line off. That wasn't real unusual.

We sure didn't try that on the cobia around the drilling rigs.

BTW, last time I went salt water fishing was on my honeymoon. I knew I had married the right girl.