The loved, and dreaded drum. Release, kill, or eat?

[fishinvol]

foodsaver - 12/11/2007 9:55 PM

let me know when you catch a bass that pulls as hard as a 30 lb blue

For 30 lbs, it better fight hard with all that resistance pulling through the water. Now if it was a 30lb channel, it would probably put a hurtin on ya. That's what I meant with the whole pound for pound thing. As far as weight goes blues are the weakest when it comes to a fight ( catfish wise). That's why I compared them to the drum. Now I have never caught a 30 lb bass, but I would imagine it could put up a good fight. As far as fight goes, I still haven't found a fish in our lake that fights as hard as a striper.

 

[Guest]

Chris you are right on with the stripers being the hard fighter. I would add too that the white bass is pretty tough pound for pound. A two or three pound white puts up quite a fight on bass tackle and a major fight on ultralight.

 

[fishinvol]

cheez - 12/12/2007 6:40 AM

Chris you are right on with the stripers being the hard fighter. I would add too that the white bass is pretty tough pound for pound. A two or three pound white puts up quite a fight on bass tackle and a major fight on ultralight.

No doubt. Even though they drive me nuts, those little yellow bass have some pull too.

 

[EricM]

Pound for pound? OK, same size fish, same rod and reel, same current, Chickamauga species. I'm going to use something realistic so I can get my mind around this. 7' ultralight rod, 4 lb test, no current. Here's how I personnaly would rank them on first thought:

Using a 3 pound fish for comparison

1 Bluegill/sunfish
2 Skipjack herring
3 Striped bass
4 Smallmouth Bass
5 White bass
6 Spotted bass
7 Largemouth Bass
8 Channel cat
9 Carp
10 Flathead cat
11 Blue cat
12 Freshwater drum

After thinking about it for a while, I might rearrange the list some, but at first blush, this is pretty much how I feel. This is not to belittle anyone's favorites, some of mine are near the bottom of the pound-for-pound list. I used small fish so that there would be a fair comparison in my mind. I couldn't get a fair feel for them all if I tried to use 30 pounds. Unfortunately, many of the specied do not have their mature body shape and strength at 3 pounds, so maybe that's unfair too.

 

[fishinvol]

I think it's pretty darn fair. Like you said, maybe rearrange a couple but for the most part I agree with your list.

 

[puddle jumper]

Erik,
Boy i sure agree with you on the brim, Me and Richard where talking about that last weekend, pound for pound best fighting fish around, ... my two in...emoToast , With exseption of salt water of corse, there "Tarpin is my king"
Puddle...emoUSA

 

[foodsaver]

pound for pound you are probably right Chris. I enjoy catching them but I do think that a bass the same size probably pulls harder, I guess thats why God saw fit to make blues get so large.

 

[Fishin Fool]

EricM - 12/12/2007 7:22 AM

Pound for pound? OK, same size fish, same rod and reel, same current, Chickamauga species. I'm going to use something realistic so I can get my mind around this. 7' ultralight rod, 4 lb test, no current. Here's how I personnaly would rank them on first thought:

Using a 3 pound fish for comparison

1 Bluegill/sunfish
2 Skipjack herring
3 Striped bass
4 Smallmouth Bass
5 White bass
6 Spotted bass
7 Largemouth Bass
8 Channel cat
9 Carp
10 Flathead cat
11 Blue cat
12 Freshwater drum

After thinking about it for a while, I might rearrange the list some, but at first blush, this is pretty much how I feel. This is not to belittle anyone's favorites, some of mine are near the bottom of the pound-for-pound list. I used small fish so that there would be a fair comparison in my mind. I couldn't get a fair feel for them all if I tried to use 30 pounds. Unfortunately, many of the specied do not have their mature body shape and strength at 3 pounds, so maybe that's unfair too.

I had never thought to actually rate the fish by fight but this is actually a pretty good line up! The only thing I will add is that some of the drum I have caught just give up, while others will fight, as Flip said, almost to the death. Years ago just past the nuke plant I got into one that took me forever to land. He made a run like a striper on the initial hook set. I don't know who got the worst of it, him or me! Pound for pound there is no contest with bluegill or shellcrackers; they simply fight beyond what you would ever think is possible.

 

[Kingfish]

SpruHunter, I don't know much about Drum but I did catch this 29 lb. Crap on #4 line, #6 wire cricket hook with a worm on my ul this past spring. Boy did it put up a fight. Took all the line out of my reel and 15 minutes to get landed. If big drum put up that much of a fight how could you not enjoy catching them. I vote there is a place for the drum in our waters.

 

[SpurHunter]

I sure appreciate all the input on this subject. I really like the list EricM offered as well, very good info!

 

[honkytonker26]

Here is one I caught about 2 months ago on a tube on 8# test line. took about 10-15mins to land it on a spinning reel.