How each species of fish fights when hooked

[tiddlertamer]

I’m going to have a try at describing how each species of fish fights when hooked. I’ll rely on others to describe certain species, but I’ll have a stab at the species of river fish I target.

Firstly though, it’s worth mentioning Chris Yates who describes each species’ fight in his wonderful book ‘How to Fish’.

“Nothing runs as insanely far as a salmon and nothing runs as cunningly far as a carp. Tench have a throbbing tugboat determination while a roach’s fin stroke is more delicate and fluid.” He goes on to talk about the way barbel lock down during their fight.

 

I have only caught one barbel. It was 12lb though... Trotting a float down the river Lee I noted its disappearance and struck. I thought I must have struck bottom at first. And then the bottom moved. The barbel hugged the river bed and only towards the end of the fight did it storm upstream. A nifty bit of side strain brought it back but the fight in total lasted over 15 minutes. I did in fact scramble in up to my waist in the river to release it afterwards. Respect to the barbel. And yup it sure did lock down...

 

The roach: I would love, so love to catch a 2lb roach. In fact my best is only 8 ounces. By all accounts they put up a jagged fight though. My best kinda did but it was hardly a giant... Anyone out there who’s caught a large one care to describe the fight.

 

The bream - much maligned methinks. I recently caught a 5lb 10 oz river bream. It didn’t run for miles but it did explode around the swim for a minute or so.

I’ve also had a bream of less than two pounds from a canal that raced around its swim for a minute too but I’ve also had a bream of the same weight that skimmed over the surface like a plastic bag. Surely the weakest fighter of the fish that grow large. Yates wrote that they fin determinedly before ‘pretending to be a paper bag’. There’s a bag theme going on here though my reference is perhaps a touch more contemporary...

 

The chub dashes for cover as soon as it hooks but then might well come to the surface near the net only to have one last dash. Bully it for the first few seconds within hooking normally sees you win the day. Normally...

 

And the perch? Chris Yates says that large perch have a series of ‘weaving, jagged runs.’ Sounds about right though I have picked up the unfortunate habit of losing large perch at the net as they shake their head and throw the hook.

 

Carp aren’t a fish I target. But fishing a lob worm for perch on a canal last year, my float disappeared, I struck and my reel suddenly started screeching as my tackle disappeared on a run of over 50 yards. Maybe closer to 75. No perch that! Ten minutes later I finally netted a fin perfect 9lb common carp. Some people dislike the emergence of the carp as the fish that dominates modern angling. Me too. But gawd, they fight like stink!

 

But what of the grayling. Its huge dorsal fin helping it to hold its place in any strong current.

The pike? I’ve not caught one though have had a tug of war over a small dace. I lost as did the dace.

I’ve caught a ten ounce dace once and it did fight well for its small weight. Best pound for pound fish? (Or ounce for ounce...)

The zander? Never seen one let alone caught one. Not as savage a fight as a pike of the same weight I believe but then I have caught neither...

Which fight do you remember most?

Edited September 10, 2009 by tiddlertamer

[Anderoo]

I'm starting to think that perch are as bad if not worse than chub for the 'near bank dive'. Both species always surprise you under the rod tip, usually when you're fumbling with a landing net or something... I don't find that chub do that much during the actual fight, just put up a fair bit of resistance (helped by the flow) but as soon as they're within dashing distance of a snag they suddenly find a huge spurt of energy.

 

I find that perch usually zoom about a fair bit initially, then slow down and start the head shaking, and then go for the near bank snags when you think you've won

 

Grayling twist and turn in the flow, giving a very distinctive feeling of gyrating and jagging, and then they usually come off

 

Tench thump - especially the males. They seem to alternate between short, hard runs and hard thumps on the rod tip.

 

I don't think I've ever caught a bream that's actually fought. My biggest one shook its head a few times which resulted in some slow, strong pulls on the rod, but I have never had a proper fight from one. I think it was Chris Yates who said that they seem to live their lives half asleep.

 

Trout are just mental

 

Dace are real scrappers, lightning fast runs and fight way above their size, even more so than trout.

 

Zander generally don't fight very hard, much less so than perch or pike for their size. I can't think of any 'typical' aspects of a zander fight.

 

Carp seem to be 'zoomers' when small and 'plodders' when big and can go on very long runs if the mood takes them.

 

Pike tire quite quickly but can make incredibly fast runs. I've never caught a 20lb+ pike so perhaps the big ones are more ploddy?

 

The first really big roach I caught fought as you describe, very jagged. I was float fishing maggots in a Norfolk drain and thought I'd hooked another eel, such was the banging on the rod tip. I couldn't be bothered to land and unhook another eel (they were very plentiful 20 years ago) so I did all I could to knock the damn thing off the line. Fortunately it didn't work, and instead of a slimey eel, a massive roach broke the surface...it weighed 1.5oz over the magic 2lb and is still my PB!

 

(I expect Richard or Budgie can give some very intricate accounts of an eel fight )

[Worms]

Grayling fights are what I think I love most. Especially on light float tackle or on the fly. Their ability to hold station in fast water and to increase drag with that big dorsal fin whilst indulging in some terrier-like head-shaking is enough to put you off your guard.

 

The float dips or the fly is engulfed in a purple grey nose, you tighten into the fish and the rod tip lurches towards the river, you give line carefully braking the rim of the reel. The fish is about two feet down, midstream in the fastest stretch of water. You catch the odd silver flash, but god, it must be huge, the rod is bent like a hoop and you're only using 2.5lb hooklength and a size 14 hook. You lower the rod tip to use the mid section of the rod to apply more, gentle power and then, without warning, the fish runs upstream or downstream or across to the other bank or even under your feet. giving line (or frantically reeling in if it zooms under your feet), you raise the rod tip again. The fish kites in the current, comes to the surface and splashes about like a 1/2lb chub, "got it" you breathe to yourself and start reeling the spent fish in.............a flick of the tail and the she is off again, into the bottom of the deep pool on the opposite bank, or, shooting up the 6" deep riffle, dorsal fin out of the water and spraying water from her tail like a speedboat, that terrier shaking leaving you wondering nervously about the hold that barbless size 14 has! You turn the fish again and she surfaces, and you bring her to the net........ cautiously! You were right to be cautious, 2 feet from the net she turns and takes a vicious but short run......this is the fish loser, be ready to allow that final dash! From there, she succumbs to the pressure and drifts into the net. No it's not that longed for 3lber, but a fine fish of about 1 1/2lb. Rested in the net (the hook fell out as soon as you netted it) for a few minutes and then gently lifted out, you cradle her in your hands in the water, head upstream for what seems like an eternity. Just as you shift to a more comfortable position (your leg's gone to sleep) she flicks her tail and disappears in one last silver flash.............you rebait/dry and oil your fly, cast again and, if your lucky.............

[Peter M]

Some evocative descriptions here and ones that I surely would be foolish to try to emulate. However, I love the turn of speed that a tench has when hooked on float tackle. When hooked “accidently” on a carp rod I find they nod the rod a lot and it’s a shame to catch them like this as I prefer to catch them on the float.

 

I also am musing at the moment about how some carp fight hard and others don’t; even in the same session last week I found that the first carp put up a hell of a scrap and later one came meekly to the net almost as if it thought ‘ok lets get it all over and done with’.

 

Not a coarse fish I know but I was lucky enough to catch a smooth hound when boat fishing recently, I pumped it up from sixty feet of water and it took one look at the boat and did a crash dive taking yards and yards of line and I had to start over again. It had great agility and speed that I felt was reminiscent of a barble.

 

I was also lucky to have caught roach to one and a half pounds on a couple of occasions and it was while catching lots of its small bretheren to a few ounces and I think it is the shock value of suddenly catching something so much bigger that may make the fight seem larger in my mind; on both occasions I thought I had hooked a carp at first.

 

Ounce for ounce gudgeon fight well and if mackerel grew to 10 pounds we would be a nation of mackerel anglers, all thoughts of carp banished for ever.

[Steve Walker]

Eels are distinctive (oh no!).

[wayne baker]

I will have a go at the pike fight. I my experience there's two types. The jack. A quick jigga jag of the head and a quick surrender to the surface. On the other hand when you hook a bigger one there's a few moments of solid resistance then the head and shoulders start say leave me alone, Or what the hells going on. Very similar to the jacks fight but more deliberate and stronger they tend to kite a few times left to right until they finally are wallowing in front of you and seem done. Then they find a second breath and explode on the surface like a rabid alligator. After a couple of tail walks. If your John Wilson. lol you should have them safely in the net. Gracefully incarcerated docile and ready for unhooking in a quick no fuss manner.

[Kappa]

(I expect Richard or Budgie can give some very intricate accounts of an eel fight )

 

I don't know what you mean!

 

All I know, eels always go hand in hand with lots of swearing and being covered in superglue like slime.

 

Rich

[tiddlertamer]

One fish that I neglected to mention is the lovely rudd.

 

I have never been lucky enough to catch one of any size.

 

I assume they fight like a roach but that is a complete guess.

Anyone here been lucky enough to catch a large rudd? How do they fight?

[BoldBear]

My experience of the Barbel fight:

 

Right from moment my rod tip takes on an alarming bend I know that I am in for a hectic fight.

and if I don't have my hand close to my rod then it can end up heading straight for the water,

(as many a Barbel angler has found to his or her misfortune).

The Barbel appears to be totally aware of it's surroundings and it will hug the bottom and head downstream

using the full force of the current to evade capture or across and under beds of streamer weed or into tree-root

ridden undercuts and I have had one or two swim into an undercut right under the bank by my feet with the hook ending up stuck in a root.

They have been reported by some to even grab hold of underwater roots in their mouths to try to rid themselves of the strange thing that is pulling against their mouth. One thing you can usually be sure of is that they will fight untill it they are totally exhausted.

 

The runs don't seem to get any less violent even when you think the Barbel is ready for the net it will still

surprise you by turning over and taking another powerful run towards some snag, just when you thought it was

ready for the net.

Because it generally uses up all of its energy during the fight the Barbel will need to be recovered (sometimes

for up to 20 minutes) with its head upstream so that the oxygenated water washes into its mouth and out of

its gills before it finally recovers and swims away.

 

There are exceptions where the Barbel are often caught over and over again day in day out where the Barbel

appear to have learnt by repetition that if they just give up they will end up back in their watery home faster.

In Peter Stones book 'Bream and Barbel' Richard Walker mentioned this in a letter to stoney and stoney described a nine pound Barbel that just swam in circles when hooked in the Royalty back in the Royaltys heydays when it used to be a mecca for Barbel anglers, but this is a rare occurance and certainly not typical of the Barbel.

Edited September 9, 2009 by BoldBear

[tiddlertamer]

I don't think I've ever caught a bream that's actually fought. My biggest one shook its head a few times which resulted in some slow, strong pulls on the rod, but I have never had a proper fight from one. I think it was Chris Yates who said that they seem to live their lives half asleep.

 

 

I think most anglers would agree with your sentiments Anderoo.

 

Worth watching out for a John Wilson DVD though - A John Wilson Go Fishing special on float fishing, slider and stret pegging.

Fishing a secluded Norfolk lake from his boat, he catches nine double figure bream up to 14lb. "Magic, absolute magic."

 

And these bream really do put up a bit of a fight.

 

I don't think he's just exaggerating for the camera because with the fish staying down deep in the 13 foot deep swim, they didn't appear to give up too easily.

 

And 14lb is quite some fish. "What a clonker!"

Edited September 10, 2009 by tiddlertamer