Which fish is more difficult to land?

[Guest Fishing For Life]

As title

 

I was told trout is more difficult .. but i think Salmon is ..

[Wild]

Or which is more dangerous to land... ya got to protect your harbles from trebles and teeth especially when a large pike or musky are in the boat.Otherwise trout just keep fighting till the end.

[scuro]

Most people land salmon at the side of a boat. Try landing a large one on a river!

[Rich]

I think it's tougher to land a big steelhead than anything else personally.

[ccmtcanada]

Depends where I'm fishing. Salmon in closed quarters in shallow water with lots of obstacles is the hardest. Salmon in open water all you have to do is have a LOT of line....LOL.

 

I use different equipment for steelhead....lighter line, so 10+ pound steelhead on 4 lb test is more difficult for me than a salmon on 30lb power pro.

 

Salmon are the most powerful in my opinion though.

[CLofchik]

Other smaller (lesser) fish are fun, but there is only one KING!

[Jonaton]

Snagged salmon? ok just kidding

 

Not that they are THE best fighting fish but I have caught some Sheepies that have fought as hard for their size as anything else I have caught. Some of the bigger ones I've caught have fought like hell.

Edited August 31, 2008 by Jonaton

[Flatbackdreamer]

For certain species, it would depend on where you are fishing.

 

 

I chose Pike/Musky due to the dangers when dealing with them at the side of the boat.

[bassjnkie]

There is no Carp option, but I say Carp 35ft deep, pain in the

 

From the list I say Salmon

[kemper]

Strongest? It has to be the salmon, there is nothing that has the same stop-your-lure-like-it-was-hit-by-a-train power. But the difference is that when a salmon is tired, its tired and easy to land/beach. A steelhead is the most difficult in my opinion because every time you think that it is tired, you better think again.

[Musky or Specks]

Only someone who has never caught both species would lump pike and musky together. Musky fight way better than pike. As far as comparisons go I have caught all species on my musky equipment. Here they are in order of their fighting prowess. All fish caught on 100 lb power pro, heavy action rod, and Abu Ambassador 5000 reels.

 

1st Place- musky. Ability to pull 50 feet of line off even with the drag cranked right down not just once but several times

 

 

2nd place- smallmouth bass. Hugged bottom and had a tough time moving it off bottom.

 

 

3rd place-salmon No real runs but was very difficult canoeside getting into the net

 

 

4th place-steelhead whupped like a rented mule

 

 

5th place- pike. The hit is hard but then nothing. No pic cause I could never be bothered to take a pic of a lowly pike

6th place-largemouth bass. They dont even fight well on proper bass gear no pic

7th place walleye like fighting a branch that youve snagged. Although when I catch one incedently Im quite happy to invite him to dinner no pic

[Canuck2fan]

The question is flawed in my opinion.....

 

No fish is difficult to land if you are using gear that over matches anything you will run into. Musky/Pike fishermen do this more so and better than anybody and with good reason the fish they are going after must be treated with kid gloves at the boat. Any of the musky guys on here ADVOCATE using more rod/reel and line lb test than you think you will ever need. ie there are not too many 80lb muskies swimming around but most people who fish for them use that lb test as a minimum. So once they have a musky hooked it is all but certain they can "land" the fish. Smart too because Musky aren't line shy so you can almost use anchor rope and get away with it.

 

Also folks using a boat for Salmon on the Great Lakes again make sure in most cases the rod/reel and line lb test OVERMATCH the fish they are going after so landing one is just usually a matter of time.

 

In pier/river fishing for Salmon and steelhead it is a whole different mindset. The rod and reel match the fish while the line lb test is much less than you would ideally like to use. So you have to out smart the fish and have a bit of luck as well making it hard to land them sometimes. However there is another consideration here. The cost of setting up a rig for this type of fishing is pennies compared with tens of dollars for the two types of fishing listed above. So with long rod fishing in rivers you SET up so that the line fails rather than murdering a spawning fish by over tiring it. That makes it harder to land them just because of the type of set you have to use to be successful.

 

I agree that landing a musky is more DANGEROUS once you have it at the boat that doesn't make it harder though to get them to the boat or it shouldn't unless you are scared once you see the teeth while you are reeling it in LOL.

[Musky or Specks]

No as posted. Ive had big musky pull 50 feet of line off at a go. With my drag tightend down so much that I cant pull it out by hand. None of the other fish that Ive caught on musky gear were able to do that. Skill wise fresh run steelhead on super light tippet is the most difficult to get to the shore. Hence my many 2 for 12 or 1 for 7 or 12 for 30 fall steelheading trips back in the day. But hands down the most powerful of our sportfish is the mighty musky.

[ehg]

hands down the most powerful of our sportfish is the mighty musky.

I would concur and voted for musky(not pike). Musky have extremely powerful short busrts and nasty sharp teeth.

Chinooks have longer runs and are extremely poweful as well. Really something to deal with, especially off a pier.

 

I've found 4-8 lb Great Lakes brown trout to be scrappiest pound for pound. Kinda like a smallmouth bass on steroids.

[Moosebunk]

I've caught them all. Muhahahaha, except really only one muskie... and actually no steelhead... or pike, walleye or bass either. Heck... I caught a panfish once I think.

 

Anyways, I think trout.

 

Most people land salmon at the side of a boat. Try landing a large one on a river!

 

Landed them both ways Chris and the boat is equally as hard if not harder if there's a good chop on the water. Also with shore fish you can often beach them, or have someone get in behind them with a net (like we did in BC), but in a boat there's little room to walk with a long rod backwards, there's often more clutter and people in a confined space to contend with and, the netman needs to be on the ball cause boatside losses from a missed net attempt are probably as frequent as shoreline.

 

Ontario salmon are so often so spent by the time they come for shoreline catches I'd definitely have to say boat if we're talking this province only. Ohhhhhhh wait a minute... forgot about all the other lines and bodies lining the Ganny. Landing fish on the shore over someone elses shoulder can be tough too.

[ch312]

if rockbass could grow as big as salmon or trout, youd need shark fishing gear to land them

[bassmaster4]

wat about channel cats

Edited September 1, 2008 by bassmaster4

[hammercarp]

Carp

My most memorable capture was a long bump headed male with a big tail. Weighed only about 18 lbs. I hooked the fish very close to shore, about ten feet. He powered out to about twenty five feet and stopped. I fought the fish in and when I put the net in the water he powered back out again. This happened seven times before I managed to net him. No other fish I have caught has done anything like this. The fight lasted at least twenty minutes.

 

One more thing the fight that musky and carp give you are both very dependent on water temperature.

[Chris]

But hands down the most powerful of our sportfish is the mighty musky.

 

I would like to respectfully disagree with that statement. Muskies can be one of the wildest and most spectacular fighting fish, but they tire pretty quick and many come in like a wet log. As someone pointed out salmon pull like a freight train and are probably the strongest fish. Never caught a laker but I heard they can pull pretty good too. I also caught a 30lb. carp once that put up more of a fight than any muskie I've ever caught (my biggest muskie being 51.5").

 

But the question is not which fish is the strongest....it's which fish is the most difficult to land. I think muskies are the most difficult to land as you are dealing with knashing teeth, large lures with many hooks and the muskies explosiveness. But even muskies are getting easier to land with the large nets they have nowadays.