Fish fight - rate from 10 to -10

[James Clain]

Alrighty, as the previous ratings on fish taste quality sparked a lot of conversation lets rate fish fight quality. The fight quality of a fish is a mixture of speed, grunt and stamina. Some fish are just really great at peeling off line on a light setup really quickly, some are great at pulling strips while under heavy drag pressure and some fish just don't give up. Whereas some just feel like a wet rag. 

For arguments sake lets all assume each fish you rate is of the same size. Seeing as a 3m shark would put up a better fight than a 30cm bream however I am pretty sure that a 30cm bream would put a 30cm shark to shame. 

 

Trevally (especially GTs) 10/10

Kingfish 10/10

bully mullet 9/10

Mac Tuna 9/10

aussie salmon 9/10

bass 7/10

tailor 4/10

bream 6/10

snapper 6/10

leatherjacket -10/10

flathead 2/10

redfin -5/10

 

[dirvin21]

Bream 7/10

Mangrove jack 8/10

GT 8/10

Big eye trevally 9/10

Kingfish 10/10

Mullet 10/10

Bass 8/10

Murray cod 6/10

Barramundi 8/10

Flounder 2/10

[noelm]

Kingfish seem to get a 10 from everyone, they do pull, but, only for a short time, nothing prolonged like (say) a decent Yellowfin Tuna! I guess it's all relative to the target species and the gear used

[Yowie]

13 minutes ago, noelm said:

 I guess it's all relative to the target species and the gear used

A 60cm tailor - 4.5 pound - on a 10 pound handline. Took some time to get it into the boat. A similar sized kingie makes a few good runs and puts up a fight, whereas the tailor was zig-zagging all over the place and not easy to control.

[PaddyT]

9 minutes ago, noelm said:

Kingfish seem to get a 10 from everyone, they do pull, but, only for a short time, nothing prolonged like (say) a decent Yellowfin Tuna! I guess it's all relative to the target species and the gear used

yep, kings the fight is short and sharp , tuna , marlin, decent sharks it just goes on and on !!! Some fish are disadvantaged by the gear used to catch them as well. Small tailor on beach gear are no challange but 2-3 kg plus fish are a different beast , you can wind a small marlin in very quickly on 15kgs (which has its own depths of amusement) but a 30kg black on 8 kg will take 15-20 minutes to get boatside and calm it down. Tuna go into the circle of pain in deep water and can take forever.

Anyway i dont really care on big stuff these days-i drive the boat and some other sucker can be on the rod!!!!

[Isaac Ct]

GT's and anything pelagic will pull hard, people say flatties don't fight but they can give one hell of a tussle on light line.

[FrigateMack]

Nice one.

For their size -

Kings 10/10

Bonitos 8/10

Larger mack tunas 10/10

Bream 8/10 (light gear)

Trevally 9/10 (light gear)

That one spanish I got 11/10 (but I wonder if I got a small one..)

[Blackfish]

If Whiting grew to 10kg's 

[James Clain]

4 hours ago, noelm said:

Kingfish seem to get a 10 from everyone, they do pull, but, only for a short time, nothing prolonged like (say) a decent Yellowfin Tuna! I guess it's all relative to the target species and the gear used

Yeah it does definitely, say its a faster fish then the fight will be more exciting on lighter gear but potentially less exciting on heavier gear as they might not have the grunt to pull the line out. 

[Restyle]

Kings = 10 
salmon = 7

jewfish = 5

bonito = 7

gummy sharks & bronze whalers = 6

mullet = 8

Tailor = 5 

trevally = 7

bream = 5

whiting = 5

flatty = 4

snapper = 6

yakkas & slimies = 5 (pull well for their size)

flounder = 3

leather jackets = 3

 

My ratings are based on fish I've caught and personal experience's with them. I find it rather difficult to get a estimation if they were all the same size as the gear, tackle and methods you use are different.

The gear used on the pelagic fish & jewfish  is a 4000 or 5000 reel spooled with 20lb.

The sharks were caught on a 8000 reel, 30lb & a sensor surf beach rood 

bream, trevs, flattys, jackets, flounder & tailor are all on a 1000 or 2500 reel spooled with 10lb

slimeys, whiting, mullet & just about every bread n butter fish are also on 1000 reel with 6lb. Bonito have been caught on this setup and they fight really well on it.

Yakkas and slimeys are great fun on the light gear. my first jew (61cm) was caught on 10lb, 1000 reel and it was a real good fight aswell.

 

[dirvin21]

6 hours ago, Blackfish said:

If Whiting grew to 10kg's 

We'd be in big trouble 

[frankS]

Black Bass The hardest fish I ever tangled with Only 33 lb but felt like 100 so I rate them # 1 fighting fish of all.

Yellowfin Tuna 10

G T's 9 1/2 

Threadfin Salmon 9 1/2

Dolphin fish 8 really good fun and all round top fish

Cobia 8

Wahoo 8 

Bass 8

Sampson fish 7 1/2

Kingies 7 1/2

Snapper 7

Barramundi 7 best at acrobatics

Gummy Shark 7

greenback Tailor 6

Silver Trevally 6

Morwong 6

Bream 6 pretty well all the rest of the table fish 5 or under.

Murray cod 5

I haven't included any of the Marlin here but the best fighting by far is the Blue

My opinion others will no doubt have different views

Frank

 

 

Edited November 27, 2021 by frankS

[wazatherfisherman]

Good topic James! Besides fighting time, other factors I considered were the actual terrain that my list were caught from, including 'difficulty to land' and in my ratings I thought of things like 'dirty fighting', stamina and actual difficulty of hooking the species. 

In some sort of order

Hardest to land on light tackle- 1 Surgeonfish, 2 Black Drummer, 3 Mangrove Jack, 4 Kingfish, 5 Trevally

Longest stamina (fighting time)- 1 Yellowfin Tuna, 2 Striped Tuna, 3 Salmon, 4 Sampson, 5 GT's

Hardest to hook of all- Surgeonfish by a mile

Honourable mentions to Mullet and large Carp (over about 6-7kg)

Edited November 27, 2021 by wazatherfisherman

[big Neil]

I fish in freshwater mostly so will limit my assessment to that environment. It's very difficult to rate species v species because of the environmental issues involved. I often use 30lb braid and leader because of the extremely snaggy locations that fish inhabit. As most of my fishing is done with heavier than required gear (for landing most fish) I can really only relate that CARP are definitely (pound for pound) on top of any list. Murray Cod fight briefly, provided they can be kept out of their snaggy environment. So really the only information of any relevance is that big Carp are often underestimated in providing fun for the freshwater angler. bn

[Yowie]

4 hours ago, big Neil said:

 I can really only relate that CARP are definitely (pound for pound) on top of any list. So really the only information of any relevance is that big Carp are often underestimated in providing fun for the freshwater angler. bn

A few years ago, I pulled out a 59cm carp at Nyngan, not a whopper but bigger than the tiddlers I have caught before. It pulled out more line than I thought it would, then after that another one that did not stop and ended up reefing me in some tree roots. They were biting on floating bread crusts. I could see the mouth open up and swallow the bread crusts but no idea of what was behind that mouth.

[big Neil]

7 hours ago, Yowie said:

A few years ago, I pulled out a 59cm carp at Nyngan, not a whopper but bigger than the tiddlers I have caught before. It pulled out more line than I thought it would, then after that another one that did not stop and ended up reefing me in some tree roots. They were biting on floating bread crusts. I could see the mouth open up and swallow the bread crusts but no idea of what was behind that mouth.

A great way to hook them Yowie...then the fun starts. I usually spend quite a bit of time targeting them during Cod closed season. Well worth the effort. bn

[Thunderboltlifestyle]

Everyone putting flatty's so low i reckon they put up a good fight on the flats on light gear on a lure. Id call them at least a 6 

[noelm]

6 minutes ago, Thunderboltlifestyle said:

Everyone putting flatty's so low i reckon they put up a good fight on the flats on light gear on a lure. Id call them at least a 6 

Yes true, but then, skull dragging a Flathead up on 30lb line in 30m of water is not exactly the same, but, the fish is the same (kind of) that's why I said it's hard to really say what fights more, a decent Groper will pull a Kingfish backwards, and if Drummer grew to Groper size.........it's all relative to gear, location and circumstances, I have caught literally hundreds of Kingfish over 20kg, and they fight OK for a minute or so, but, rating a 10? nah a big Yellowfin will/can have you on your knees after an hour, no Kingfish or Flathead is going to do that.

[big Neil]

3 minutes ago, noelm said:

Yes true, but then, skull dragging a Flathead up on 30lb line in 30m of water is not exactly the same, but, the fish is the same (kind of) that's why I said it's hard to really say what fights more, a decent Groper will pull a Kingfish backwards, and if Drummer grew to Groper size.........it's all relative to gear, location and circumstances, I have caught literally hundreds of Kingfish over 20kg, and they fight OK for a minute or so, but, rating a 10? nah a big Yellowfin will/can have you on your knees after an hour, no Kingfish or Flathead is going to do that.

Well summed up noelm. A good discussion topic from young James, but too many variables to form definitive answers. The other associated topic was a bit that way too... good for determining that 95% like Flathead, but compared to what?

 

bn

[Thunderboltlifestyle]

14 minutes ago, noelm said:

Yes true, but then, skull dragging a Flathead up on 30lb line in 30m of water is not exactly the same, but, the fish is the same (kind of) that's why I said it's hard to really say what fights more, a decent Groper will pull a Kingfish backwards, and if Drummer grew to Groper size.........it's all relative to gear, location and circumstances, I have caught literally hundreds of Kingfish over 20kg, and they fight OK for a minute or so, but, rating a 10? nah a big Yellowfin will/can have you on your knees after an hour, no Kingfish or Flathead is going to do that.

Fish everything Light then it's all fun and every things a fight 

[bessell1955]

I reckon, pound for pound, it is hard to beat Bass for a fight. 

[Thunderboltlifestyle]

On 11/29/2021 at 10:45 AM, bessell1955 said:

I reckon, pound for pound, it is hard to beat Bass for a fight. 

That's why I stocked my dam  with bass.

[XD351]

On 11/28/2021 at 1:50 AM, wazatherfisherman said:

Good topic James! Besides fighting time, other factors I considered were the actual terrain that my list were caught from, including 'difficulty to land' and in my ratings I thought of things like 'dirty fighting', stamina and actual difficulty of hooking the species. 

In some sort of order

Hardest to land on light tackle- 1 Surgeonfish, 2 Black Drummer, 3 Mangrove Jack, 4 Kingfish, 5 Trevally

Longest stamina (fighting time)- 1 Yellowfin Tuna, 2 Striped Tuna, 3 Salmon, 4 Sampson, 5 GT's

Hardest to hook of all- Surgeonfish by a mile

Honourable mentions to Mullet and large Carp (over about 6-7kg)

Hooked on to what I believe to be a surgeon fish while fishing for Luderick under the spit bridge - no hope of stopping them on Luderick gear and I reckon a surgeon would pull a Drummer backwards ! 
Not that I have caught one or even fished for them but I have heard that those that have regard Black bass to be the top of the pops in regards to brutal hand to hand combat .

Whiting might not be regarded as one of the hardest fighting fish but I will give them this they never give up - up on the flats with super light line it is like fishing for mini bonefish !