I learned it from folks like you , the type that keep a canoe by the water ready for topwater fishin! 

25 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Ironically a fight I won’t forget happened yesterday. Luckily my buddy started recording . The fish took a 1/16 oz black marabou jig in clear water, never felt the bite but I saw it flaring its gills and set the hook. The fight was crazy because of the jumps and also the fish buried itself into a rock cave and I had to wade out to free it. You can see it shoot between the two rocks after it comes free and jump yet again. 
 

 

Hardest fighting bass I can remember was a big LM in cold water 2 days after Christmas. I had just picked up my buddy’s rod and made a cast , this fish buried the rod against the side of the boat and I had to push the thumbar and let it take some line or I would have been pulled overboard off the front deck ! 😂. Gotta love it 

That’s a long fish. Weight?

4 minutes ago, alonerankin2 said:

That’s a long fish. Weight?

Wish I would have gotten some measurements/weight on that one! I had just mounted a 24” 8 lb from TX the year before and I guessed that fish about the same so we just got a pic and let it go. Now when I see the pics I’m thinking doggone it looks bigger 😂 

 

thing pulled like dump truck 

@TnRiver46 epic. 

The strongest fresh water fish for me have been the ones I have lost. They seemingly have had the upper hand from the get go. Both times they dug for the bottom & stayed there until they rubbed my leader line to break. Very frustrating. The toughest fight I ever had was from from a big king salmon hooked just above Devils Hole in the Niagara river. It ran up stream against the current & I thought it was going to spool me. We started to chase it with the boat so I could get some line back on the spool but the boat over shot the fish & created a slack line situation which was all the fish needed to get loose. Another heart breaker. Both my PB smallie & largemouth did put up tremendous fights including jumps.  

1 hour ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Both times they dug for the bottom & stayed there until they rubbed my leader line to break.

 

Kent had something similar happen with a smallmouth that might have been the new world record. She just wouldn't budge from the bottom. 

 

I've never hooked anything close to a world record, but I have hooked bass that were sooooooo strong...and then I lost them, either because I couldn't stop them from reaching weeds or because their head shakes were so strong that the wrenched free.

For the everglades big mouths it’s all about slamming them hard and getting them in that net before they even fathom what the heck is going on. Drag? lol, she’s coming in like a torpedo and I’m right there with net in the water ready to scoop her up! The fight is in the net. Not much energy spent. Quick measurements and back she goes. Most all swim off like lightening with me smiling right after them. 

 

As far as fighting goes, I’ve had my fair share of it, especially working with NOAA tagging program. Nothing fights like a great hammerhead off-the-beach on a lazy Saturday. Need multiple hands to get those beast in. 

 

 

 

 

 

Never seen a Hammerhead jump? Mako that big would amazing.

Tom

 

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Never seen a Hammerhead jump? Mako that big would amazing.

Tom

 

The Mako I caught in Ocean City, MD were just over 6' and some surface slashing but no jumps. The fight was pretty grueling, since they run all over the place. We caught them on jigs made from tall boy Budweiser cans. 

Hammerheads don’t jump. Blacktips are the jumpers. Fifty percent of the fight can be out of the water with them, is why they are one of my favorites off the beach. If we’re talking about being in it for the fight, then I’ll take a frisky blacktip any day!