Noticed on fishing shows..... 2024
Preytorien reply :
I've noticed when I'm watching various fishing shows or YouTube videos that a lot of anglers while reeling in a fish, can tell the type of fish, apparently by how it fights?
I can say with some I can tell what kind of fish it is by the bite, for instance a bluegill bite feels different than a bass, but can you really tell the type of fish by the fight?
I can say in all honesty I can't. I've had a particularly strong large-ish bluegill make me think I had a nice bass, or a smallie feel like a big largemouth, crappie feel like a nice largemouth, etc.
What's the secret? I want to be able to tell too.
Scarborough817 reply :
time on the water will basically help you know more. a smallie will pull a lot differently than a largemouth will, a pike will feel different than a bass and so on and so on
Jar11591 reply :
I can usually tell when I am fighting a bass, a pickerel or a pike. With bass, I can feel the head shakes which usually gives it away. Pike swim extremely fast and they pick a direction and just run. Pickerel usually twist and flip like you'd imagine a snake would. Its pretty easy to tell what I am fighting out of those 3 fish.
Mike L reply :
To me smallish fresh water fish are the hardest to tell apart
But In my experience a LM Bass will almost always fight the hardest right after being hooked, then back off a little as they get tired real quick.
Then as you get it closer to the boat they will try to take off again usually with a stronger run than when it was hooked.
Also, you'll feel the head shake and when they're coming up to jump.
Pay special attention to all those the next time you hook up and after a while you'll know too.
Mike
davecon reply :
Time on the water will tell you.
I fish brackish so it is always a crap shoot but I can usually tell within a few seconds wether it's a bass, blue gill, catfish, red, Snook, trout, jack, lady fish, etc.
Just takes some experience.
Easiest to discern is a tarpon. Even the little bitty ones go bats*#& crazy as soon as they feel the hook.
scaleface reply :
Yes , I can almost always correctly call a catfish . A drum will sail at the onset . A carp is in to win it .
Sword of the Lord reply :
Anyone ever have LMB who literally don't fight at all? I've hooked into LMB that left me thinking I was pulling up a snag because it's dead weight. Get 'em out though and then they go nuts.
islandbass reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 8:04 AM, Sword of the Lord said:Anyone ever have LMB who literally don't fight at all? I've hooked into LMB that left me thinking I was pulling up a snag because it's dead weight. Get 'em out though and then they go nuts.
Absolutely. The last decent sized one I caught a few weeks ago behaved similar like that, no fight. The only exception is I knew it wasn't a snag because my line slowly went limp, which meant it was coming toward me.
Another type of behavior I expeirence with larger LM bass Mike L described but I'll throw a little bit of possum too, playing dead ?
Sensing the type of fish comes with experience and paying attention to how the fish caught fight.
scaleface reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 8:04 AM, Sword of the Lord said:Anyone ever have LMB who literally don't fight at all?
Yes . Some of the old ones come right in and I have caught some sick ones too .
XpressJeff reply :
Editing!?
BuzzHudson19c reply :
If you can't tell a smallmouth by how it pulls, just give it a second and it will jump up and give you a good look. 
Jeff H reply :
I can tell but I'm not always right.
Ain't never had a crappie mistaken for a bass though??
The easiest ones are the walleyes...if it feels like you're reeling in a tube sock, that's a walleye.
lo n slo reply :
most spots fight different than a largemouth. they tend to dig alot harder, not jumping (although some do). a two pound spot will give you all sorts of trouble. we catch some nice blue catfish while bass fishing on Lake Norman and they'll fight alot like a spot, but their weight eventually gives them away.
BaitMonkey1984 reply :
I can usually tell the difference between smallmouth, largemouth, pickerel and all other (catfish, perch, bluegill) with around 85% accuracy. As previous posters have said its a feel based upon years on the water. It probably took me about five yeas of fishing before I could tell. However, occasionally I still get fooled. I would say its one of those intangibles that can't be learned it is just based on feel. some get it some don't. I kind of am nostalgic to the days when I had no idea what I had hooked until it jumped or I got it in the net.
Ktho reply :
Pretty simple for me since bycatch is extremely rare. But if it feels too good to be true it's a catfish
Bluebasser86 reply :
I can almost always tell by the fight what it is, and some fish I can tell by how they bite what they are. Drum have a very distinct bite, and nothing inhales a bait like a flathead. Channel cats hit moving baits very distinct and almost always start rolling immediately.
The Bassman reply :
An old Fishing Hole program showed Jerry McKinnis fighting what he thought was a big smallmouth on Dale Hollow with Billy Westmoreland. Turned out to be a lawn chair.
Catt reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 9:24 AM, Jeff H said:Ain't never had a crappie mistaken for a bass though??
Steveo-1969 reply :
My smallmouth usually jump so that's easy. A channel cat will start rolling after an initial run so that's pretty easy too. And a walleye will head shake pretty hard. I'm usually correct on those three, but not always. And if I lose a big fish without seeing it, I always tell myself it was a snagged carp...........
NYWayfarer reply :
I can usually tell a Smallmouth bite. That being said I can usually tell when I have a fish on the line that's not a Smallmouth. 
ClackerBuzz reply :
LM do semi frequent head shakes.
Carp feel more like a bulldozer going about their usual work, in the opposite direction, while pulling drag. long runs will have ur drag peeling more like a saltwater fish. large catfish can be similar but usually have more head shakes trying to throw the hook. carp seem to care less about a hook in their lip and just want to run away from the problem.
a small catfish can feel like a big bass only i get suspicious when there are non-stop head shakes while sitting in one place.
boostr reply :
I don't care, at least I caught something...
SuperCorona reply :
I can tell if it's a mudfish, right after it breaks off.
Gundog reply :
For me its pretty easy to tell what is on my line. Smallmouths tend to try to swim to deeper water when hooked. Largemouths will go side to side in the water column. Pickerel/pike just try to sit there and not move at all. Walleye/ tree branches/ lawn chairs/ old tires don't fight at all.
BassB8Caster reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 8:04 AM, Sword of the Lord said:Anyone ever have LMB who literally don't fight at all? I've hooked into LMB that left me thinking I was pulling up a snag because it's dead weight. Get 'em out though and then they go nuts.
I have as well. There was one pond i fished that when i hooked up and started bringing them in, they just gave up and let you drag them across the water. They were some very healthy beautiful looking largemouth too. Nothing wrong with them. Almost like they knew and were saying "you got me, bring me in and let me go".
I would say you can tell the difference between a smallie and largemouth eventually. Maybe not at first in the hookup, as i have caught some very aggressive and active largemouth. The smallmouth obviously love to jump, especially the smaller ones. For largemouth, it seems they are all different. sometimes they are fighters, sometimes not and then those in between.
Pickerel dont have much fight to them. Sometimes they do at first, then they just get pulled in.
Boomstick reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 6:28 AM, Jar11591 said:Pickerel usually twist and flip like you'd imagine a snake would.
True words!
Chance_Taker4 reply :
I'm pretty good at deciphering but I cannot tell ya the difference between a Walleye and Smallmouth.
fishballer06 reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 8:04 AM, Sword of the Lord said:Anyone ever have LMB who literally don't fight at all? I've hooked into LMB that left me thinking I was pulling up a snag because it's dead weight.
Catch them in 41* water and they feel like you're reeling in a plastic bag...
kickerfish1 reply :
I have been able to take this a step further. I can even tell the gender.
XpressJeff reply :
You sir, are da man!
fishwizzard reply :
I can usually tell a pickerel from a bass pretty quickly, everything else is still in a big "anything else" category.
Weirdest fight was my first tilapia. No fight, just felt like someone swam over and clipped a cinderblock to my line. I would lift and and could just ever so slowly work it up, it was just slow and steady heading to the bottom.
Neil McCauley reply :
Smallmouth: Shakes a lot, runs for the surface, may make epic jumps
Largemouth: Feels heavy, may go for a couple strong runs, may jump
Rockbass: like a small largemouth
Yellow perch: SHAKY like hell...hard to describe, but I can tell with 99% certainty when I have one
Big pumpkinseed/bluegill/sunfish: more of a stronger less rapid shakyness
Lake Trout: Feels like you're hung up on a rock, until it makes a run, and another run....
Northern: Heavy, runs, like a big lake trout or a big bass depending on size
slonezp reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 6:22 PM, Catt said:
I have a 2lb crappie hanging on my trophy wall and your fish dwarf it. 
bigbill reply :
A bluegill, sunfish etc makes circles. A pickerel makes darting runs, I've had bass like the 6.1 # in my pic gave my lure a tour of the small pond before she came in.
soflabasser reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 6:28 AM, Jar11591 said:I can usually tell when I am fighting a bass, a pickerel or a pike. With bass, I can feel the head shakes which usually gives it away. Pike swim extremely fast and they pick a direction and just run. Pickerel usually twist and flip like you'd imagine a snake would. Its pretty easy to tell what I am fighting out of those 3 fish.
Well said. It is very easy to tell the difference on how many species of fish fight. For example, I know immediately if I hooked a snook or a bass depending on how it fights. A snook will give faster, stronger runs, with more endurance than a bass. A bass will pull ok for the first couple seconds, maybe do a couple jumps, and quickly give up. A tarpon is even easier to tell since it will most likely hit like a pile of bricks, do strong runs, and jump multiple times in a fight.
OCdockskipper reply :
The channel cats on my lake give themselves away on their strike, it is much more violent than a largemouth bass, even on slow moving lures. I have had catfish grab a Ned rig in the same manner a largemouth smashes a frog or fast moving squarebill.
It seems like the catfish are trying to crush & kill even the slowest moving lures, while the bass are content to just inhale them. With Ned rigs, I always imagine the bass inhale them and then forget that they have them inside their mouth.
My friend has a bass in his koi pond and it is interesting to see the different way he strikes different food (the bass, not my friend). Minnows & goldfish are run down and just hammered, while nightcrawlers and meal worms are slowly slurped.
Catt reply :
The only one I can't discern is a trotline! ?
BCline reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 8:04 AM, Sword of the Lord said:Anyone ever have LMB who literally don't fight at all? I've hooked into LMB that left me thinking I was pulling up a snag because it's dead weight. Get 'em out though and then they go nuts.
My PB @ 7-4 fought exactly like this. She never jumped and barely pulled drag, it felt like I was reeling in a tire.
fishwizzard reply :
On 8/31/2017 at 3:20 PM, Catt said:The only one I can't discern is a trotline! ?
Snagging an old crab trap always gets me excited for a second or two!
Catt reply :
On 8/31/2017 at 9:11 PM, Bunnielab said:
Snagging an old crab trap always gets me excited for a second or two!
The thing with a trotline is they will pull back ?
fishwizzard reply :
On 8/31/2017 at 9:23 PM, Catt said:
The thing with a trotline is they will pull back ?
Traps do as well, sorta. They are light enough to lift on the hookset but heavy enough to pull the rod back down. I do imagine that you could fight a trotline for longer before you realized what was happening.
Preytorien reply :
Well this is a great list of knowledge. Boiling it all down, it seems that experience and time on the water is the ultimate teacher here. In most of my waters I only encounter bass, bluegill, occasionally a crappie, striper, and cat. I never see pike, musky, pickerel, trout, or perch too often.
As for kickerfish being able to tell the gender, that's a whole new level of discernment. Haha!
the reel ess reply :
Bass jump, big bluegill fight to get down and their head snaps are short, crappie fight a little on a level plane and make straight glides, but give up pretty easily, catfish fight hard in short runs and will roll before giving up, stripers peel off your drag for 10-20 yards before they know they're hooked.
boostr reply :
On 8/31/2017 at 9:23 PM, Catt said:
The thing with a trotline is they will pull back ?
A well placed tree branch in the water also has a tendency to do a head shake or two.
gimruis reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 8:04 AM, Sword of the Lord said:Anyone ever have LMB who literally don't fight at all? I've hooked into LMB that left me thinking I was pulling up a snag because it's dead weight. Get 'em out though and then they go nuts.
I get this sometimes when the water is cold. Around these parts that would be October/November. I don't ice fish but I've heard that a LMB hooked through the ice is like a wet shoe.
The most common fish I catch when targeting bass (besides bass, obviously) are pike. Its easy to tell the difference most of the time. Pike go on accelerated horizontal runs and have much faster bursts of speed than bass do.
Bulletman20XD reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 8:04 AM, Sword of the Lord said:Anyone ever have LMB who literally don't fight at all? I've hooked into LMB that left me thinking I was pulling up a snag because it's dead weight. Get 'em out though and then they go nuts.
Fishing a tourney on Lake Falcon this past spring. It's almost 2 p.m. weigh-in is at 3 and I have 4 fish in the livewell. Started throwing a deep crank in about 20 feet of water near some trees. Something hits buts did not fight. I told the backseater I had a stick fish. That was until it was right beside the boat and a 4 pounder went nuts. I did manage to land it and finished out an important limit. Finished 3rd but the points were more important for end of year numbers.
Bulletman20XD reply :
A LMB will shake his head pretty good along with a pull. A SMB will go nuts and fight like an cat with it's tail on fire. A carp feels like a LMB at first but then almost completely quits. Depending on the size, a white bass fights a lot like a SMB and hard to tell. A blue or channel cat shakes their head from their nose to their tail slowly and feels like a heavy limb that moves. Bluegill---tap-tap-tap bite, I won't even set the hook.
Stuck this Lake Falcon Blue Cat with a T-Rigged Brush Hawg last month
. Didn't have to tell my partner to get the net he saw me set the hook and the fish didn't come up an inch. After about 5 turns of the reel I told him it's not a bass (as bad as I wanted it to be)!!
lonnie g reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 6:22 PM, Catt said:
them are some nice slabs!! WOW!
primetime reply :
The shake and speed of the bounce usually tells me if Bowphin, Pickeral, Panfish, Catfish etc...You can never be 100% sure, but usually if it does not feel like a Bass, not doing what bass do, it is usually something else or foul hooked.
Its the same in Saltwater, you can tell a bluefish from a Striped bass right away just by the speed and amount of bounce, head shake, drag pull.
Bass have a thump and weight/speed that just feels "right" Plus just the way they strike, swim toward cover or come to surface etc.... although sometimes a Striper or Snook, snagged Tilapia etc. in freshwater can get you confused.
Big Turtles have gotten me super excited for about 10-20 seconds, the fast swimming soft shell turtles that strike topwaters, swim jigs etc...Also gators at night, although I usually realize quickly that if it is a bass, odds are I am not breaking the world record by 30lbs. The initial topwater stike of a 4-6' gator at night will get the blood pumping, plus you want to believe you have a giant, but the extra weight eventually ruins the moment, and you lose your lure.
scaleface reply :
I can tell a blue cat because they roll in circles .
Rick Howard reply :
Most often yes but sometimes they will fool me.
Sifuedition reply :
Perch/sunfish/bluegill - you feel how short the headshakes are and they tend to be like having a bat (the flying kind) on the line. Erratic, rapid turns and spins.
LMB - headshake just feels different. More often a turn and pull, rather than side to side, unless your gear is too heavy for them to get their head around.
Carp/drum - tendency to feel like dead weight that may make runs straight away from you.
Catfish - whole body shakes rather than just headshakes, hugs bottom most often, may make runs in any direction.
Telling the difference in the shakes is just time learning the feel of your rod/line combo. This is largely how the rod tip is pulled, with bigger or smaller tugs, but, it is also in the finer sensations coming up the line and through the rod material. I can usually tell when the line runs across submerged limbs or fish just from the subtle drag - tap feel. With most of mine, I can immediately tell if I have even a little bit of moss/weed on any kind of moving bait, like lipless crankbaits, swimbaits, etc, just by the difference in the feel of the action on the lure.
The quality and features of your rod can make a big difference here.
This pic was just the first that I found with this feature visible. Notice just in front of the finger-grip on this rod. The surrounding material is gone leaving your finger touching the actual rod blank. Features like this can give you much more sensitivity in the feel of exactly what is happening on the other end of that line.
BassB8Caster reply :
I would say a lot of it depends on the sensitivity of the rod and how we handle them. No doubt lmb shake their heads and we will all feel this at some point. I have had some that litterally give up and just get reeled in, dragged across the surface. And im not horsing them in either. I was amazed however at the amount of head shakes they do without us even noticing. I was fishing a lipless crank with rattles (from a kayak so im close to the water) and had a 2 to 2.5lber on. I had it reeled in close to me, just under the kayak. All i could hear was rattle rattle rattle. That fish was constantly shaking its head. But i felt nothing through my mh rod. It was so cool.
HookRz reply :
I can always tell a pike or Musky hit my spinnerbait. They tend to knock a bit of slack in the line as they run it down at high speed. Sort of a tick followed by a wump!
Can sometimes tell when they hit a flipping jig to. A little tick, then you say "where did my jig go?" Lol.
bigbill reply :
Hooking a smallmouth is like having a 5lb bluegill on the line what a fight. A pickerel is more intense depending on the size but it darts and makes more runs. A LMB fights but not as violent. But there are lazy LMB and active LMB too. I can pretty much tell whats on my line before I see it.
Fishing Cowgirl reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 5:13 PM, The Bassman said:An old Fishing Hole program showed Jerry McKinnis fighting what he thought was a big smallmouth on Dale Hollow with Billy Westmoreland. Turned out to be a lawn chair.
A flip flop or a baseball cap will dive, run sideways, and shudder. Then embarrass you when you get it to the boat. A mudfish (bowfin) will roll and a bass with grass covering its face will stop fighting till you are getting it in the boat. Then the hydrilla starts flying. Pickerel have taken many of my baits as bling bling jewelry. Lost jigs, spinner baits, and a couple nice crank baits. You could hear him swimming around rattling it.
fishwizzard reply :
I was out with my nephew a few months ago fishing a small lake at dusk. I was fishing a WP 130 and flying it way way out there. Something hit it right as it touched down and it felt like a cinderblock grabbed my lure and dived straight down. It was so odd, sometimes I would just be reeling into a very heavy weight, but then I would pause and the line would move off on it's own. It felt like a snagg that would sometimes fight back. I could not figure out what kind of fish would hit a topwater but be so strong and heavy. It took me almost 3 min to get it landed.
Turned out to be a snapping turtle with, I kid you not, a shell about 20" across. I got my lure back but it was a little hairy for a moment or two.
Pro Logcatcher reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 8:04 AM, Sword of the Lord said:Anyone ever have LMB who literally don't fight at all? I've hooked into LMB that left me thinking I was pulling up a snag because it's dead weight. Get 'em out though and then they go nuts.
I always have those fish that only fight when I'm trying to unhook them!
pondbassin101 reply :
I haven't been fishing for that long but I can at least tell the difference between a LMB and a catfish.
Paul Roberts reply :
On 8/30/2017 at 6:10 AM, Preytorien said:I've noticed when I'm watching various fishing shows or YouTube videos that a lot of anglers while reeling in a fish, can tell the type of fish, apparently by how it fights?
I can say with some I can tell what kind of fish it is by the bite, for instance a bluegill bite feels different than a bass, but can you really tell the type of fish by the fight?
I can say in all honesty I can't. I've had a particularly strong large-ish bluegill make me think I had a nice bass, or a smallie feel like a big largemouth, crappie feel like a nice largemouth, etc.
What's the secret? I want to be able to tell too.
Definitely. The secret? Experience.
Every fish species is different in terms of body build, energy level, and swimming performance:
Body build explains a lot of it. In general, the deeper the body the more that fish can pull, but this is often at the expense of speed or distance it will run. Bluegill is an extreme example. Narrow fish tend to be faster, swim more in a bee-line, and can be "turned over" with pressure quicker. (This also plays a role in what types of retrieves they are apt to respond to), and they are more apt to writhe or twist in an effort to pull free of the hook. Pike are an example.
Energy level is another. While LM and SM are similar in body shape, SM are often faster, pull harder, and take longer to subdue. I've caught tons of trout, and in the Great Lakes there were varieties of rainbow trout planted, that can be broken down into two main categories: "Steelhead" (anadromous ancestry) and Domestics (hatchery mixs with predominately land-locked ancestry). Hook each and you know nearly instantly. The deep-bodied domestics can not run as far or as fast, they wallow more and give up quicker. Steelhead are scary fast, can run long, and can leap eye level with you.
Then there are mid-body forms -not narrow, not deep, such as trout, walleye, and bass. Trout are faster than walleye and do a lot of writhing and shaking. Browns are notorious for "rolling", twisting. Walleye try to stay down toward the bottom and feel "head-heavy". Their bolts to bottom are bee-line and can be pretty sharp, but they give up pretty quick apparently due to energy level and body shape.
Then there are catfish... They are both laterally compressed (deep-bodied/flat-sided) and have a wide shovel-like head. When I hook one (not uncommonly on bass lures) I know right away. A large one can bolt and run, often with more speed than a bass. And then they can use that shovel head to stay down, especially when they are directly below you. I call them "cinder blocks with fins" at this stage.
Bullheads are pretty much cylindrical. They have a flat laterally compressed back third, are round for the front two-thirds, and don't have a lot of energy. They writhe, roll, and give up quick. "Yup, it's a bullhead." I've caught trout and bass with spinal deformities -as if they had a section removed from the mid-section making them short and rotund, and when I've hooked them I've wondered, "Bullhead?"
Then there are eels, the most extreme example of a long thin fish. They have no body depth to pull with, so they writhe wildly in a backwards direction. It feels like a whole lot of pounding, but they don't really go anywhere. "Eel!"
Here's a cool thing: Body length can be "measured" in the rod: When a long fish "shakes"/"writhes" (bc it can't counter your pressure as well as a deep bodied fish), your rod tip dips. The length of the dip is a good indication of the fish's length.
Something else comes into the mix too and that is the water body you're fishing. I may not always be able to tell a drum from a large bass, say, but if there are drum in the water body, I may suspect this one may be a drum. Drum however seem to be able to remain upright better (are more laterally compressed), and are a bit faster than bass, in my -more limited- experience with them.
Again, the secret is experience with lots of different kinds of fish.
On 12/6/2017 at 12:44 AM, Fishing Cowgirl said:A flip flop or a baseball cap will dive, run sideways, and shudder. Then embarrass you when you get it to the boat.
Yes! Sticks can do that too, when hooked off center. 
Columbia Craw reply :
I caught the neighbor's cat once on a jig. It fought just like a hot summer run steelhead only noisier.
Sifuedition reply :
On 12/6/2017 at 1:31 AM, fishwizzard said:I was out with my nephew a few months ago fishing a small lake at dusk. I was fishing a WP 130 and flying it way way out there. Something hit it right as it touched down and it felt like a cinderblock grabbed my lure and dived straight down. It was so odd, sometimes I would just be reeling into a very heavy weight, but then I would pause and the line would move off on it's own. It felt like a snagg that would sometimes fight back. I could not figure out what kind of fish would hit a topwater but be so strong and heavy. It took me almost 3 min to get it landed.
Turned out to be a snapping turtle with, I kid you not, a shell about 20" across. I got my lure back but it was a little hairy for a moment or two.
As soon as you said cinderblock, I guessed it. Good description. I've had that fight, but on live bait.
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