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Your longest fish fight.......

4K views 28 replies 25 participants last post by  J.A. Veil 
#1 ·
Simple post what is everybody's longest fish fight?
 
#5 ·
About 10 years ago, we are on the Tuna Duck out of Hatteras and hooked a 400 pound blue marlin. I hopped in the chair and fought it for two hours before I was gassed and tapped out. Next guy in the chair had been seasick all morning and he was dehydrated. He lasted 15 minutes. Next, one of the women on the boat jumped in the chair and she lasted about 15 minutes. Next up, we put my son in the chair. The rest of us were in our 50s; my son was 19 and played a lot of sports. We all agreed that he wasn't getting out of the chair.

He fought the fish for another two hours before the rod broke and the line snapped. It was a damned shame we couldn't at least get the fish by the boat and take a picture.
 
#6 ·
My longest fight wasn't even a particularly big or exciting fish. The fight lasted an easy 30 minutes because of the tackle. I hooked this big dumb blue cat while perch fishing. He bit a 1/2oz gold Hopkins I was vertical jigging in the Susky below Port Deposit. I assumed I had snagged a carp and just wanted my lure back.
The rod was a little buggy whip ultralight rated for 2-6lbs line so I couldn't really pressure it and almost got spooled before I finally got the fish. He ran with the current and I just could not stop him. Over the years, in other locales, I've caught fish big enough to eat this catfish but I was always using tackle appropriate to the fish I was targeting so it didn't take that long. The fish has itself bent into an S as I'm holding it so it is not a great pic but this cat was a little over 36".
Water Boat Vertebrate Sky Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies
 
#8 · (Edited)
Bi Tarpon , well over 100 # off Key west. Over an hour and a half on a spinning rod . The Tarpon won. I had a guy on my boat off OC that fought a 200# Bigeye Tuna for a couple of hours before landing it and another that fought a 7ft. 300# Mako for a few hours before losing it .
 
#11 ·
Hi all, newly registered but have read posts from time to time. I haven't had any off-shore experiences, but in my four-year bay experience, north of the bridge a bit two of us had rays on at the same time, which took us both about 30 minutes to bring in before cutting them loose. About a year earlier I had a ray on for about 30 minutes in the same spot that circled my boat a dozen times. Fortunate that it didn't get into my anchor rope.
 
#12 ·
I hooked a fish off Tolchester (Hodges Bar) while chumming I fought fish for over 45 minutes had to be a huge striper or black drum fish stayed deep several run offs was so involved forgot to raise the outboard motor finally went under the boat and the prop cut the line. I just wanted to know what it was??😡 I have caught my share of rays and it was not that my guess 100+ lb black drum.
Biggest fish landed 48 lb 6oz. 49 1/2 inch Rockfish on Shimano 3500 Bait runner with 15 lb mono with 60lb fluorocarbon leader drifting eels off Kiptopeake CBBT on my 40th Birthday Dec 28th 2007. The fight took 25 minutes with over 15 boats watching fish broke the net had to land it by hand 😱
 
#21 ·
Not sure how long. It was a long time ago. Chincoteague flounder fish. Never knew what it was. But suspected a ray. Easy 30 minutes. Storm coming in on us and Cap insisted on putting pressure. Line broke. Disappointed 15 yr old. Hardest fight was 6 ft mako of Outer Banks while fishing for tuna.
 
#23 ·
My longest fish fight happened about 20 yrs ago. Me and 3 friends were fishing Wachaprague for spring flounder. We stayed out longer than we should and while my friend was driving the boat back in low light, he started going up the wrong fork/creek. My other friend yelled turn right so he ran us way up onto a mud flat during an outgoing tide. We had no warm clothes, no food and very little beer. We all spent the night freezing on an open 18 ft boat waiting for high tide.

I called my wife to tell her I would not be coming home. That (fishing trip) fight lasted several days and I could not adjust the drag. She moved out and we got divorced. Best fish fight of my life.
 
#25 ·
Bucktales - No one else was out there until about 1 am - boat jogging east. Got them on VHF but charter captain could not help - needed to have his clients out deep at day break.

My plan was to get help when " the fleet " would be going by 4 to 5 am.
 
#26 ·
How about the shortest fight. Wa# reeling in a small fish off of Vilano Beach, Fla. when a tarpon hit it. The tarpon was hooked for a nano second.
I’ve never timed a fight but the longest I ever fought and landed a fish was a foul hooked tuna at the Hot Dog off of OC. Seemed like an eternity.
 
#27 ·
OK, I'll play along again. Shortest fight for me was a huge musky that hit so close to the kayak I could've touched it with the rod tip. I was smallmouth fishing in the Susquehanna and not equipped for a hit like that. It was about 10 seconds of drag screaming then he turned, and the line caught on rocks and rubbed through.
Shortest I've seen was when my father fouled hooked a Dall's Porpoise in Alaska. The reel was screaming to the point where I wouldn't have been surprised if smoke started coming out. The captain was standing next to him and cussed the porpoise then put scissors to the line and it was over. There was no reeling in an 8 foot porpoise.
 
#28 ·
We fought a cow nose ray over a dozen years ago for an hour and 15 minutes. We were trolling for rockfish in July when three rods got hit by rays. One dropped off immediately, and it took 15 minutes to being the second one in. We never saw the third one.

I've fought several 40 to 50 pound yellowfin off of North Carolina for about 30 minutes, including one that threw the hook just as the mate was getting the gaff. I was quoted to say " I have unfinished business in Oregon Inlet after that one got away.

I fought a 30 inch channel cat at Great Falls on 6 lb test years ago for about 20 minutes. I could hear these girls behind me and up on the rocks whispering. I got the feeling that I was faking the long fight to get their attention, but when I lifted the beast out of the water, the girls gave me a standing ovation.
 
#29 ·
In looking at the title of the original post "Your longest fish fight...", it offers two interpretations. As most of the respondents have assumed, this could well mean the longest amount of time (minutes) for which you fought a fish. For me, I am not sure. I have fought yellowfin and bluefin tuna off the Virginia coast for 45 to 60 mins with stand-up tackle while fishing on friend's boats.

In 2003, I hooked a 170-lb tarpon near Boca Grande. This was day 2 of our fishing with that guide. He had instructed the mate at the end of day 1 to respool the reel with fresh line. The mate was careless and bypassed the first (largest) guide on the 7' heavy spinning rod. I ended up fighting that huge fish with only the outer half of the rod. After nearly an hour, I had a big blister on my hand, and could not get the fish all the way in. It would come to the surface and gulp air to reoxygenate itself, then blast out again. Eventually I got it close enough to touch the leader before the fish broke loose.

When fighting a large fish from a kayak, I am concentrating on doing things right and don't pay much attention to the elapsed time as the adrenaline flows. In 2019, I caught a 100-lb tarpon in Biscayne Bay. That fish pulled me half a mile and made several jumps before I got it in. The fight could have been 20, 30, or 60 mins -- I don't really know.

Last April, I was pedaling a kayak two miles out in the ocean off of Boynton Beach when I hooked a sailfish. The guide had set the drag loose and did not want me loosening it. That was a long and physically tiring fight. We estimated the sailfish at 80 lbs.

Having given those examples, I go back to the title and realize that it could equally well be interpreted as how long (in inches) was the largest fish you ever fought. Again, I don't know for sure. The tarpon described above was estimated at 5'8", the sailfish at 6'6", and my largest lemon shark at about 5'. When fishing in a kayak, it is not easy or prudent to bring such large fish into the kayak to get an accurate measurement. I rely on the guide's estimate of length.
On that same trip, I hooked a spinner shark that was probably more than 6' long. It tore off at least 75 yards in a few seconds, leaped into the air and spun around before splashing, and nearly spooled me. I could not slow that fish down -- it soon broke off.

Probably the longest fish I ever had on the line was a sturgeon. I hired a guide to fish in the Fraser River in British Columbia. We spent a long day on the river with only a single bite. The fish took the bait and moved off slowly. I felt the weight for 10 seconds, then the fish was gone. That fish could have been 7' or more -- I'll never know.

With the prolonged cold weather, I have not been fishing at all this month, and probably will not get back on the water until some time in February. Reminiscing about the good fishing trips I made over the years (such as the ones described above) help to keep me looking ahead to warmer times.
 
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