Favorite species to fish for

[Justin Douglas]

What is everybody's favorite species of fish to catch and what would be the one you would like to try for the most? I thought this would be a good question so others could possibly help if anyone would like to get some information. Northern Pike are my favorite at the moment but i have always wanted to catch a Muskie. I use muskie equipment and lures pike fishing. I only started doing that maybe 4 years ago I wasn't getting many big pike. Fishing this way is not a numbers game but it has proven to work. Maine has no regulations on pike which makes for some pretty tough fishing.
I caught a 40 inch pike weighing 15 pounds 10 ounces and 38 1/2 inch pike weighing 14 pounds in the same week this fall.

[paul]

I don't know if I can pick a single favorite. I love muskie fishing, bass, trout, steelhead, catfish... Around here we have some pretty big flathead catfish and I like to night fish for those in the summer with live bluegills for bait. I only did that once this year and didn't catch anything big. Well, a 15 pound snapping turtle, but no big fish. In past years I've caught 3 over 40 pounds, the biggest taking the scale to it's 50 pound maximum and then breaking it.

If I could fish for anything, I'd go fishing for white sturgeon again. I've only done it once for half a day and was very fortunate to get into a couple of really big fish. The first was about 9 feet long and the second was estimated at 12+, possibly as much as 14. It's hard to get a good measurement when you can't lift the fish out of the water or beach it, but calling it "huge" wouldn't do that fish justice. To say I caught it is a little iffy, too. It might be more accurate to say I hooked it, put everything I had into trying to move it, and it decided to humor me and let me bring it up to the boat. We took pictures and then it stopped finning, lay still and just let its weight take it straight down, and the 80 pound line just popped.

Paul

[Justin Douglas]

I would like to try for sturgeon and flathead catfish someday they look like a lot of fun to catch.

[Erik77]

I would say bass are my favorite for sure

[paul]

Yeah, if that fish had never moved a muscle it's unlikely I could have brought it up. At 12 feet long and with a healthy girth I think it's safe to say it weighed somewhere between 500 and 1,000 pounds. Its effective weight in water would be a lot less, but its total mass and its volume in the current might still have been too much for the 80 pound test. Or perhaps the line was damaged by that point and didn't have a lot of strength left, but I recall it seemed like I had plenty of tension on the line when it broke. It's still hard for me to believe there are fish that big in fresh water.

Paul

[cdavis]

anything i can keep a few of to eat

[bassmaster12]

Anything that puts a bend in my pole and can cause line to go screaming from my reel, but a few my favorites are here.

[reelfish074]

Nice fish!! How big were they? That carp is especially a monster. We fish for carp here but the max we have caught is about 10 pounds, but they still fight like a freight train

[bassmaster12]

bass is 5.5 lbs and 4.5 lbs

crappies 1.5 lbs 2.2 lbs

perch no idea but was 11.5 "

carp 21.5 lbs

[Bubba_Da_Man]

I would have to say my favorite species would be bass or pike.

I haven't caught very many big pike but the little ones fight
pretty hard for their size.