What fights harder 5 lb catfish or 5 lb largemouth bass

Age old question needs an answer

Either a 200 # drunk Irishman or a 100# pissed off wife.

I got the catfish by a mile

Dutchboy wrote:

Either a 200 # drunk Irishman or a 100# pissed off wife.

Wife by a landslide.
Thats why I had to rid of mine

So the catfish would fight harder

Third party vote…
5lb Green Sunfish

Ripjiggen wrote:

Third party vote…
5lb Green Sunfish

Always said a blue gill / Sunny lb for lb is the hardest fighting fish in fresh water.

I would vote catfish

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
Either a 200 # drunk Irishman or a 100# pissed off wife.

Wife by a landslide.
Thats why I had to rid of mine

Amen brother.

I’d rather catch the bass, but fight the cat.

Depends on if it is a channel or flathead. I find the fight of a channel much more exciting. I would still rather catch the largemouth and better yet, make that a smallmouth.

klang wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
Third party vote…
5lb Green Sunfish

Always said a blue gill / Sunny lb for lb is the hardest fighting fish in fresh water.

I would vote catfish

+1 on all accounts

Well I’m just coming off of smallmouth season. I think I could probably get about 10 clients who caught them back-to-back and would say hands down the smallmouth would fight way harder.

The catfish fights hard but just kind of stays down and rolls on your line.

Where the smallmouth fight is relentless with blistering runs jumps and fast direction changes near the boat.

I can’t imagine its even a debate? I might need to get some way to measure the force from each!

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Smallies 100 percent. But I think cats over large mouth

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Joe Scegura wrote:

The catfish fights hard but just kind of stays down and rolls on your line.

Where the smallmouth fight is relentless with blistering runs jumps and fast direction changes near the boat.

Two comments:
1) The Channel catfish that is staying down and “Rolling” on your line is doing so because you’ve maxed out your rod. Fish only roll if you don’t pull hard enough. Pull harder and watch that fish pull back.

2) The smallmouth feels the resistance of the rod, and don’t like it, “Blisteringly” changes directions because they don’t have energy the catfish has to “Dog” the rod.

With sturgeon, if they are rolling, you ain’t pulling hard enough.

Catfish in current also do a fun little maneuver (Current can also be perceived as trolling) and the fish turn into C shape with a mouth wide open, taking up the most resistance in the water. (Tail perpendicular to the flow and mouth into the flow)

I guess what i’m saying, is up the size of your gear beyond your catch, and the true winner will prevail.

Lastly, when i see someone from another boat grinning while their rod is doubled over and they’re screaming in anticipation for that 10LB walleye – it is almost always a 3# or less catfish. I quite enjoy calling that before i even see them get close to reaching for the net..then just chuckle!

Depends on the fish. I’ve probably caught hundreds of 5lb largemouth, but only a couple cats. Some will fight like their life depended on it and some will act like a 400lb man waddling to the couch after Thanksgiving dinner.

I’ll still take a smallmouth anyday of the week. Love those things and 99% of them will give you all they got. Even a 1lber will fight like a 5lb.

Bearcat89 wrote:

Smallies 100 percent. But I think cats over large mouth

I thought that pic was an Alaskan flounder barndoor at first. Holy Cow! Calling that a smallie is an oxymoron like calling Shaq Tiny.

To me….this has turned into a thread about which of the two people like the best, not which actually pulls harder.

The OP asked to compare a 5 pound catfish to a 5 pound largemouth guys. Smallmouth, sturegon, and sunfish are not in the equation here.

I can’t comment because I have never caught a catfish…

Oops I didn’t see the Largemouth only comment. Yes I think catfish fight harder than a large mouth.

I don’t know. Part of why catfish fight so hard is because they’re usually caught in rivers where fish fight harder. Their heads are like a wedge that catches the current and pulls them down. So you’re often fighting the force of moving water as much as you are the fish.

I’ve only caught a couple largemouth bass in a river and I’ve only caught a couple catfish in non-moving water.

I think if you reeled in a 5lbs bass back to back with a 5lbs catfish out in the middle of a lake in open water it might be a closer comparison than you’d think.

Who cares. This is a walleye site.

Matt Moen wrote:

Who cares. This is a <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleye site.

You dirty dog

Channel Cat all day…this isn’t even a debate.

When the channel cats are surface jumping and death rolling…and they’re coming in at about 3-5# in weight only that’s something.

Dogfish! oh not an option-Cat but either is fine by me