What species fights the hardest

I'd like to know your opinion, pound for pound, which species fights the hardest?

Why leave out Striped Bass and Hybrid Stripers. I suspect they would be the winners.

I totally forgot to add them to the poll. I guess I can chalk up your vote to +1 for stripers.

Bluegill or smallmouth for sure. Here hybrids cats etc have size but nothing is crazier pound 4 pound than the former.

Carp, Buffalo and alligator gar.
Carp will outfight those ditch pickle green trash fish anyday.

I voted for the rainbow trout. Never caught a Brownie. Striper would be second, Hybrid third. Love catching those hybrids in the small creeks during the spring on light tackle.

All those listed would be behind a Hybrid, save for the bluegill.

add a vote for hybrids.

Pound for pound, on tackle that is scaled to the species, my opinion is that sunfish are the hardest fighting of the fish listed.

If green sunfish reached 10 pounds, you'd have a far harder fight than the others.

snagged carp

I think sandbass do.
Think about how little they weigh,
and what a battle they put up.

If by rainbow trout you include Steelhead (ocean or Great Lake run rainbows) it's rainbow trout hands down.

Add one vote for me on hybrid

probably tuna and marlin even though i've never caught one. I think carp fight ridiculously hard, they feel a lot like redfish. Hybrids and striper viciously fight to the very end.

Hybrids for sure! You can tell when you hook one of those jokers

Thanks for the input! I was trying to limit the post to freshwater fish. The one time I hooked into a tuna was while in Guam with light tackle. It ended up zig zagging through rocks and broke off. It was only about 15-20" from what I could see from the shore and it broke off before I had time to react.

I love the buffalo and carp bite too. I thought they were some hard fighting fish, until I had the opportunity to catch some trout. They definitely put up a good fight and I can only imagine how it would have been had they been in a river, having to fight the fish and the current while keeping it out of the rocks can be a little challenging.

Flathead catfish gets my vote

Carp

Common Carp. Pound for pound they are the clear winners.

Red fish fresh water or salt water. They can have you playing with tha drag.

Carp and hybrid both fight harder than your list, and both can be caught in current if your tackle is strong enough.

by the pound or ounce fresh water sunfish . salt water jack crevalle,

Agree--Redfish. They never quit, still fighting in the icebox 10 minutes after you catch one.

Carp and bowfin put up a heck of a fight for their respective size. Hard to argue that a 10lb sunny wouldn't be a heck of a fight too. Never caught a red drum.

Are we going by pound for pound? If so then bluegills for the win. One pound version of all these species vs a one pound bluegill...bluegill will give a harder fight.

most exciting strike...bass, trout
at the first of the fight...trout, redfish, gar, walleye
stamina of the fight...redfish, carp, buffalo
best runs...redfish, hybrids, flatheads, gar
most spunk...sunfish, cichlids, trout, crappie

overall...I would say redfish....but those dang turtles have them all beat in a toughest fight contest.

Of those that I've caught, I would have to say bluefin tuna!!

and then there's my wife... she fights the hardest by far

Saltwater I would have to say spadefish. Always get a chuckle when someones putting up a big fuss about having a monster just to end up with a foot long spade. Freshwater I would say Hybrid.

Of the ones listed smallmouth is my winner but hybrids are real close. A large rainbow fights hard but since most are caught where there is a current so the fight is a little deceiving. I caught a 20" in a pond and it was a different fight. I am guessing that this is a list for southern fish otherwise salmon should be there and would be number one.

I love these surveys but what we forget is the words pound for pound. Imagine if you had to make the decision with the fact that all the listed species had to weigh the same. Yes I think a small mouth is a beast for it size, even more a spotted bass is meaner. But imagine a three to five pound bluegill. Just something to think about.

Pound for pound it's Bluegill, if they got to 5lbs we could not swim in our lakes!
JR

Smallies for sure (aka bronzebacks) with bluegills a close second.

Pound for pound hardest fighting fish I ever caught was a sturgeon out of Red River. It was only about 5 lbs but was over 3ft long. Funny little critter that knew how to use the current and dig it's bill into the bottom. Thought for sure I had me a big ol hump back blue or flathead until I got it to the bank. Had never seen a fish like that and didn't know what it was so I kept it and showed it all around til someone told me what I had. The poor thing lived out of water for near half a day. That was back in the early 60's. I've only caught one since then and nearly the exact same spot, the last one being about 2 feet long and felt like a 5 lb drum. I still think a carp beats about anything in fresh water.

Virtually every fish species that spends any significant time in saltwater before being caught in freshwater fights better than ANY pure freshwater fish. Hands down, no comparison. I have yet to catch a golden dorado, but some say it may be an exception.

Among those "pure" freshwater fish, my bet would be on the bluegill or green sunfish cross with a 'gill.

Redfish.

hybreds. Man those things are a beast.

Hybrid others not even close

Its odd that more people fish for LMB over any other and we seem to know they are not the hardest fighters. Must be something about the way we catch them that we love.

Red Drum is probally my vote. Those gaspergoo things. Caught one that was about 15lbs once and was sure I had a 25lb Lmb.

Carp are up there as are sandies. I have caught some 18 inch sandies that pulled way harder then a like sized bass.

Normally, I'd say smallmouth but big stripers are something else. I caught a 30 inch fish last night that dragged my 175 Tracker with two anchors down 50 feet toward a dock I assume so he could tangle me on the cables and get lose. I turned him and he's in the ice this morning. hard to imagine anything pulling harder than a striper. Gar come close.

I honestly think a 5 pound carp would probably fight harder.

Carp are dead pullers I snag some biggens now and again and it's a boring fight. Goos are better brawlers of all the "trash" fish. If they where as lively as hybrid/whites smallies/blacks and panfish there would be way more people fishing for them!

Toughest fish i have ever caught would be a bowfin aka Grinnell about 5 lbs but took forever to get it to the boat

You left out #7 Human Female

Nice one. I'm going to definitely tell my wife that one.

No Sturgeon? No Salmon?

Maybe they do get to 5lbs.......

http://www.gameandfishmag.com/fishing/new-world-record-sunfish/

Carp under 15lbs are great fighters, hell of a battle. Larger Carp are a bit like pulling in a moving pillow. Longnose Gar are extremely challenging, when they jump like a Tarpon, man...nothing like it. But overall I tend to agree pound for pound, Bluegills, Hybrid Stripers, Smallies might give the best fight.

Nothing fights harder than the one that gets away I know that a big buffalo snagged in the tail below the spillway in the tailrace will really ruin your day and your elbow.. can't turn one with a fly rod or light gear used for hybrids and whites.. Trust me on this one.. have wasted precious time fighting off one of those buffs when the hybrids and whites were busting the surface all over the place.. very frustrating to find a buff at the end of a good fight that you were sure was a new record hybrid..

For their size I have to go with the Bluegill! Also the Redear Sunfish is a very hard fighter as well!





Side Note: Grass Carp also but up one heck of a fight especially if hooked and caught on an ultra light!

My vote is for striper/hybrid/sandie all of them fight harder then any other. Next would be carp

I've kind of been lucky in where I spent my time growing up. Louisiana, Virginia, Hawaii and Alaska.

Having caught pretty much every freshwater species in each of those states, I'd have to choose Silver, (Coho) Salmon.

http://www.wildpacificsalmon.com/site/680079/PAGE/505884

I would fish them every year on the Anchor River on the Kenai Peninsula, south of Anchorage in Alaska. Almost without fail they wold run 100 yards or so upstream, taking most of the line off of my reel, then turn right back around and run 100 yards past me in the other direction. Phase one would have you hanging on for dear life, trying to slow them down. Phase 2 you would be reeling as fast as you could to take up the line again, and then BAM, they are into your backing once more downstream. When they get tired of running, they go aerial.

In saltwater, id have to pick anything in the Jack Crevalle (Papio or Ulua in Hawaii) http://www.cabelas.com/product/Jack-Crevalle-A-Fish-for-Everyone/533018.uts

On the list given here, I'd have to pick a Rainbow Trout. Not the little stockers that are in the pods in DFW, but the 22" brutes that live in the Russian River at the confluence of the Russian and Kenai River in Alaska. These things are monsters, and will take dozens of feet of drag off of your reel.

I agree 100% that if Bream got in the 5 to 6 lb range, they would be incredible.

The one on your line at the time!!!!!

y'all go hook a 125# tarpon on 20# pline and get back to me if and when you land it.

]should at least put Peacock Bass

Hybrids.

They swim straight down after biting. All other fish dart left and right.

Hmmmm

For freshwater I would think the hybrid is a good choice. The bowfin is good too. A five pound bowfin feels like a ten pound bass.

I saw an earlier answer of Jack Cravelle and that is a solid answer. Pound for pound that fish is a beast.

i would say pike and musky i lived in washington and Ny in the country salmon in the rive once they get headed down stream they are hard to stop same stergon but pike musky fight like hell so do 5lb cats on light to medium gear anything larger and its like pulling in dead weight

Anything in the Jack family

Fish that live in current are the strongest. I've caught all the fish on that list and I say trout. If I have to pick, I say brown, just because they are river fish. I rule out stocked rainbows in a lake, nothing to them. But a fish that lives in current, on appropriate tackle is the biggest challenge.