I rarely get to make the decision. If I hook a big bass on light tippet it seems like one of three things happens; 1. I break him off trying to keep him out of the weeds, 2. he gets into the weeds and breaks me off, and 3. I manage to turn him and land him. These are listed in order of frequency. :-)

I know with trout and other species of fish it's a different story, but I rarely get to fish for them.

Jerry

Well I generally don't fish for larger fish they almost always an accidental catch. I've never had a break off though with UL gear and the occasional larger bass, catfish, or carp. All the larger fish I've caught came to hand quickly. I have had break offs with heavier tackle though.

J.

Hmmm.......

I don't think that I've ever had a consistant pattern of breaking fish off....either with very light tackle or heavier tackle.

I don't play a fish any longer than necessary to get hom to hand so that I can release him to live and fight again.

David

We're talking about unexpectedly hooking very large fish on UL gear and light tippet right? We must fish in different types of places :-) It seems like I am usually fishing the edge of reeds, cattails, hydrilla or something similar when I unexpectedly hook into a big LM bass. When it happens like this it's not a matter of rod with a soft tip or playing him off the butt of the rod, etc. You're not losing him on the strike or the set. It's more like he's headed straight for cover and you have to stop him... right now, and firm side pressure doesn't do it. You've hooked him, your rod has a big bend in it, he's drilling into the weeds, and you can almost hear your tippet stretching. You give him slack he's in the weeds, you don't give him slack--'ping', he's gone, Maybe you guys are using heavier tippet than me ;-)

I've had long-ish fights with decent sized catfish on UL gear but I've never had a long battle with a big LM bass on UL gear (or any other gear come to think of it). It's usually a short decisive win or loss. If there are no obstructions you can usually put pretty firm pressure on them and bring them in fairly quickly. I'm almost always on little ponds or small creeks and rivers, wading or fishing from the bank--lots of obstructions and not much open water.

I understand trout behave very differently, and I don't know about the other species. My surprises tend to be bass. :-)

Excellent replies all. From this brief survey it seems that annoying a big fish to death is largely only theory. Either they break themselves off or they come to hand. Nobody has given an example of prolonged fish-killing battles with the unexpected hook-up. This suggests that a fixed policy of fishing heavier tackle to match the occassional big fish so as to protect the fish is an unnecessary concession. I think large trout are in exactly the same category as large bass, carp, etc. From the posts, the only possibility of fish-killing tactics are when the angler refuses to fight the fish. On a barbless hook, this will often result in a long-distance release anyway. Don

Pound for pound, nearly every other fish cleans a trout's clock. I dream of 1lb. bluegill. Don

I didn't intend to offend anyone here. Those who really know me here will know that some of the comments in my post are tongue in cheek. It's supposed to be funny man.

J.

Hey guys no harm done. A little humorous dialogue is fun along the way. Gills are relatively easy to catch, unless one can find them in a cold water impoundment or stream, and then they can be as picky as trout, at least that seems to be the case up here in the north. By the way Zenkoanhead....I'll be coming to Mineral Wells, Texas in March to visit my mother in law, and plan to fish the tailwaters of possum kingdom. I've done it the last two years and really enjoyed it. I will have to agree on one thing...gills are exceptional fighters, even more so than trout. My friend Bill Byrd has numerous articles on ultralighting and is quite avid in chasing the largemouth bass. Bill and I have chatted on numerous occasions and even hung out on a short fishing trip a couple of years ago....His website is very interesting and informative.

After using my 3wts for years for bluegill, bass and whatever have you, I can say that I was amazed by the feel I got with bluegill on and how hard they pulled. I used my 2wt for trout this winter and while they fought, well, shook their head, they are nothing compared to a bluegill, redear or decent largemouth. Trout are a status fish, and I am anxious to chase them in wild trout streams, however, I look more forward to chasing the native longear sunfish here in Kansas creeks. I have three streams within an hour drive that hold native longear, and IMO they are prettier than any trout I have seen. I will not need to fish anything less than 6x, and will be fishing down and across.

I'd fish for trout more if there were wild ones around here. Being from Colorado I grew up on trout and I think the big wild ones are a lot of fun and fight pretty darn good. I agree with Andy though, that smallish trout don't hold a candle to 'gills when it comes to a fight. I'm still frequently surprised, when I get a hard strike and a good fighter, how small the fish sometimes are when I get them in. I guess like J I'm pretty much a warm water convert and love where I'm at.