The Fight

[casts_by_fly]

Smallmouth are generally maniacs when they fight.  They accelerate like a tuna or jack at any point after they are hooked.  When you think he's turned a corner and given up he'll wake up and peel drag on you.  Largemouth are the grouper like fighters.  You hook a good one and you know you have something before he turns his head.  Once you get him turned then sure he'll fight but is more of a hard dig than a screaming acceleration.  The big wide tail on a largemouth is good for sudden bursts over a short distance, but the narrower semi fork of a smaller is built for speed.

[Zcoker]

56 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

 

My experience is very limited in the saltwater realm but the Jack I caught in March 2018 off the Florida Keys was the hardest fighting fish of any species I have ever caught.  Tarpon were a close second, but with more aerial acrobatics.

 

 

 

We call them Florida GT's down here in south Florida. We get them right off the local beaches during our annual mullet run on surf rods. WHAT A FIGHT! 

 

[gimruis]

23 minutes ago, Zcoker said:

WHAT A FIGHT! 

Here's mine.  After 15 minutes, the captain said "we're gonna have to use the outboard to go over to him.  You aren't making any headway."

[Gera]

While I do think that smallmouth bass fight is much more fun, I use different tackle to catch them and makes the comparison difficult sometimes. I usually go after smallmouth on lighter tackle than largemouth and that makes the fish feel stronger. 

 

I also think that the bass in Mexico put bigger fight, closer to Northern strain bass we find here in MI. 

 

[Catt]

Go nuthin concerning Smallmouth 

 

I may have missed it but I didn't see any mention of water depth.

 

One thing I love about Toledo Bend is hooking a 8#+ on the bottom in 20'+. I've had em put me on my knees. 

 

Saltwater try moving a Goliath Grouper!

[TnRiver46]

Smallmouth certainly fight really hard but I recall a couple 8 lb largemouth that I thought were going to sink my boat they pulled so hard. One of them buried my rod waaaaaay down underwater and I had to push the thumb bar to let it run. I was nearly pulled overboard 

 

I will report back if I ever get an 8 lb smallmouth 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 hour ago, Jar11591 said:

Rock bass fight like crazy for the first 0.5 seconds of the fight, then give up immediately. Just long enough to trick you into thinking you have a good fish. But overall I think they’re the weakest fighting of the centrarchids. 

That's similar to what a slab Crappie does on Bass tackle I noticed.     That 1-1.5lb sized fish will fight hard for a few seconds, and then you ski them across the top of the water back to you.   They totally submit unlike even the tiniest of Bass.    Bass and Catfish have a particular meanness to them not only when fighting, but when handling.     Catfish will straight up chomp your hand and fingers.

 

Every time I've had to stick my fingers deep into a bigger sized fish mouth's for hook removal, they clamp down like a shark and give me that "road rash" that actually bleeds.    

 

Spots will down right try to jump back in the boat when you release them ?

[gimruis]

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I was nearly pulled overboard 

[Susky River Rat]

Smallies fight better. River smallies fight even harder. I was fishing a big slack water pool in the river. Not on spot lock it was that slack. I hooked something and thought for sure the way it pulled and ran it was a carp I snagged in the tail by accident. Ended up being a 4lber. This revived my wanting to fish for bass again over other species.  Fighting a strong smallie in current is darn right some of the most fun you can ever have.

[Bankbeater]

Smallies fight harder.  They always have and they always will.

[DitchPanda]

I'd say without a doubt a smaller fights much harder than a largemouth lb for lb. That said I'd say a bluegill for the size is tougher than both of them. In my lifetime I've caught lots of river smallies in the 12oz to 1lb range and thousands of dink largies that size...all the bluegills I've caught that size would put both of those fish to shame. The bluegill may not be flashy and jump but the low end torque of a 1lb gill on appropriate tackle is something to behold.

[Kirtley Howe]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

Go nuthin concerning Smallmouth 

 

I may have missed it but I didn't see any mention of water depth.

 

One thing I love about Toledo Bend is hooking a 8#+ on the bottom in 20'+. I've had em put me on my knees. 

 

Saltwater try moving a Goliath Grouper!

Ever hook into a Manta Ray? You will think you have hooked up with some kind of demon.

[Kirtley Howe]

3 hours ago, WRB said:

In generalI agree that Smallmouth fight harder then Largemouth, Spotted bass are faster but rarely jump.

The health and condition of the individual bass affects their strength and ability to fight. The size of the lure and where the hook has penetrated impacts the bass ability to fight. Lots of factors.

Hardest fighting fish and fastest swimmers are salt water species like jack and tuna family pound for pound 

Just my opinion. Generally,  ..Northern Largemouth fight harder than Southern Largemouth. Smallmouth fight harder than Largemouth. River Smallmouth fight harder than lake Smallmouth. But pound for pound, a King Salmon on its' spawning run will out fight any other freshwater fish I have ever hooked. As a friend of mine observed (QUOTE) If you knew you could only have sex ONE TIME in your life, you would be pretty well motivated, wouldn't you? <G>

[dodgeguy]

5 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Always an interesting debate ~

Never caught a spotted bass so I can't comment there. 

While there is little doubt that 'trophy sized' brown & green bass don't usually come to the net easily, my general feeling on this has three basic aspects to it.

First revolves around the rule of gross tonnage.

The second has to do with tackle used.

And third involves water temperature. 

So big bass, regardless of color, fight hard IMO.

And big in my mind is a smallie over 6lbs and a LMB over 10 lbs. 

Just basic physics, big powerful tails, taller & wider bodies can create greater force than smaller models.  And IME big bass are Not lazy and DO most certainly jump, really high sometimes too.  

Now tackle, if I used the same gear I used for big green bass to land big brown bass, the 'fight' might not be all that exciting.  Conversely if I used the same gear I usually fish for brown bass with, to target big green bass, I'd probably never land one. 

Finally water temp; cooler means less active in ALL regards.

Warmer water temp can & often does mean super charged.

So I'm going to say this has to be considered as part of this discussion. 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

Let me know if you want to see some video to support any of this.

I can do that.

A-Jay

 

 

 

 

This is the most intelligent thing I've heard on the matter. I would like to state that from my catches big largemouth go down and try to wrap you up where as smallies go airborne which is more exciting.

[Bird]

River Smallmouth fight harder than any fish I've caught pound for pound and pickerel the least.

Crappie on ultralight is also quite the fight.

 

We have several lakes around here that support healthy populations of Largemouth and Smallmouth and when you hook one, most often you know what you got.

[Columbia Craw]

If I want mere power and a struggle to get the fish to move, sturgeon.  Regarding the LM v SM comparison, I’ll go with smallmouth.  Largemouth are nose tackles and smallmouth are outside linebackers.

[papajoe222]

Not only do SM fight harder, I feel that their strike is more aggressive. I'm not talking about a subtle inhale of a tube or jig, but hammering a spinnerbait or crank.  Similar to comparing a Northern and a musky, although most would agree that the pike is much more aggressive in these two comparisons.

[WRB]

I was very disappointed with the rolling fight of Pike, they don’t jump and give up after a short fight. Musky on the other hand live up to their reputation and fight harder, faster and jump, big fish and exciting to catch. 

Anyone who thinks giant FLMB are lazy never hook into one!

I hooked my PB 19.3 lb FLMB after casting about 40 yards.

This bass was in about 17’ of water when hooked and jumped a body length out of the water the ran straight at the boat and underneath out the opposite side another 20 yards, nearly a 180’ run! This old bass didn’t give up and fought hard but was in deep open water where I had the advantage of wearing it down before landing it. If a tree or rocky structure came in contact with the line the bass would have won.

If this bass choose to run the opposite direction it would have freight trained me into trouble.

The tackle you are using has a big affect on how a fish fights. I was using standard MHF bass rod with 10# mono line. Same fish in Heavy 8’ swimbait tackle with 25# test line the fight is very different.

Tom

[GreenPig]

Zero experience with SM, sadly. IMO a Spotted Bass at 4 lbs will out pull a 10 lb LM and fight you all the way through the release.

[Tackleholic]

In my opinion, from experience, a Smallmouth fights like he wants to rip off my arm and beat me to death with it.  Coming in second is a lowly 3-4 lb. White Bass;  a Largemouth is a wannabe compared to them.

[The Bassman]

52 minutes ago, Tackleholic said:

In my opinion, from experience, a Smallmouth fights like he wants to rip off my arm and beat me to death with it.  Coming in second is a lowly 3-4 lb. White Bass;  a Largemouth is a wannabe compared to them.

The limited times I have caught white bass have convinced me that if I had to choose one group of gamefish over all others it would be the striper/white/yellow/hybrid group. Crazy hard fighters,fast action, and typically open water with fast moving baits. Don't think it could get any better than that.

[Susky River Rat]

6 hours ago, WRB said:

I was very disappointed with the rolling fight of Pike, they don’t jump and give up after a short fight. Musky on the other hand live up to their reputation and fight harder, faster and jump, big fish and exciting to catch. 

Anyone who thinks giant FLMB are lazy never hook into one!

I hooked my PB 19.3 lb FLMB after casting about 40 yards.

This bass was in about 17’ of water when hooked and jumped a body length out of the water the ran straight at the boat and underneath out the opposite side another 20 yards, nearly a 180’ run! This old bass didn’t give up and fought hard but was in deep open water where I had the advantage of wearing it down before landing it. If a tree or rocky structure came in contact with the line the bass would have won.

If this bass choose to run the opposite direction it would have freight trained me into trouble.

The tackle you are using has a big affect on how a fish fights. I was using standard MHF bass rod with 10# mono line. Same fish in Heavy 8’ swimbait tackle with 25# test line the fight is very different.

Tom

Musky are wishy washy fish. They generally just head shake. Don’t run to far if you she the right tackle but they are very explosive. Most musky guys do their best to keep them from becoming airborne. Rod down maybe even the tip in the water. A musky airborne generally means a lost one. I’ve had mid 40s come right in the net and I’ve had mid 40s head-shake like a dog with a rope toy. I love musky fishing but, personally I think smallies are the better fighting fish. There is just a lot of folklore around musky.

[Woody B]

Water temperature plays a role but I think the individual fish plays an even bigger role.   I don't fish for, or even where smallies are much.  I've caught 3 this year,  all on the same day, in 52 degree water.  1 of them fought like it was possessed.  The other 2 were basically bricks.   My PB smallie (6 pounds) 40 years ago fought like it was possessed.  It jumped multiple times, ran under the boat on a long run, then when I thought it was ready it took off again when it saw the net.  A kid I had with me that day caught an 8 pound smallie.   It basically just came to the boat.   

 

My PB largemouth (10.25) was really strong, but not fast at all.  It pulled like a submarine.  It didn't "jump".  It would just stick it head out of the water and kinda sit there shaking it's mouth.   It looked like it was in slow motion.   It freaked out when it saw the net.  

 

My best (LM) of 2022 (7 lbs 13 ounces) was basically dead weight.  

 

My PB spot (4 lbs 4 ounces, Dec 2022) was like a jet powered submarine.  It was the day I bought my boat, in 52 degree water.   I thought I had tail snagged a carp or something.   Like others have said, I can't imagine an 8 pound spot.   

[Zcoker]

15 hours ago, gimruis said:

Here's mine.  After 15 minutes, the captain said "we're gonna have to use the outboard to go over to him.  You aren't making any headway."

 

Nice fish! On the beach there is no such thing as motoring over to the fish lol. It's do or die, especially with giant tarpon. Those fish are brutal to bring in off the beach! I'll take a jack any day over them. 

[Mobasser]

2 hours ago, The Bassman said:

The limited times I have caught white bass have convinced me that if I had to choose one group of gamefish over all others it would be the striper/white/yellow/hybrid group. Crazy hard fighters,fast action, and typically open water with fast moving baits. Don't think it could get any better than that.

I agree on white bass. Years ago my brother and I got into them on Bull Schools lake here in MO. Using Beetle Spins, we caught 40 or so. They were hard fighting fish.