Whatever Happen To The Thrill Of Fighting A Fish For Sometime?

[bassfighter]

Whatever happens to bragging rights of fighting and landing fish using lightest possible mono line weight? Advance angler use to aim to try to lower their line weight usage for the challenge.

 

Isn’t that how fishing became a sport? Adding element of risk and uncertainties, a chance for the fish to get away and beat human patience and experience! Landing a fish was not only the main excitement in fishing, or everyone would be using 25 lb mono line and land the fish in no time. Not all anglers want to put their catch on the table then, landing their personal best fish using lightest line, and for a long time was the story to brag about for years to come.

 

If we all want to ensure we land the fish today, we were told to use heavier expensive braided line weight and sophisticated advance reel. Less chance of skill needed and less fish lost. The pros were the ones creating trends, just yank the 5 lb bass right inside the boat since no worry of 50 lb braided line breaking or fear of losing the trophy catch. Fighting fish for long time has been discouraged today.

 

Since the invention of Braided line:

1.Fighting fish longer has been frowned upon, claimed to lower mortality rate of fish during a long fight.

 

2.More profitable for retailers if braided line were sold.

 

3.Though more feel using braided line, but more visible compared to mono line, now we need to invest in Fluorocarbon leader to cover the visible braid line. Fishing seem to get even more complicated than ever. Just like the trends in our home décor. 40 Years ago , all homes were only with hardwood floors.Then as trend changed and invention of carpet, we added carpet on top to keep the place more soft and insulated, then the trend today is to go back to hard wood floors , but add an expensive rug(to not look like carpet,) since the Hard wood floor was making our feet cold during winter months. We then have to take our shoes off when we enter our home, since what we had invested expensively might get dirty, The expensive rug area should only be used during an invited guest.

 

Many different type of line today, colors, strength, some floating some sinking, invisible and some vibrant, multicolored, etc…. Imagine going to a coffee shop and getting confuse on the type of coffee available, when all we want was something hot with caffeine!

 

More advance drag system and smoother reel have entered the market to help us not lose our catch. Then on the contrary, We take out the drag on a Centerpin Reel since fighting fish on a dragged reel is not much of a challenge and for the average angler.

 

Then we have to catch and release our catch for future reproduction, but substantiate/allowed to kill one or two female for the roe, so we cans use the bait to catch more fish. What about the consequence if every one just catch one female each season? How about those who believe fresher new roe/skein attained every so often can catch more fish that they will release? Then we throw away un-used roe believing we can get new ones since we can catch more fish.

Edited September 19, 2012 by bassfighter

[Garfisher]

Let's take a crack at this:- People still do use lighter lines to catch fish, some people go out of their way to fish UL for fish. Some fishermen use modern day braids because they like the feel of braid (specifically that you can feel everything going on with your lure. It also depends on what technique they are using though. "Finesse" fishing usually requires lighter lines to present smaller baits, however if you try catching a 4lb bass out of the middle of a thick patch of lily pads using 8lb mono is a definite no-no, the line would snap or you would get wrapped up in the pads by the fish. Thick cover situations usually require 50lb braids because you do need to haul fish out of the cover if it is really thick. However most people I see that casually fish for anything use 6-10lb mono, not 30lb+ braid so that they can simply haul in fish instead of actually fighting them. I will add that my PB bass from earlier this year was caught on 30lb braid on heavy spinning tackle because I did not want the chance to possibly lose a fish due to lily pads nearby. If I had used lighter lines I probably would have had that fish dig down into the pads between me and where it was hooked, however if it was open water I would have much preferred to get it on 8lb test.

- Discretion is required in line choice for catching fish. Fighting fish on light lines does require skill, but using waaaay too light lines will probably require you to tire the fish right out in order to land it. With less hardy fish such as muskies, this stress can kill the fish itself. This also ties into your thought that the invention of braided line was partly responsible for the thought of fighting fish being stressful for the fish. Braid was around long before monofilament, fishermen from the 1500's braided the hairs from the tails of horses to fish with. As technologies improve, mono has been introduced (as well as the modern superlines), however fish and their health when stressed is also a relatively new topic in the scientific community.

- Part of the reason why the thought of bringing fish in quickly is due to our modern view on fishing. Most people catch-and-release, whereas not even 50 years ago most people fished to catch dinner (where captured fish were likely to be killed instead of being released). It's recommended to not fight fish for a long time (that isn't neccessary) because those fish are most likely being released after the fight. Fish that are fought to total exhaustion have a higher chance of dying due to stress and lactic acid build up in muscles (which pretty much any animal can die if they over-exert themselves, people die from running marathons every year), and this would be a large fisheries management issue if everyone fought fish to exhaustion. It makes sense to suggest that fishermen should try to keep fighting to a minimum (or at least not overdo it) if they intend to release fish, however it isn't blatantly said that everyone should haul in fish and that fighting them to any extent is a big no-no.

[Joeytier]

K.

That's about all I could muster up, too.

[chris.brock]

if you've got a reel with a decent drag, there isn't alot of skill needed to land a big fish on light line

[fishindevil]

yes and alot of that is fine,if plan on keeping the fish,but its not good to try and land big fish,on light line all the time,like muskies,alot of time the fight will kill the fish anyways !!! so unless you plan it out it can do more harm than good !!!

[singingdog]

K.

x3

[GbayGiant]

X3 That would be KKK.

 

cheers.

[BillM]

Whatever happens to bragging rights of fighting and landing fish using lightest possible mono line weight?

 

By all means, fight the fish for 15-20min and release it belly up.. Sounds like sportsmanship to me!

 

There's a reason why people want to get the fish in quick and released..

[12footspringbok]

I watched a guy fight a 'bow for about 5 minutes the other day on 4 pound test with a 3 pound leader the other day. Told me he likes to give the fish a fighting chance, and that he releases 99% of his fish. Well it took him another 10 minutes to revive the thing...

 

I can see the thrill of fighting fish on light gear but it sure isn't in the fishes best interest...

[NAW]

I guess I hear what your saying. I don't fish LMB out of weed beds because I don't want to be ripping their faces off like the pro's do.

 

But I would never intentionally use gear to light for a targeted species just to make it more of a challenge. Like other's have mentioned, it's to hard on the fish.

 

I stay somewhere in the middle.

 

As for braid, I don't use it to I can mussel fish around. I use it so for the extra sensitivity, and I find it easier to tie knots with.

Edited September 19, 2012 by N.A.W

[Rich]

Its fun for carp. Thats about all id handicap myself on though by needlessly using the wrong tools for the job.

[Live2fish85]

I am going to assume you pissed some people off while taking longer then needed fighting a salmon.

[adolson]

I like mashed potatoes!

[mercman]

For me, its the thrill of finding them, figureing them out, and catching them. I know already i am strong enough and manly enough to get them in the boat, but proving i am smarter than them is what makes me happy.

[Joeytier]

I like mashed potatoes!

Clearly the most productive post yet. Me too!

[Toronto_Angler]

Taking your shoes off in the house is just good hygiene

[Lunkerhunter]

my hat goes off to him if he managed to type that while trippin. haha

[lhousesoccer]

Hmmmmm .... Floor pie ........

 

[lhousesoccer]

Sorry all - that's about the only thing that came to mind after reading that diatribe of a post ....

[lhousesoccer]

To the OP - go catch a Tuna.

On 4-lb test.

[BillM]

with a 2lb flouro leader

[adolson]

With mashed potatoes as bait!

[lhousesoccer]

Hmmmm ... floor pie ......

[ecmilley]

ha ha another post

[northernpike56]

I enjoy using my 6'0 ML paired with 6 lb mono for fishing brown trout, bass, walleye, and even small pike (up to 2 ft). I have never had anybody come up and tell me that I was stupid for using way too light tackle. me, I like to fight with my fish, where I do end up losing a small percentage of them. I have used a 7'0 MH baitcaster w/ 30 lb PP for bass, and what I found was I was dragging them right out of the water and pulling them on the top, where with ML spinning equip, it could take me 2-3 mins to land the same fish, and more skill.

 

I mean who can say that they haven't got a 5 lb pike on a UL while fishing panfish (or something similar) and not enjoyed the fight... am I right???

 

 

Matt.