What Poundage Of Largemouth Bass Fights The Hardest?

[Bass newb]

A guy I work with says 3 to 4lb fight as hard as any. Another guy who just caught an 8+ lb says that it just felt really heavy on the line.

What poundage do you see the biggest resistance from? Or is it all just different? Is this even a good question or ridiculous? From a physical standpoint I would think that the speed and power would max out at a strong 3-6lbs max. A 12 lb fish can't possibly move and flop as violently as a 2 lb fish can it?

Never caught 'em so I don't have an opinion but would like yours.

[Fisher-O-men]

While my experience with big fish is limited, the couple that I have caught over 7 pulled hard at first but gave up relatively quickly.  They also did not jump but rather just wallowed on the surface.  The 4-5 pound fish I have caught have fought strongly and jumped and thrashed violently.  A 2 pounder, while scrappy, does not have the mass to offer much resistence.

 

On the other hand I have talked to guys who have caught DD bass that say those fish can pull like nobody's business.  I hope to discover that for myself one day.

[Bluebasser86]

I think it depends mainly on the individual fish, sometimes the body of water. One of the power plant lakes I fish all winter, the big fish fight crazy hard. Both the 8.5 pound fish I caught in Mexico fought really hard but my 10 pounder didn't fight much at all, probably because she was so skinny. 

[Senko lover]

One word: smallmouth!

[Bass newb]

One word: smallmouth!

So I've heard, but they don't reside in my area.

[roadwarrior]

So I've heard, but they don't reside in my area.

Really?

 

You are not far from the Tennessee River.  

[AK-Jax86]

As for north Florida, Jacksonville to be specific, I have caught a few fish between 8-11 pounds and I find that here the 4-6lbers fight way harder. My biggest is 11 and my other 2 fishing partners are between 10-12. My buddy Rich has caught 3 between 11-12 and we both say the same thing. The big ones you obviously feel their weight but as for a fight from our experience seems like the 4-6s put up bigger fights.

That being said I need to catch a Peacock bass (they are only in south FL) and a real smallmouth (lived in NJ growing up and I caught them but I wasn't even close to being into fishing as I am now so I don't even remember the fight nor count that as a check of the fish bucket list)

[Bluebasser86]

That being said I need to catch a Peacock bass (they are only in south FL) and a real smallmouth (lived in NJ growing up and I caught them but I wasn't even close to being into fishing as I am now so I don't even remember the fight nor count that as a check of the fish bucket list)

Having only caught a handful, I'm obviously nowhere near an expert on them but the peacocks I caught weren't particularly long fights, but very intense fights while they lasted. 

 

Smallmouth outpull largemouth any day of the week. 

[Bass newb]

Really?

 

You are not far from the Tennessee River.  

Used to live there for 25 years, but I'm 3 minutes from the Coosa river now, and 2 hours from the Tennessee river. 1.5 hours from Guntersville though. I plan on a trip that way soon!

[bassr95]

In my experience, bigger fish = bigger fight. I haven't caught any 7+ pounders yet, but I'll report back when I get one!

[davecon]

For me the bigger the fish the bigger the fight. Don't know about smallmouth though. However, once a snook gets over about 5 pounds there is no comparison. A large snook will just have her waywith you for quite some time and it usually takes a long time and some luck to get them in. From what I have seen on video kinda like fighting a big Musky in close quarters. Lotsa excitement and fun.

[einscodek]

4-5 pounders here in NJ fight the hardest often with multiple jump attempts

The 6+'s here I've had pull hard for a little and then its over.. one in a while one puts up a better fight but not like the athletic 4-5

[A-Jay]

I'll say my experience has been that each fish both largemouth & smallmouth is different as far as it's "Fight" is concerned. 

 

However a few things have held true a good majority of the time for both:

 

1) The rule of gross tonnage applies - meaning the bigger the bass the harder it pulls.  Admittedly not all of my biggest bass have jumped enough to clear the surface, but that's actually fine by me.

 

2). In some places the fish just seem to fight harder, longer and with a higher level of determination for gain their freedom.  The toads of Lake Baccarac in Mexico come immediately to mind.

 

3) Your tackle plays a role - in the Obvious category. Fighting a big bass with 65 pound braid and a 8 foot flipping stick that can easily double as pole vault equipment, is a great way to put the odds in one's favor, but doesn't really allow the fish much in the way of fighting room.  (But in many cases where it's used, that's the point).

Hook that same bass using a different technique (insert the lighter tackle of your choice here) and perhaps on a longer cast, that same fish might really give you something you'll never forget or perhaps be the subject of Nightmares.  Either way, I believe you get my point.

 

As for which bass fights harder the green or the bronze model ?  The oversized specimens I been fortunate enough to handle usually accounted for themselves very well. 

 

And maybe it's me but I have no problem if my next PB does all of it's thrashing in the net.

 

 

A-Jay

[Bass newb]

Never thought about tackle and rod choices ajay. I love having my heavy 7'6" with me frogging though. I would have hated to catch anything bigger than a 1.5lb bass on my 8lb worm rod although it's pulled a 2.5lb in just fine once before.

[Turtle135]

There is a lake I fish frequently here in Maryland. Great largemouth lake with a balanced population. The maximum size my friends and I see every year is 21" - 22", These bass are generally heavy for their length and a lot of them are built like this:

 

 

What we have noticed is that the 18" to 20" bass do outfight the bigger ones. They will dog towards the bottom where the larger ones will wallow on the surface and shake their head in an attempt to dislodge what is stuck in their throat. Since the 21" - 22" are older fish we have speculated the the 18" - 20" may be in the prime of their life and therefore fight harder. Or it may be, with the larger bass, that they have had a big bluegill or two stuck in their throat before and their reaction is to spend their energy trying to dislodge that item, leading to a poorer fight.

[buzzed bait]

i find spotted bass put up more of a fight than largemouth and smallies fight more than spots.... not sure on weights or sizes, but these are my experiences

[Bass newb]

I've caught 5 total 2-3 pounders and every one of them has had a bunch of fight in them. Four on frogs and one on a worm and he was deep down (10-15 feet). He wasn't happy to come straight up so he took the long route up. I'm just imagining what a 3.5 or 4 lb bass will be like.

[Bass newb]

I was very surprised to find that one of the bass could jump over a foot straight up if laid down on his side on my paddleboard. That was impressive.

[davecon]

I'm gonna have to research this some more, that's all there is to it !

Next time my wife says " Are you going fishing ? " I'll just tell her no, I'm doing research. That's the ticket.

[soflabasser]

Largemouth Bass caught in deeper depths seem to fight harder than a equal sized bass caught in shallower depths. Peacock Bass fight much harder pound for pound than a equal sized Largemouth Bass, regardless of depth of water.

[clh121787]

In my experience. The bigger the bass the bigger the fight. I've caught several 9 and 10s alot of 8s and hundreds of 5-7# pound bass and the bigger ones seem to pull harder.

[Bass newb]

Lots of different and even conflicting opinions here. I suspect it's because we all have our own definition of what "fight" is or means.

Fight to me is the running back of a football team. Not the line backer, not the safety or the wideout...what poundage of bass qualifies as the running back? The highest muscle per pound guy on the team.

[Mothercanucker]

A smallmouth...

[everythingthatswims]

18-20" built like this one 

[HeavyFisher]

See the bass in my profile pic? Biggest Bass I ever caught, didn't put up any fight in fact it felt like I was reeling in 10lbs of weeds lol! In my experience the smaller ones fight more and put on a better show, jumping and head shakes.