Do river smallmouth fight significantly harder than their lakebound brethren?

[TnRiver46]

31 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

No, it’s like saying someone has more muscle/stamina from running uphill. Same applies to any animal who regular exercises with any kind of resistence. No one’s debating how fast the river dwelling smallmouth is, but how strong they are. 

So I guess it’s a question of which one plays a bigger role? I can’t see how a fish who swims against current their entire lives isn’t inherently stronger than one who swims in a lake.

Some lakes have strong current, I’d say Lake Erie headed toward Niagara Falls is stronger current than most rivers in America. Also lots of fish swim from rivers to lakes and back again all the time 

[Ohioguy25]

52 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Some lakes have strong current, I’d say Lake Erie headed toward Niagara Falls is stronger current than most rivers in America. Also lots of fish swim from rivers to lakes and back again all the time 

Good point. Honestly size probably plays more of a role than anything in the fight. 

[TnRiver46]

4 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Good point. Honestly size probably plays more of a role than anything in the fight. 

Don’t forget about individual personality. To say anything about wildlife is typically just people speculating. If I catch 30 raccoons in the same area, 15 of them might be calm and 15 might be ready to kill me. Animals and fish don’t read books, nor do they follow generalizations that humans place on them. INDIVIDUALS WILL ALWAYS VARY!!

 

an example: how many threads are on here about fish having red eyes? Everyone offers a reason, yet no one actually has a clue. You can assume it’s because it’s spawning or eating crawdads, type it into the internet, and people will run with it. In reality, a bass has red eyes....... because it does 

[roadwarrior]

6 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Good point. Honestly size probably plays more of a role than anything in the fight. 

Absolutely!  At 5lbs they become a whole different animal.

[J Francho]

Tackle plays the biggest role in how hard a fish fights. Fish don’t fight, they struggle to get free. There’s a balance between tackle weight, and the fish you’re catching. You want more fight? Use lighter tackle or fish for bigger species. Smallmouth anglers typically use lighter tackle. 

[Ohioguy25]

8 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Tackle plays the biggest role in how hard a fish fights. Fish don’t fight, they struggle to get free. There’s a balance between tackle weight, and the fish you’re catching. You want more fight? Use lighter tackle or fish for bigger species. Smallmouth anglers typically use lighter tackle. 

Yeah I use a St. Croix 6’ Med-Light Fast Action tip, tried switching to Light and it was just way too much give. Some of the littler smallmouth I hook into were more fun on it but it was inadequate for the bigger ones.

45 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

Absolutely!  At 5lbs they become a whole different animal.

Geez I’ve never even caught one near that size, is that where they get most of their reputation as strong fighters? I think the biggest I’ve caught was a 1-2 lb River smallie, which blew me away w how hard it fought. Where are you catching these monsters, the Great Lakes?

[TnRiver46]

57 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Yeah I use a St. Croix 6’ Med-Light Fast Action tip, tried switching to Light and it was just way too much give. Some of the littler smallmouth I hook into were more fun on it but it was inadequate for the bigger ones.

Geez I’ve never even caught one near that size, is that where they get most of their reputation as strong fighters? I think the biggest I’ve caught was a 1-2 lb River smallie, which blew me away w how hard it fought. Where are you catching these monsters, the Great Lakes?

The mighty TN river is where @roadwarriorfishes , not terribly far from southern “ahia” (Ohio) 

[Ohioguy25]

15 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

The might TN river is where @roadwarriorfishes , not terribly far from southern “ahia” (Ohio) 

That’s a big river 

 

[TnRiver46]

18 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

That’s a big river 

 

Big river big fish! 

[roadwarrior]

The World Record is 11lbs-15oz caught at Dale Hollow. The lake borders Tennessee and

Kentucky. Both states claim the fish and we agree to disagree without dispute. I am fishing

for the next record and would not consider a light rod.

 

[kayaking_kev]

I've had days where I caught multiple Largemouth and Smallmouth from the same Reservoir that's 20 feet deep and using the same gear, and they all were almost identical size and weight, around 18" and just over 3 lbs. The Smallmouth put up much more of a fight and bent my rod like crazy. 

 

I also kayak fish a lot for Smallmouth in a shallow river (creek) that's usually no more that 2 foot deep, and although they are hard fighters, there's just not much room for them to dive so they are constantly jumping and the fight just isn't as hard as in deeper water. But, as I mentioned earlier, we have a newer reservoir where the Smallies come from that same River, but now have 40 feet of water to fight and an endless supply of perch to eat and they are some beast to fight.

 

As someone has mentioned, I'm sure there are some docile Smallies that don't fight too hard and some real mean Largemouth that put up great fight, but generally speaking, you can't convince me that Smallmouth don't fight harder.

[soflabasser]

6 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

So I guess it’s a question of which one plays a bigger role? I can’t see how a fish who swims against current their entire lives isn’t inherently stronger than one who swims in a lake.

The current plays a bigger role but there is a limit how much current can help. On average a 8 pound or bigger bass in a calm lake is going to fight harder than a 4 pound or smaller bass caught in a river, this I know from experience.

[J Francho]

I still don’t know what everyone means by “fight harder.”  All the explanations of why don’t make any sense unless you say what it is they are doing. Does a smallmouth pull harder than a largemouth? How do you measure that?  Is it because the jump more? Is it because the react differently when you pull hard on them? Are you losing fish after they’re hooked? I’ve caught a lot of smallmouth and largemouth. I don’t consider either of them “fighters” in the realm of freshwater fish.

[Ohioguy25]

35 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I still don’t know what everyone means by “fight harder.”  All the explanations of why don’t make any sense unless you say what it is they are doing. Does a smallmouth pull harder than a largemouth? How do you measure that?  Is it because the jump more? Is it because the react differently when you pull hard on them? Are you losing fish after they’re hooked? I’ve caught a lot of smallmouth and largemouth. I don’t consider either of them “fighters” in the realm of freshwater fish.

It means they pull harder, in every direction, and for longer. Why is that so confusing?  Largemouth fight, but not for nearly as long or aggressively. How do you not consider them fighters? I think you’re getting into semantics, when people talk about how hard a fish fights they are simply referring to them fighting to get free from the hook, obviously not that they are simply “fighting” for the enjoyment or competition of the angler in some sort of head to head battle lol. Can you name a tougher freshwater fish?

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

I still don’t know what everyone means by “fight harder.”  All the explanations of why don’t make any sense unless you say what it is they are doing. Does a smallmouth pull harder than a largemouth? How do you measure that?  Is it because the jump more? Is it because the react differently when you pull hard on them? Are you losing fish after they’re hooked? I’ve caught a lot of smallmouth and largemouth. I don’t consider either of them “fighters” in the realm of freshwater fish.

The devil called, he wants his advocate back 

[soflabasser]

36 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

It means they pull harder, in every direction, and for longer. Why is that so confusing?  Largemouth fight, but not for nearly as long or aggressively. How do you not consider them fighters? I think you’re getting into semantics, when people talk about how hard a fish fights they are simply referring to them fighting to get free from the hook, obviously not that they are simply “fighting” for the enjoyment or competition of the angler in some sort of head to head battle lol. Can you name a tougher freshwater fish?

Pound for pound a peacock bass is a much better fighter than any black bass.

[Tatsu Dave]

All never agree on a subjective subject, some have differing perspectives perhaps. I simply go by my own experiences and form opinions from this. I'm lucky I live where there are large populations of smallmouth in large and small rivers and lakes too. Will simply agree to disagree  Bottom line they fight real Good.....

[J Francho]

On 10/8/2020 at 4:26 PM, Ohioguy25 said:

It means they pull harder, in every direction, and for longer. Why is that so confusing?  Largemouth fight, but not for nearly as long or aggressively. How do you not consider them fighters? I think you’re getting into semantics, when people talk about how hard a fish fights they are simply referring to them fighting to get free from the hook, obviously not that they are simply “fighting” for the enjoyment or competition of the angler in some sort of head to head battle lol. Can you name a tougher freshwater fish?

It’s confusing because I don’t feel the hype is there. SMB are a little more erratic, but they don’t really fight harder to me. Can I name a tougher FW fish? No, I can name a bunch I’ve caught. Steelhead, browns, lakers, coho, kings, northern, tiger, musky, eel, dogfish, carp are a few that fight harder. Some of those fish, the catch ratio can be somewhat low, especially in the case of steelhead, which I consider the gamest fish around here. 
 

I still prefer to fish for bass, specifically LMB. 

[Ohioguy25]

19 hours ago, J Francho said:

It’s confusing because I don’t feel the hype is there. SMB are a little more erratic, but they don’t really fight harder to me. Can I name a tougher FW fish? No, I can name a bunch I’ve caught. Steelhead, browns, lakers, coho, kings, northern, tiger, musky, eel, dogfish, carp are a few that fight harder. Some of those fish, the catch ratio can be somewhat low, especially in the case of steelhead, which I consider the gamest fish around here. 
 

I still prefer to fish for bass, specifically LMB. 

Are you taking size into account? Almost all of the fish you mentioned are quite a bit bigger than the average smallmouth, esp Muskie and carp. I have hooked into a sucker that zipped back and forth like a maniac, I thought I had a monster smallmouth, only to be disappointed when I saw the slimy mutant on the end of my line lol.  I don’t even like touching those things. However, they are generally pretty heavy, which I think makes all of the difference in “fight.” I also think this explains why so many more chase catfish and LMB than SMB, easier to catch and they get much bigger. I will always prefer stalking the elusive smallie down a wild scenic river and getting them to hit my line, and the fighting style is way more athletic and aggressive than largemouth which tire in minutes. Muskie are ferocious and watching them follow it up to the boat and hammer it after the figure 8 is something to behold, but again the fight is sloppy and not as graceful and exciting as SMB.

[newriverfisherman1953]

“Muskie are ferocious and watching them follow it up to the boat and hammer it after the figure 8 is something to behold, but again the fight is sloppy and not as graceful and exciting as SMB.”
 

Then I doubt you have caught many. I’ve had them tail walk all around. With this you are comparing apples and oranges. Let’s agree that fishing is fun, catching is great, and all fish try their best to get loose. 

[Ohioguy25]

25 minutes ago, newriverfisherman1953 said:

“Muskie are ferocious and watching them follow it up to the boat and hammer it after the figure 8 is something to behold, but again the fight is sloppy and not as graceful and exciting as SMB.”
 

Then I doubt you have caught many. I’ve had them tail walk all around. With this you are comparing apples and oranges. Let’s agree that fishing is fun, catching is great, and all fish try their best to get loose. 

You mean like a dolphin? Yeah I guess they are pretty acrobatic. I just meant more in terms of the fight in the water.

[Cdn Angler]

On 10/5/2020 at 12:47 PM, J Francho said:

Define fight harder.  Not sure why current makes them fight any harder.  They're just burning calories doing nothing.  Maybe if they turn sideways and use the current it feels harder?  My experience has been that most five pound plus fish dig harder for deep water.  Three pound fish or less do a lot of thrashing and jumping.  The only difference between river and lake smallmouth is they seem to have a slender body and wider tail when they live in a river.

That is a good observation. That's been my experience. 

[Columbia Craw]

I know one thing.......I need significantly more data to come to a factual conclusion.

[king fisher]

From my limited experience, Smallmouth fight harder than Largemouth, and River fish fight harder than lake fish.  That is my story and I'm sticking to it.