Most Memorable Fights (with a fish)

[bass wrangler569]

What is the most memorable fight you have had with a fish. It doesn't necessarily have to be the biggest, the longest, or most unique, just the one that sticks the most in your memory.

The best fight I've ever had happened when I was fishing on the susquehanna. I was fishing a LC pointer 128 in a deep hole near an old bridge piling. I had only made a few jerks when I felt the hardest strike I've ever felt in my life, the rod was very close to being literally ripped out of my hands.  I was using a 7ft MH rod and this bass had it doubled over like you wouldn't believe. I doubt the fight lasted more than 30 seconds but those were the most intense 30 seconds I've experienced fishing. It felt like I had a mac truck on the end of my line, I figured I had hooked a big musky or snagged a massive carp. When I got the fish to the boat it turned out to be a smallie barely pushing 17". I've fought 8lb largemouth and 5lb smallmouth that didn't fight half as hard as he did. He isn't close to being the biggest bass I've caught, he wasn't even the biggest bass I caught that day, but he sure had a lot of heart!!!

[Marty]

The biggest smallie I ever hooked grabbed a Mr. Twister curly tail on a jighead. It immediately went airborne, then headed down into the boulders. I don't know how long it took, five minutes or so, but it seemed longer. But I couldn't do a thing with it. Then the line went slack and I reeled in my jig and grub. I didn't cry, but I wanted to.

Thirty-two years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday.  :'(

[hjerk24]

Caught a really nice fish/bass down on the Potomac a few years back on a BIG-O. The crank was coming up towards the boat, and it hit about 5 feet from the surface. It scared me, and I gave 2 more cranks, then NADA. It thrashed, so it was a fish. I will always wonder. Never caught Pike, etc...there, so sure it was a bass. just caught me off guard.

Might have helped with my weight that day as well.

[deltabass1990]

Best fight I ever had was fishing one summer day in lake recon just north of Cleveland , MS . Wind was hitting me in the back thus giving me more length in my casts. Slung a chartreuse and white spinnerbait into some thick cover FAR out. Mind you i was fishing on a dock. Soon as it hit the water and I had enough time to tighten my line up and start reeling.......BAM! Fought him for what seemed like 2 or 3 minutes..got him up to the dock bended down and reached over to grab the fish and he came loose lost forever was heartbroken but was still so much fun.

[Red]

for me it was a 36 inch muskie.  here is how it went down.  i was fishing on island lake just outside of duluth minnesota.  i was using a 6' light with an abu garcia cardinal 101, 6lb test, with and 1/8 jjig tipped with a minnow. i was catching tons of dink walleyes as i usually did.  was just reelin in one about 10" or so and it all of a sudden stopped, i thought it had run me up under a rock or something, then the drag started flyin!!  i knew for sure is was a pike or muskie, i figured pike cuz they are much more common.  then it just went limp and i was back to my 10" walleye, which by now wasnt puttin up much of a fight.  then BAM! again and the drag zippin again!!  after probably ten minutes or more, i landed it. 36.5 inches and FAT!  i guessed 12lbs but others said 15 for sure.  gave some dude nearby $8 for his disposable camera, snapped some pics and let it go.  my little jig was actually hooked in the muskies mouth and my poor walleye was all mangled and dangling up the line.  how i managed this without those razor sharp teeth cutting my line is beyond me, but man it was fun!  i will never forget that catch, it was the biggest of only two muskies i ever caught while living in MN, the other was 32" on a homemade bucktail spinner, neither one was of legal size.

Cliff

[Sam]

I remember the fights when they got away.

Still have nightmares about losing two beauties.

The first on the Rappahannock River and the second on Lake Gaston.

As for the big ones I landed, I really don't remember the fight as my blood pressure was too high to remember anything about landing them, other than for the two ladies that slammed my buzzbait trailer hook into my thumb on two different occasions.

They were in the five pound range. The others were over six-pounds each, or since I never landed, them, around eight-pounds each.  ;D   ;D   ;D

[fivesixone]

I had hooked into what probably would be my biggest bass ever. Loxahatchee Reserve in Boynton fishing right off the dock. I hooked into this mama all the way on the other side of the canal. As all the locals know, this place is full of crocs. I'm reeling in this fish as hard as I can, but it's fighting really hard and taking a while, as I see the croc start swimming over...

Cue the gator snatching my fish and sitting there holding it in its jaws wide open mocking me for what seemed like a good minute. I wanted to tackle that friggin' gator. Fish looked to be at least 7 pounds, it was huge! Wish I at least had my camera to get a picture of it. >

[bassmaster3000]

I caught about a 4 lber last year, and it fought like crazee!! going under the boat, doing insane headshakes! Nice fish for a 15 acre lake!!  ;D ;D GREAT FIGHT!!  ;D

[Blade-Runner]

49-lb. Barracuda caught off Marathon, FL when I was 10 years old.

Hooked it on a live pinfish off a flat and fought him for almost 40 minutes. It wore me completely out, but Dad would not let me give up.

I pleaded with him to go ahead and take over but he wouldn't.

Looking back I'm glad he didn't, and it's the fish story we always share over a cold beer when I get down to see him.

[jack1]

My very 1st King Salmon.  Peeled off my 30 lb big game line in a good 100 yard run.  Gave me the best fight and when I finally landed that pigmy 30 lb line was so stretched, I had to junk all of it.

[Blake R.]

It was my first time frog fishing. Saw an absolute GIANT nailing bait... water was clear, so I could see her cruising. I'm talking a DD fish. Threw the frog a few feet in front of her and got one twitch... the resulting explosion was identical to how I would imagine a hand grenade in the water.

Keep in mind, this was my first time frog fishing.

I set the hook, hard. The fish is swimming away, harder. Pulled the rod OUT of my hands! I dove, caught the rod, and actually managed to stay in the boat. Problem was, the fish was gone. I wanted to cry. :-/

[cart7t]

I was tweaking a Rogue for the next days fishing. I tied it onto a crappie rod and was just tossing it off the end of the dock tuning it when

WHAM!

A 5 1/2 pounder hit the thing. It immediately ran towards the bank right at some brush. I somehow got it turned. I have no idea how I landed that fish of 6 pound line given how earnestly it tried to break free.

[drmnbig]

I was fishing for bluegill several years back.  I was using a little roadrunner catching them.  I had a little 4'6" ultralight and 4lb test.  I hooked a little bluegill that probably wasn't over 3 inches long and all of a sudden a huge bass grabbed the bluegill.  I must have fought this fish for 5 minutes.  Turns out that when the bass grabbed the bluegill the roadrunner caught him right in the corner of the mouth.  The bass weighed just over 6lbs.  Not a monster but it sure was fun!

[SMfisher]

wife and i were fishing in a boat on the ohio river fishing in 50' water using blue gills catching cat fish. she hooked a big cat, bringing the fish close to the surface the fish would make another dive for deep water this went on for 18 minutes before the hook just came loose that was fun to watch she was tired and dissapointed when the fish got off. that was one of my most memorable fights.

[roadwarrior]

:'(

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1226342926/0

[senile1]

Back in the 70s not long after I had first started bass fishing, I was fishing one of the many ditches that were dug during the early part of the 1900s to drain the Southeast Missouri area swamplands. I tossed a floating rapala across the ditch to some grass growing next to a deep hole, and let it sit still as I usually do, but I had a cut on my finger and the band-aid had come loose. I layed my rod down and adjusted the band-aid so my rapala sat there a little bit longer than usual. When I picked the rod back up I gave the rapala a quick jerk and the water just exploded! My rod bent big-time and my heart was quickly in my throat. I had never caught a huge bass before and this was definitely not the regular-sized fish I was used to catching. The water was somewhat stained but I could see the fish diving to the middle of the ditch for a bit and to my young eyes, it looked huge. I was standing about four feet above the ditch and below me there was a ledge of mud and muck that I was able to pull the fish onto. As soon as I pulled it up the lure came out of its mouth. I leaped down to the ledge and in my haste and youthful enthusiam, I grabbed the fish with both hands on each side rather than by the lip. The fish squirted from my hands into the water and was gone. I'll never forget that fish as she was the first large bass I had ever hooked. I don't know how big she was but I had caught some 3 lb'ers by that time and she was noticeably larger than any of those.

The sad part of the story is that many of these ditches are no longer good fisheries. The chemicals and silt from the surrounding farmlands have all but ruined the fishing on many of them, including this one. I'll always remember this ditch as it once was.

[Team_Dougherty]

Here is my story. It just happened in October of '08. I was I New Orleans fishing for red fish in some bayou with a guide and some friends. I decided to take break and just hang out. The guide was untangling a rod that was a mess. He cast it out for the final test and wham he hooks a fish. Since I was standing around just watching he handed me the rod and said here bring it. I grab the rod, it was setup for a lefty, I am right handed. I felt like a dufus trying to reel this fish in backwards. It was stripping line, going all around the boat, I'd get it close it would take off again. It took about 7 minutes getting this thing in. It turned out to be a big black drum.

[drmnbig]

R/W, that was one awesome story.  I knew what the ending was gonna be when it started but you made it very enthralling.   I've only been on here a few months but I can tell you are after that fish again.  You'll get her!

[bighed]

For me it was my first yellowfin tuna.  I was on a private charter out of Port Fourchon, LA and the only rookie on the boat.  I was struggling, only catching a few small blackfin.  Everything was going wrong, tangled lines, backlashes, etc.  By 4am most had limited out and were laying down to rest.  Out of the darkness I see a flying fish headed straight at me.  It hits me right in the middle of the chest and falls to my feet like a gift from above.  For those that don't know flyers are tuna crack, almost a sure deal.  Picked him up and pinned him on and started the drift.  Within 30 seconds I was hooked up to something that almost seemed mechanical.  The pull on the 20 pounds of drag was was blistering and constant for probably 200 yards or more.  Finally the fish turned and the battle was on.  After half an hour of give and take my first yft was beating it's tail on the deck of the boat.  The whole experience is etched in my mind forever.

[SimonDM17]

I caught my PB bass wading in a small, muddy pond with a 6'6" MH spinning rod and 30lb braid, skipping a frog under very low-hanging trees.  

I tossed the frog over a thick mat, and saw this bulge race at the frog from  about 6 feet away under the mat, it looked like a torpedo in the water.  In retrospect, I probably should have kept walking the frog, but all I could do was hold on.  The bass slammed the frog though the mat, stripped out 15 yards of line in about 3 seconds (I'd set the drag before the trip to 6.5 pounds), and made a run for a bunch of bushes where i'd lost some good fish before.  I honestly thought the rod might snap, the fish was thrashing around so much.  It took me about a minute and a half to bring it over, and when I went down to lip it, I saw that the thrashing had worked a big hole in the soft area between the upper lip and the eyes...right as it tossed the frog, i reached down and nabbed the lower lip.  A nice, fat healthy 6.

[Sharpie]

I was fishing with the girlfriend and she wanted to fish her new cotton candy pink zoom trick worms. So I knew she was starting to get bored so I went along with her. I told her she should try a more natual color being the water is cyrstal clear in the lake where we were fishing. She said efff it I want to fish a pink worm. I said ok you will never catch anything with that worm. I put it on texas rigged. So the very first cast when the worm was sinking. Guess what the line started to jump and she set the hook. She of course said I told you there are girl fish in this lake. I told you. It was a dink, but that dink made me feel very very foolish.

Here is the pic

[BASS fisherman]

It isn't a fight in the sense that you mean it, but it was definatley a fight and it was with a fish.

Years ago as an assistant scoutmaster, I was watching one of the other adults teaching some of the boys how to clean a fish.  

The kids as per their fishing merit badge, had to catch, kill, gut, cook and eat part of a fish.  

Well this one kid had named his fish.  When it came time to kill it, he started balling.  He didn't want to kill his new friend.  I remember the other scoutmaster talking this kid through the process of how to brain a fish,  the kid choking on tears the whole time.  

Finally the kid gives the fish a whack and I swear this kid was some how linked with this fish because the kid is snotting and balling like he just got hit himself.

And if that wasn't bad enough, you should have seen him eating a bite of the fish.  It wasn't pretty.

He did it though.  He got through it and earned the badge.  

[SMfisher]

pink something to remember

[Catt]

Catt & Pat are sitting on a little ridge just south of Indian Mounds; full moon is barely on the horizon, slight southerly breeze. I make a long cast towards deep water and start the count down to the bottom. The Texas rigged worm settles down when there's that classic "Thump", drops the rod, reel the slack, and set the hook. Nothing gives, then in a microsecond on my knees, rod half under water.

Catt: Yells get the net!

Pat: For what!

Catt: I think he's heading for the Louisiana side

Pat: You gonna land em or what

Catt: Aint you suppose to play em first?

Finally back to my feet, line singing again, drag slipping, rod all bowed up.

Catt: He's headed for Six Mile, if you start the big motor we can head em off.

Pat now standing behind me: Want me to pour some water on your reel?

Catt: No! just get the gun!

Look a swirl just under the surface, a sudden dive for freedom, you're mine sucker.

Pat with quick move and it's in the net: Took you long enough.

Catt falls back into the seat drops his rods on the deck: Dude let's see it.

Pat turn on the interior lights: Shoot it's only a stripper!

Catt sits up, lips it and grabs the tail, gotta be at least 36"

Pat digs around in the console for the scales 16 LB 5 OZ.

Catt: Slipping it back in, that's a hawg right there.

Pat: Don't count it's a stripper!

Catt: Still a hawg

Pat: You're still down 7 to 4, shut up & fish.

[Cire]

I was 10 years old and the family was going to go out on a pond by our house with a rowboat. I wanted to bring my rod with an older Zebco reel. First cast at the lake and the bail button pops out of the reel and sinks to the bottom of the lake. I was casting, by reaching through the hole to release the bail, a Jitterbug towards shore when there is an explosion. I almost lost the rod when it hit and fought the thing for what seems forever, it tried to snap the light by crossing back and forth under the boat which I had to swing the rod around the bow of the boat.

It was a 6lb largemouth. Still my personal best and I doubt I will forget the day.

Eric