hardest fighing fresh water fish ?

[coarsefish-torbay]

I was left feeling very puzzled as to the disparity between our experience and the received wisdom of others.

 

Even Rudyard Kipling, writing in "The Brushwood Boy" describes the mahseer as "beside whom the tarpon is but a herring"

 

 

Must have another week on the Cauvery sometime to test the mahseer again!

 

I think (and I'm sure Ken would back me up on this) that many anglers fish for mahseer in completely the wrong way and allow them too much lee way to get behind rocks, under branches etc. If you get over the top of a mahseer they don't seem to go anywhere and become very ponderous. Historically anglers cast downstream to a rock that a fish may be hiding behind and then have to cope with a wily fish behind a rock several dozens of yards downstream.

Also, I feel too many anglers still have this learnt behaviour and stick the rod up in the air once a fish is hooked. That makes fish fight much harder.

 

I've never hooked a tarpon or bonefish or marlin, I'm pretty strictly a freshwater angler.

 

Next time you get out to India (Karnataka), let me know in advance and I'll show you some of the other species in the rivers there...

[phil dean]

just done a test, stil sea trout .............he he he...

[Vagabond]

If you get over the top of a mahseer they don't seem to go anywhere and become very ponderous. .

Ahhhh!

 

Thank you, your post explains a lot, because "getting over the top" is precisely the way I instinctively played those mahseer.

 

Many years ago Dick Walker told me how important it was to get over a big cyprinid, "get the rod tip above him" he said, "and he will go round and round like a frisky bull on a pole" Word of wisdom I have never forgotten.

 

Thanks for the offer, will certainly get in touch before a second crack at the mahseer.

Edited June 25, 2008 by Vagabond

[Ken L]

ponderous

 

Hmmm. Can't say that was a word that sprang readily to mind when I Scott hooked the first 20lb+ mahseer that either of us had ever seen and it preceeded to tow him, me and the coracle 50m upstream before we got any sort of control over the fish.

 

Of course, I got over these worries when I was fishing on my own by simply chucking an anchor over the side when I hooked a fish, but again, "ponderous" isn't really what I was thinking when a really big fish suddenly decided to head rapidly upstream towards a timber pile towing me, the coracle and the anchor up the river. OK, so they don't jump but they do demonstrate a degree of raw visceral power that few other fish can match.

 

Mind you, I do agree about tarpon. I've only ever caught the Indo-Pacific variety but.....Wow !

But those boys are salties and you have to throw them in the ring alongside GT's and the like.

Even in temporate waters, salties fight harder than their freshwater counterparts. A sizable (5lb+) lure caught pollock would take anything in our lakes and rivers to the cleaners.

[Jim Murray]

In my experience I would have to say Mullet are the hardest fighting fish Ive caught in freshwater,with trout (either sea or overwintered rainbow) in second place and barbel in third.

 

I make a point of timing a lot of the fights and although the length of fight is not all I reckon it's a pretty good indicator of how hard your fish has fought. FWIW I figure on average:-

 

Mullet - around 1 minute per pound.

 

Barbel - around 2-3 minutes per pound.

 

On similar tackle. I do love my mullet fishing but it's a long time since one has taken me over the 5 minute mark.

[Bobj]

Not that I've ever caught one, but from the videos I have seen, the Papuan Black Bass is about the most brutal bruiser with fins. Lefty Kreh rates it at the top of his list.

Have a squiz:

http://www.baiafishingpng.com/gallery.htm

Edited June 26, 2008 by Bobj

[Codger]

1 Barbel

2 Barbel

3 Barbel!!!!

[Anderoo]

I'd love to catch these perch and tench that fight harder than carp! I've had big perch from a few places and none have fought as hard as a carp of the same size, ditto tench (except males).

 

Not being funny, but a 3lb common will surely fight harder than a 3lb perch, and an 8lb common will surely fight harder than an 8lb tench?

 

(That's not to say I prefer carp to either perch or tench, because I don't )

[andros]

just wanted to no your opions of the hardest fightin fish

if theres any that i havant put down as a choice then write it as a reply

[andros]

I think (and I'm sure Ken would back me up on this) that many anglers fish for mahseer in completely the wrong way and allow them too much lee way to get behind rocks, under branches etc. If you get over the top of a mahseer they don't seem to go anywhere and become very ponderous. Historically anglers cast downstream to a rock that a fish may be hiding behind and then have to cope with a wily fish behind a rock several dozens of yards downstream.

Also, I feel too many anglers still have this learnt behaviour and stick the rod up in the air once a fish is hooked. That makes fish fight much harder.

 

I've never hooked a tarpon or bonefish or marlin, I'm pretty strictly a freshwater angler.

 

Next time you get out to India (Karnataka), let me know in advance and I'll show you some of the other species in the rivers there...