Who is the Strongest Fish??

[GRAND DAD]

Wow I can only comment on what I have caught in my life and I would say pound of pound in my book and some might laugh DOGFISH!!!!! And am surprized know one has brought them up yet.

[Croix]

Smallmouth out of a River, 22 incher on DC-10 will change your mind.

Sturgeon is a close second in my book.

[Steve Foss]

Since the OP talked about large fighting fish, I'll leave sunnies out of the mix (they'd get the nod as mentioned because of their body shape and resistance to being pulled through water.)

For me, it's the king (Chinook) salmon, followed by lake trout. Salmon for those screaming runs and lake trout for their bulldogging and muscle.

[hanson]

after watching hanson in that cat video i think that might give anything a run for the money.

That was the hardest fighting fish I've ever caught in MN, hands down! I think my back still hurts.

Sturgeon are right at the top of my list as well. They can peel line off a cinched down Garcia 7000 and that takes a lot of effort to do!

[Loos15]

Dogfish are indeed worthy foes. I've never had a harder battle than when I fought a 25" incher. He ran half my spool, and took over 20 minutes to haul in on a med heavy rod. And he tried to bite me.

[SlabSlayKid]

artic grayling, its hard to get a real big one but with a fly rod they put up quite a fight for their size. if we are talking big fish tho that put up pound for pound a heck of a fight my vote is for the chinook salmon.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I think each fish has its own strong point at times. For pure strength, the sterg, hardest fish I have ever fought. Smallmouth never give up. The first initial run of a large Pike or Muskie is tough to beat. Big bull gills on an ultra light is a blast. I havn't read all the posts, but Cap, are abnormally strong for their weight it seems...

[genegodawa]

Dietz, maybe "she" is also mentioned in that song "Oh My Darlin'" (Clementine?)

Anyway, to topic....my first reaction was Sturgeon, second was Steelhead.

And for sure any fish sure is fun to catch though..and don't even bring up which species tastes best.

[2thepointsetters]

King salmon will get my vote.

[ChuckN]

Since the question is "strongest fish". Nothing is tougher, stronger and gives more of a fight than the pre-historic sturgeon, IMO.

[hanso612]

Iv'e caught a 60 pound catfish, and giant northers, but without a doubt the best fight is a king salmon. Not any king salmon, but a bright silver king from open water, not one in full spawing colors ready to head up a river, nor one on it's last legs having spent to many nights in the river with the ladies.

Cats have an almost nonexistant swim bladder making then less nutrally bouyant than other species, so pulling them off the bottom becomes more of an issue. Think of it as trying to pull a ten pound anchor off the bottom with ten pound test.

But the blister on my thumb from tying to slow a thirty pound king who was about to spool me wins the day. IMO Hans

[Windy City]

I would have to say the anchovy. My wife says if I put one of those little critters on a pizza she can taste it. By far the "strongest" fish I know! LOL

Windy

[glenn57]

the one that broke my line and got away!

[ikatcher]

interesting reading, i've caught some decent size sturgeon, all on walleye gear, i'm guessing you couldn't come close to landing a king on walleye gear.( i've never tried it and the sturgeon were all accident fish.)

[crazyice]

three words, Lake Sturgeon period

[TonkaBass]

You avitar pretty much sums it up! That thing looks like a being from another planet!

[crazyice]

That was an 80 lber that took close to an hour to get in. What a fight!

[fiskyknut]

I think them Sturgeonfish are getting the nod because they do run rather large when compared to everything else in MN. To me they are rather lackluster and boring fighters but being they are so large they do pull back pretty good.

Take a 25 pound Channel Cat and a 25 pound Sturgeonfish hook 'em up tail to tail and the Channel Cat wins everytime.

King Salmon, yeehaw now there's a fish that'll pull. There's a reason they call 'em "smokers"...They'll make youir drag smoke!!

fiskyknut

[Steve Foss]

I caught a 4 lb king salmon on walleye gear once off a breakwall in lake superior. Six-foot St. Croix medium graphite rod, 6 lb Trilene, Shimano 1000 series spinning reel with smooth drag, slip bobber rig. About 100 yards of line on reel. Fish almost spooled me twice. I mean came within 10 feet of spooling me twice. Show me another 4 lb fish swimming anywhere in fresh water (without a strong river current to help it) that can do that.

The smallmouth always got my vote until I started catching salmon. Pound for pound, they are not even close.

[Nick Kuhn]

I'll believe a king when I catch one. I have serious doubts though, My drag is probably set much higher than most other people's, despite the fact that I don't use very heavy line. Both sunfish and crappy come skipping in across the surface with less resistance than the cranks I usually catch them on (this is only a medium action pole). On that pole, no walleye has ever set off the drag, and only one bass has ever done it (weighing over six lbs). 30+" pike are all capable of setting off the drag on it (and I do know of a lake where 30+ inchers are common, thanks to a high minimum length). On my muskie rod, only a muskie has been able to set off the drag on it. A 28" pike will come in tumbling easier than a healthy milfoil plant.

Say what you will about my hammer and horse fishing technique, but until somebody can prove they can catch more fish consistently with theirs, I'll stick to it (nobody in our boat consistently outfishes me, and I've never in 21 years seen another boat out fish me by more than a single fish). This year I didn't lose a single fish that I actually wanted to land (I lost some small bass and panfish, but I never care much about those).

There are also very few times when I can't tell you what kind of fish I have by the fight, and I am usually within 5% of the size of the fish.

Will you believe me on this forum, no. Do my dad and brothers believe me when I say something, of course. They'll express doubt of my dad almost all the time, but nobody ever doubts what I say. Good reaction time will will make any fight a lot easier...

[bwtrout]

[DTro]

I'll believe a king when I catch one. I have serious doubts though, My drag is probably set much higher than most other people's, despite the fact that I don't use very heavy line. Both sunfish and crappy come skipping in across the surface with less resistance than the cranks I usually catch them on (this is only a medium action pole). On that pole, no walleye has ever set off the drag, and only one bass has ever done it (weighing over six lbs). 30+" pike are all capable of setting off the drag on it (and I do know of a lake where 30+ inchers are common, thanks to a high minimum length). On my muskie rod, only a muskie has been able to set off the drag on it. A 28" pike will come in tumbling easier than a healthy milfoil plant.

Say what you will about my hammer and horse fishing technique, but until somebody can prove they can catch more fish consistently with theirs, I'll stick to it (nobody in our boat consistently outfishes me, and I've never in 21 years seen another boat out fish me by more than a single fish). This year I didn't lose a single fish that I actually wanted to land (I lost some small bass and panfish, but I never care much about those).

There are also very few times when I can't tell you what kind of fish I have by the fight, and I am usually within 5% of the size of the fish.

Will you believe me on this forum, no. Do my dad and brothers believe me when I say something, of course. They'll express doubt of my dad almost all the time, but nobody ever doubts what I say. Good reaction time will will make any fight a lot easier...

What are you trying to say?

Which fish is the strongest than?

Have you caught a Sturgeon? If you drag is too tight, it will pull you out of the boat.

[upnorth]

I have caught both Sturgeon and Kings. The Sturgeon was a 53" beast, probably about 30 to 35# and took about 25 minutes to land on Walleye tackle(incidental catch) very strong fish. It ran a will, but the pull was a slow steady pull and did roll a couple times.

I was shore casting on Lake Superior on nice December day and hooked a very fressh 14 # King, with an 8 1/2 foot Steelhead rod with a fair sized reel loaded with about 200 yds or so of 6 # line. When I set the hook that fish headed for Wisconsin on a screaming run that about spooled me. I could actually see the bottom of the spool through the last few wraps of line on the spool. That run took less than half the amount of time that the Sturgeon took to run half that distance. On the first run the the guy standing me looked and said that fish is one @#*) of a long way from you. I had to finally just grab the spool and stop her before I ran out of line, there was so much line out there to stretch I was only slightly worried about breaking off. I did finally land that fish, just took a very long time to get her back to shore and that first long run about wiped her out as she only took a few short 20 to 40 yd runs after that. I have caught bigger kings in the river on slightly heavier setups and you get those things in some current and you better be able to run after them

Both fish were very strong and fun to fight in their own rights. But for sheer adrenaline fun and excitement, I gotta hand it the Kings or maybe Steelhead, even if they don't run as big.

Never caught a big catfish but I have heard they are a strong fighter too. Hopefully I can get out and experience that thrill too.

[jigginjim]

Pound for pound, Sunfish, Try catching a sunfish on 1 or 3/4lb test line. Big fish give a big fight, the other may be a rock Bass cousin to the bluegill.

[Frank Boling 41]

I agree Bluegills pound for pound have my vote,I heard a guy on a fishing show the other day calling gills little tigers or something like that.