What was your hardest fight with a fish.

For me the hardest fight I ever had was from a fish that didn't count although I did weigh it out of interest, it was a 28lb mirror that I had foul hooked in the anal fin mg:

Out of fish that I have caught that counted it has to be the barbel, not from the biggest I have caught but from a fish a good pound lighter, the bite and the fight were brutal.

For me it was a couple of carp on an 11' feeder and 6lb line. One was just big at 24lb and take me ages to subdue and the other , last week, was over 15 lb in a swim with lily pads on either side of a narrow channel! In all cases the bend on the rod(Hardy) was frightening and I was convinced it was going to snap! It didn't!

Probably a suspected catfish on the Trent. Spent the better part of ten minutes thinking I'd hooked a submerged log that was embedded in the bottom. When it woke up, it headed upstream at a fair lick and I could make no impression on it whatsoever. Once it was a few hundred yards away, and in danger of going round a bend, I had to clamp up and hope for the best. I hope I never tangle with one again without some serious gear for the job.

Catfish do pull a bit.....I've only had a few and nothing very big but the power they have is incredible.

Hardest fight ever is a tough one. For me its a toss up between the huge sea trout which cavorted up,across and down the river like a submarine before I landed and then bounced it back into the river about 10 seconds later and a 4lb mullet hooked on 2lb line and a CTM Float rod about 100 years ago on the Royalty. I had never hooked a mullet before and I could do absolutely nothing with it. Took me 20 odd mins to land. In my defence those old enough to remember the CTM will recall it was an incredibly soft rod. That said I was hanging on for dear life while that mullet hurtled up and down almost at will. What a fight !

I remember watching mullet on the on the Royalty but I could never catch one of the bu££ers.

S-Kippy said:

Catfish do pull a bit.....I've only had a few and nothing very big but the power they have is incredible.

Hardest fight ever is a tough one. For me its a toss up between the huge sea trout which cavorted up,across and down the river like a submarine before I landed and then bounced it back into the river about 10 seconds later and a 4lb mullet hooked on 2lb line and a CTM Float rod about 100 years ago on the Royalty. I had never hooked a mullet before and I could do absolutely nothing with it. Took me 20 odd mins to land. In my defence those old enough to remember the CTM will recall it was an incredibly soft rod. That said I was hanging on for dear life while that mullet hurtled up and down almost at will. What a fight !

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Funny that, mirrors my reply, a mullet and a sea trout; both gave me a hard fight to remember, never really subdued them. All other fish give up at some point but not these two. The sea trout was only about 3lb caught by accident and two mullet over 5lb, all on 5lb line. Whether they are classed as coarse fish I don't know but caught in freshwater.

A big Trent Catfish for me too, on this occasion with a confirmed sighting.

The whole affair didn't last more than a few seconds though, despite landing Pike to 22lb earlier in the day with no issues whatsoever this thing smashed me to bits on an upriver run as soon as it realised what was going on.

Various others spring to mind, big river Perch being a very good candidate given the tackle usually required to hook one on.

A foul hooked Barbel during a float session on the Trent with Crow, the hook was right in the fork of the tail and the fish took off downriver on a seemingly endless run and had to be winched backwards against the flow which in turn took an age.

A 17lb Mirror Carp on a 2lb+ bottom whilst fishing with Flighty also springs to mind and only last weekend whilst fishing with Nottskev I endured a twenty minute (ish) battle on a similarly light bottom which resulted in a much lesser specimen of a mere 7lbs - 8lbs which, considering the country park location, had amassed an audience of a passing cyclist and two other passing fisherman but it was nothing less than a bloody demon which wasn't going to quit and a lucky scoop with the net brought things to an early conclusion.

I've had many Barbel which have found snags and fallen for the 'slacken off' trick but I'd be hard pushed to choose a battle which stood out overall.

A 31.02 common from a weir pool on the Loddon at Twyford. I noticed it to the edge of the weed on the far side of where the river meets the pool while holding a barbel into the current getting it's puff back. I stalked the fish for the best part off two hours before I could get a take eventually on the far side of the pool ( I was getting quite dizzy by then walking round and round in circles) and all hell broke loose where I was slightly compromised using a 1.5t/c Harrison Avon loaded with 10lb ProGold, a multitude of rocks and dense weed to the edges. I was pleased to get that one in as it beat my previous pb for a river carp by almost 10lb - white knuckle job, 110% concentration with a few heart stopping moments with the tip of the Avon almost touching my white knuckles at times..................

PS Bink's post above just reminded me - the 15.10 common (not quite Bink's size) taken on 2lb line using an Acolyte Ultra/pin while crucian fishing also was an 'phew' job when it went in the net.

A Salmon from River Spey. I was on using an LRF rod with 8lb braid. Snapped the rod tip. Took me a good while to get it near my feet then just as i was about to net it, it jumped out of the water knocking me over straight in the drink. It slipped the hook and got away. The chap just down from me flyfishing came to my aid when he saw me hitting the water. He esamated the weight at around 24lb. The target was the Trout. Just to see if i could catch them on Isome worm.

It has to be a 38lb 6oz catfish. I have caught quite a few carp of this size and bigger but for me catfish fight the hardest. Catfish are not as fast as carp but are more powerful. All caught from club waters.

In the days of fibreglass rods I could never do much to land mullet though had a few to about 3lbs; once hooked three (4-5lbs?) in three casts that all eventually broke me, with a total playing time of two hours. In more recent times had several battles with big ones at Christchurch and got two out at over 5lbs and over 6lbs, both fights lasting about 8-10 minutes. Landed a 24lb carp earlier this year that was quite a battle.

A huge sea trout at Ibsley Bridge on the Hants Avon. I never did see it but someone standing on the bridge told me what it was later. 12' rod with 4lb Platil so never had a chance. I was 15 at the time.. 11lb 2oz barbel from the Loddon at Whistley Mill on gear meant for the job but it still took me a good 20 mins to get it in. Wonderful fight and beautiful fish...
Many, many carp on light tackle meant fro silvers and crucians. Most not really a fight as such as they all took me on a trip around the lake with me holding on for dear life.

ps Must be many huge carp in the Loddon at Twyford, Gerry, topped up a few years ago from an adjacent lake that flooded to meet the flooded Loddon and countless carp escaped. Your 31lb'er damn decent from a small, fast flowing river...

Also lost big roach and perch but I'd rather not talk about them - still far too painful...

My first experience using a pole involved having a titanic battle with a 14lb Sturgeon, luckily I was on a relatively snag free lake and even more lucky that the Sturgeon had an action like a diesel tractor, slow, ponderous but unforgiving and went in ever increasing circles for what seemed an eternity, a good half hour before bringing the beast to the far too small net.

Like Sam and Binka I can only surmise a Tidal Trent catfish. Suspended deadbait at Torksey and whatever it was went for the Humber! Spooled me and then I just hung on until the knot at the trace gave way and luckily I got my spool of SENSOR back.:wh

For me nowt compares to catfish for power. Big catfish you don't stop they choose to stop, their sheer power is in a different league. If it wasn't for the fact they're as ugly as sin and difficult to photograph I'm sure they'd be more popular. I've had them to just over 60lb on carp tackle and they've took a while to land.

Second place I would say is a fresh run sea trout.

For sheer power I'd agree...a catfish has no peer. I think they are fabulous looking beasts.

Fresh run sea trout are simply crazy things and the fight is rarely anything but spectacular but in my experience they dont have the sheer stamina of mullet who are almost as mental.

john step said:

Like Sam and Binka I can only surmise a Tidal Trent catfish. Suspended deadbait at Torksey and whatever it was went for the Humber! Spooled me and then I just hung on until the knot at the trace gave way and luckily I got my spool of SENSOR back.:wh

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Blimey, you had me sweating then John....thought you'd lost the special stuff until you confirmed you got it back....releif for ya!

john step said:

Like Sam and Binka I can only surmise a Tidal Trent catfish. Suspended deadbait at Torksey and whatever it was went for the Humber! Spooled me and then I just hung on until the knot at the trace gave way and luckily I got my spool of SENSOR back.:wh

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Blimey, you had me sweating then John....thought you'd lost the special stuff until you confirmed you got it back....releived for ya!


See how worried I was, I posted twice ffs!

Tee-Cee said:

ps Must be many huge carp in the Loddon at Twyford, Gerry, topped up a few years ago from an adjacent lake that flooded to meet the flooded Loddon and countless carp escaped. Your 31lb'er damn decent from a small, fast flowing river...

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This was about 12 years ago Tony on the weir pool behind the Wagon & Horses on the old RMC ticket. If you're familiar with that stretch then you'll know that there is an adjacent 30 acre pit (part of witch is a nature reserve and always choked with pond weed) that tended to flood into the Loddon periodically. It used to have a low stock of large carp (plus some very decent tench after raking - massive pike and effin monster snotties) we used to have a saying back then that there were about thirty carp over 30lb in the 30 acres - it must have been one of the small ones..........

PS The washed out ones didn't seem to hang about and soon disappeared down the road into the Thames.....

I once hooked a Big Barbel in the fork of the tail when float fishing, the old " hooked in the open end of a half full cement bag justifies the struggle pretty well.
Also a Trent salmon almost twenty years ago had me up and down the bank where I must have covered two hundred yards before a tree stopped me going further. The fish then took a hundred and fifty yards of eight lb line before I had no option but to put the anchors on, up came a big bar of silver before the hook came away.
A year or so ago however I had just landed a rather large Bream and resting it in the margins in the landing net I was prepping my scales when the other rod signalled a bite- b- - her, no option but to play a nice Tench with the Bream in the net but it was proving very hard to handle so I threw a leg over the landing net handle with the net as close as possible .
Ok for a few seconds but I was wearing chest waders and up to the gentlemans bits and the fish in the net was thrashing about and in danger of easing itself over the lanyard so I had to re adjust the net again , all this with a very active Tench that managed to get itself stuck in a heavy weedbank.
I had to heave a little at this stage and thankfully the Tench was free but things became rather strange fight wise.
I thought the fish was free but it was nr in line with my mainline , somehow I was snagged up on weed below the surface, some floating stuff and a carp anglers crack off!!
It took an age to net the Tench with another fish trying to escape and it didn't help while trying to stop it escaping at the same time-- the resulting tangle was a real nightmare and one that had me packing away to head home.
The Bream was a target fish-- the Tench I could have done without, Grrrr !!!