Best and hardest fight you EVER had with a fish?

[FivePoundBluegill]

What was the hardest fight you ever went through with a fish? What I am saying is in your fishing experiance what one fight was the most difficult and can you describe the fight? Why was this one fish the most difficult fish to land? It does not have to be the biggest fish you have caught or even biggest of a sigle species...just most difficult and challenging to fight.

For me the hardest fight I had with a fish came from a bright orange koi that was just over 10 LBS. I am not talking about the one in my avatar the avatar fish was 12LBS 11oz. The fish I am talking about was just over 10 LBS. The reason this fish was the hardest to catch was becasue I was useing an ultralight set up and 4 LB test mono line. I had another medium action spinning set up with 10 LB test with me that day but hooked the 10 LB koi on the UL rig. I saw the fish in the area of my bait to and when I set the hook I did not think I could land the fish. The part of the lake I was in had about 20 feet to the opposite shore(island in the middle) and there was a load of brush on the opposite side. I had to put much more pressure on the 4 lb line and 10 lb fish than I was comfortable with but I was able to turn the massive koi away from the brush 3 times by changeing his direction. I was able to steer the fish into a more open part of the lake and then I had the option to let him run more. The fish made some long runs. One of the runs he made when I was about to get him in the landing net. I was eventually able to land the 10 LB fish on 4LB line and got the picture. I will find it and post it soon. This fish was not the biggest fish I ever caught or biggest koi I ever caught but it was the most challenging fight I have had in my life with a fish because of the gear I was working with. That fish would have been no problem with my usual spinning gear.

What was the best fight you guys have ever had with a fish??

Yes I know Fish Chris beats me and everyone else by a mile with that 100 LB sturgeon he get on like 10 LB test or something like that though...but yeah thats not hard when your fish chris

[roadwarrior]

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8-)

[WRB]

Back in 1983 I was fishing Catalina Island with my friend Art Moyer, when we spotted and broadbill tailing. We baited the broadbill with a live Bonita, hooked up around 3 in the afternoon. The braodbill looked to be in the 300 lbs class and when hooked sounded and ran down about 300 feet and stayed there. I worked on this fish for about 2 hours, then we decided to back off and try to lift the fish using different angles, pulling as hard as we could with 50 lb tackle. Art and I took turns with the fish for another several hours, finally put the rod in a holder and with the boat in gear slowly followed the fish that was still deep and swimming out to deeper water between Catalina and San Clemente Islands. Every hour we would take the rod and try to plane the fish up and the fish would run back down. This fight continued all night and at early dawn the fish took off and we had to chase it about 1/4 mile. The big braodbill came up and started to chase baitfish. We were able to gain line quickly, pulled up the broadbill trying to feed and gaffed it. The fight lasted about 15 hours. The broadbill weight nearly 350 lbs, our first and last swordfish.

WRB

[fishinfiend]

We went out deep sea fishing with my Grandad out of Ft. Morgan, Al. For fun I brought my bass setup, a berkley lighting stick and a small diawa bc. We were having a good day catching kings, cobia, snapper, triggerfish, and blues when a nice school of bonitos neared us. We flanked the school so not to spook them.

I had a bucktail tipped with squid on my light setup and cast into the school. As soon as it hit the water a bonito picked it up and the fight was on. Line squealed off my reel 20 or so yards at a time. I quickly realized I would have to play this fish on his terms and not horse it. I was almost spooled 3 or 4 times. After 45 minutes or so I landed a 9lb bonito. Now this does not sound like a monster, but it was the fight of a lifetime on light tackle. Needless to say, we cut him up and used him as bait to catch more snapper and cobia   ;D

[FD.]

My best fight was the 8 lber in my avatar.  7' med fenwick with 12 lb big game and BPS tourney special.  I had a Super Spook tied on and had made about a 40 yd cast.  She hit it on the first twitch and the fight was on.  I did my best to keep her down but she came out of the water 4 times trying to shake the hooks.  I would have made a classic video.  I still get the chills thinking about it.

[FivePoundBluegill]

We went out deep sea fishing with my Grandad out of Ft. Morgan, Al.  For fun I brought my bass setup, a berkley lighting stick and a small diawa bc. We were having a good day catching kings, cobia, snapper, triggerfish, and blues when a nice school of bonitos neared us. We flanked the school so not to spook them.

I had a bucktail tipped with squid on my light setup and cast into the school. As soon as it hit the water a bonito picked it up and the fight was on. Line squealed off my reel 20 or so yards at a time. I quickly realized I would have to play this fish on his terms and not horse it. I was almost spooled 3 or 4 times. After 45 minutes or so I landed a 9lb bonito. Now this does not sound like a monster, but it was the fight of a lifetime on light tackle. Needless to say, we cut him up and used him as bait to catch more snapper and cobia   ;D

Well mine does not sound like a fish of a lifetime either like the guy who got the 350 LB swordfish. However the fact that we were both using ultralight gear was what made our fights our hardest for us.

Anyway sorry roadwarrior for putting in wrong section

[Catt]

July 4th, 1966 a 127 pound 15 year old Cajun landed a 378 pound Bull Shark  

[WRB]

Fresh water fish;

July 1st, 1976, Dominion Day up in Canada, we were vacationing and celebrating my late father in laws birthday that falls on the 4 of July.

This was an annual event and several of the locals in the Nestor Falls area of lake of The Woods came to this party. One of the guest lives on a nearby island, my wife and I agreed to take Mil back before dark. I took along a light tackle bait casting outfit with 6 lb mono and black 1/8 oz jig to try for a big smallie before leaving for home in the morning. We dropped Mil off and on the way back I made a few casts where I had caught a few good size smallmouth earlier in the week.

Felt a tap and set the hook into what turned out to be a 37 lb musky. The musky immediately ran down the rocky bank, then turned out into deep water and jumped several times. My wife was really excited watching this big fish jump and I thought it would bite or brake the line at any moment, so didn't expect to land this fish. After about 15 minutes we where able to get close to the musky and my wife netted the it, but couldn't lift it in the boat. I set the rod down and lifted the musky in the boat and the fish had tangled the netting in it's teeth, the head was through the net. We couldn't untangle the fish without a knife to cut the net away, so ran the boat back to the dock where the party was still in progress. My wife ran up the house and brought back everyone to see the fish. Everyone was very excited, however I was trying to release the musky, but the fish was too stressed to survive after all the handling and photo's. The musky was mounted and is a reminder of the wonderday days we spent at Lake of The Woods with my wifes family.

WRB

PS; this is my PB musky and I have spend a lot of time fishing with big musky lures and heavy musky rods trying to catch a 40+ and ended up catching this fish on very light bass tackle I was using for walleyes during this trip. Landing that musky was pure luck and that what it takes sometimes.

[Chris at Tech]

3 'incidents' come to mind

1) My honeymoon in St Lucia.  The wife agreed to a deep-sea fishing trip.  We were on the boat with 2 other couples, each person taking a 15 minute shift in the fighting chair.  

Just as my watch was winding down, my wife commented that she saw something flash just behind the lure.  Then it happened...  The next minutes were a blur to me.  My "fighting" of the fish consisted of making sure the rod and reel did not go overboard.  The mate was yelling at me to crank and pump the rod, but the fish had other ideas.  

After 20 min or so, I was worn out so I handed the fight off to the next guy.  I know, I know -- once in a lifetime experience, etc.  Problem is 2 other couples paid, so they needed to get in on the action as well

After another 45 min, and 4 more people fighting the fish, we wrestled a 500 lb blue marlin to the side of the boat.  That remains the only time I prayed to NOT catch another fish on a fishing trip.  I couldn't fight another fish if I wanted to that day

2) inshore fishing in Yulee, FL.  Hooked a 10 lb Jack on a M action freshwater rod.  Man, was that FUN!

3) inshore fishing in Hilton Head, SC.  Was out for redfish and took my Stradic 2500, 7 MH freshwater rod with me, spooled with 20 lb braid.  Felt a tep-tap and set the hook, and then the drag started SCREAMING.  Nearly got spooled twice and finally got the fish boatside.  Had a nice 16 lb bonnet head shark -- foul hooked in the dorsal fin.  DOH!  Still a good time, though

[619bassman]

Best I fight I everhad was yesterday believe it or not. I was fishing for LMBs at a local lake that runs buy some houses. I had caught 5 or 6 bass in about an hour and was having a great time. The fish came on a combo of a 1/8oz spot remover w/ a 4" roboworm and a 3/8 oz chug bug. I saw a big swirl and chucked the chug bug out after a few feet it got engulfed and i almost crapped myself at the sight of the fish. I had on 12lb floro which in most cases would be pleanty. After about 10 min and a few awesome runs I landed about a 17- 20 lb striper. and of course didnt have my camera,  but it was a great even so.

P.S hey steven this is joe from east lake but i live in virginia beach now, just thought I'd say hi

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Bluefin Tuna.

Fighting it out of the bow rod holder.  When we got on top of her, she sounded, motor came right out of the water.

Same season, we had a fish take us on a sleigh ride (was hooked up on one of the smaller reels) (Penn International 80)

She had us towing on a collision course with my friend Sandy's  boat who was also off on a sleigh ride.  I made the call to push the pin,...locked it down.  She straightened the hook like it was tin.

[Olebiker]

Back in the late sixties we used to go to Lake Cumberland in Kentucky to fish for spotted (Kentucky) bass.  Cumberland is a deep clear lake much like Dale Hollow.  

We would seine a bunch of crawfish from the creeks around Louisville and take them to the lake in a styrofoam cooler for bait.  Four of us fished in a 14 foot aluminum boat, which wasn't that big of a problem since we were just dropping the crawdads over the side of the boat with one or two split shot as a weight.  We just went from point to point catching fish in about 20-22 feet of water.

I was using a fly rod with a Pflueger Medalist single action fly reel.  I had loaded it with braided dacron line and was using a short monofilament leader tied to a Number 2 gold crappie hook.

I hooked a fish that was obviously the biggest fish I had ever had ahold of.  With that fly rod and single action reel I couldn't control him very well and it took a good long time to get him close enough to the boat to see that it was a smallnouth.  I don't know that I had ever seen a smallmouth before.

The fish weighed about three pounds.  Back in those unenlightened days I thought nothing of putting it on the stringer along with a couple of dozen Kentuckies.  I got back to Jamestown Dock expecting to receive the adulation of all in attendance.  

A boat pulled up at about the same time as we did.  I pulled out the striger and showed my good smallmouth to the guys in the other boat who made suitably complimentary comments.  They then pulled out a stringer with a half dozen fish identical to my good fish.  

Talk about getting your thunder stolen.  It was OK, though.  That is still just about the best fishing memory I have.

[fishizzle]

1.Reeling in a sub

accidentally snagging a carp in the CT river while striper fishing with 6lb test

feel a tap, set the hook, then you're spooled and have to go home

2.reeling in 4 bluefish on an umbrella rig with the boat still moving

[yankthatsucker]

23 inch channel catfish yesterday on ultra lite set up (micro lite with 4lb test) battled that guy for about 10 minutes...literally

[Daniel My Brother]

Not my fish, but a memorable fight that changed my buddy forever.

I was fishing with Craig in a little v bottom, he was running the trolling motor from the back of the boat when he hooked into a big bass with his zebco spincast reel. In short order the fish tangled him in a downed tree.

We switched positions in the boat so he could fight the fish and I could run the TM. I've never come so close to tipping a boat. I'm sure we looked ridiculous.

We worked and worked and finally got that fish out of the tree, only to get caught in a ton of coontail. So much so that I didn't think that line would hold.

He pulled the fish and the pile of weeds to the side of the boat. We didn't have a net so I was going to lip it, but the weeds were so thick I couldn't find the fish, much less the mouth.

All I could do was remove the giant clump of coontail, as soon as it was free we noticed just how enormous this fish was! But, free of the weeds the fish shook its massive head, snapped the line, and disappeared. Craig cussed. repeatedly.

That missed fish was the motivation my buddy needed. Within a year he had a new Tracker PT175 with 5 curado reels paired with 5 BPS Extreme rods sprayed across the deck.

A fish that turned a hobby into a passion.

[bassman31783]

2001 i went 40 miles out in the Gulf with a bunch of friends. Very long story short. Hooked into something big ... fought it for about 5 hours ... never got to see it.  All i had to show for it was multiple bruises on my stomach, from the rod, for a week and a half. Needless to say next time i go out deep sea fishing i'm going to invest in a rod belt ;D

[jigandpig]

probably the best fight ive ever had with a fish was a 50lb flathead catfish i caught on a 3/4 oz jig and pig on 10 lb test that thing fought forever.

[Red]

shark off the coast of galveston....we caught a few over 100lbs...pretty awesome.

freshwater was a 36.5 inch muskie i caught on light tackle(garcia 101 spinning and light berkley rod, 6lb trilene XL).  i was walleye fishing with an 1/8 jig and minnow.  had a small walleye i was reeling in, about 10 inches.  it got nailed and drag started peeling, then it came unbuttoned and i was back to fighting a 10 inch walleye.  then it got hammered again!!  fought for about 15 minutes or so.  when i finally landed it, my poor walleye was all mangled and dangling from the line, and my little jig head was actually hooked in the corner of the muskies mouth.  i was not using a steel leader or anything, just blows my mind how many pike had cut me off in the past but this one didnt.  it was pretty cool, bunch a people gathered as i was fighting it, good times!!

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

2.reeling in 4 bluefish on an umbrella rig with the boat still moving

My arms burn just thinking about it

[T-Bone]

My hardest fight would have to be the time that a friend and myself were out fly fishing for red fish in Venice, La and I hooked up with a tarpon, we weren't using heavy tackle, so at that point the fight was on.  I tangoed with that fish for like 2 hours but I got him in. 8-)

[BassinSoldier]

Actually Landed-  A jack crevalle that probably went 12-14 lbs or so on my med. heavy rod and daiwa procaster.  I had waded out onto a sandbar and actually had to run after the fish so my rod didn't snap.

Hooked-  Med. heavy, Team Daiwa S reel, fishing a bucktail jig around dock pilings for reds and snook.  Long story short I hung into a tarpon that looked like it was as long as I am tall.  I fought it on 20lb line with 50lb fluoro leader...It didn't break me off but threw the hook after about a 2minute fight.  It ruined the reel...bout 150 bucks down the drain.  I'll never forget how bad I was shaking from that encounter though.  I was shivering like I had seen a ghost!

[UrbanRedneck]

Without a doubt a 175 pound bluefin tuna.  That fish blew my mind, I never thought a fish could actually beat me up physically the way that fish did.

In freshwater there is one fish that stands out.  I was fishing a ledge at night with a spinnerbait.  I would slow roll the bait to the edge then let it free fall down the drop.  I did this once and for some reason put my reel in free spool as the bait was free falling.  I also was talking to my partner.  Well, when I kicked that reel in gear my rod flew out of my hand, I barely got it before it went over board.  I stood up and the darn fish actually ripped the rod out of my hand again.  I have never had my rod ripped from my hand before or since, and this fish did it twice.  I thought for sure it was a big striper.  But surprise, surprise it turned out to be a nasty, nasty 3.5 pound spotted bass!  That occurred on Lake Martin in Alabama many years ago.  Just one of those fish Ill neverr forget.