Quote:
Originally Posted by carbonbass
so I have some friends that have told me the fight of a salmon is rather boring, that pound for pound it should be a much tougher fish. Your video seems to debunk that myth, as those look like true fighters to me, do different types of salmon fight harder than others? What is your input on this?
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Well it just depends in my opinion. What does "battle harder or better" mean? How fast you can get the fish in? Or the quality of the fight (jumps, drag burning runs, etc) while its on the line? I've caught 20 pound halibut and king salmon with a barbie rod. Was that a better fight? I don't think so. You are almost tricking the fish to the surface. It took longer, but in my book the fight was much less spectacular.
For spectacular, my favorite salmon is coho. For sheer power, the sockeyes get the nod. Kings are well, kings. Best eating of the salmon and the hardest to find. Even a pink salmon on a 4wt in a fast stream is going to battle super hard.
Here I am using 50 pound braid with 60lbs fluoro carbon leader. Overkill in many ways. The fish just get cranked up to the kayak or the kayak goes to the fish, then it just pulls the kayak around. They fight pretty spectacularly when you have them on 6 ft of braid 15 seconds into the battle!!
I have never caught the southern species you have in So Ca. I have heard the tuna and such pull harder and faster. I rarely battle a fish much more than 5 minutes...even the bigger kings and halibut. I am a meat fisherman. Both ocean troll kings and halibut fillets retail for $20 or more per pound. That means for every 12 pounds or so of live weight fish, its a hundred dollar bill. I release very few fish. But now that I am catching more, I am going to try and tackle these fish with more conventional gear or even ultralight stuff. But while it might be fun, I am betting the battles won't be as spectacular as with my meat gear since I can't apply as much pressure on the fish. Longer battles, yes. Better battles, probably not. Well heck, let's find out!