What is the Most Noble Fish?

[C LeBo 0]

Definitely the one that is out there right now...peacefully slurping bugs off the top of the water, hunkered down behind some driftwood or boulder, getting fat while being extremely picky, having ignored many offerings from others, the one that is waiting for me to show up, the one that is going to make me wonder about the integrity of my equipment choices for that day, the one that makes me get the camera out of my pack and still be worth every second of it should the camera fall into the water, the one that has me make a call home to tell the Wife about, the one that will give me a momentary bout of depression having caught them...then elation thinking about the possibilities of the next one to come and take it's place of honor....that is the most noble fish...the one caught but also the one to come! I have no name for this fish though it may just as well be named "Fever".

Well Put!

[mainbutter 0]

The most noble fish?

 

The Whale Shark, because of its grace and majesty.

 

The most noble fish that I've caught on a fly?

 

The Bluegill, because I can always count on their behavior to help me figure out where the bigger predators are.

[switch10 0]

There is something special about the golden trout. They are hard to find, hard to catch, very strong fighters, and definitely the prettiest fish I have ever caught.

[Li'lDave 0]

For me it's the snook and there's not even a close second. Seeing one come from under a mangrove shoreline or a dock in dark tannin water to engulf your fly or plug in a quiet backwater creek is something magical.

 

Sounds just like Barramundi ....

[Li'lDave 0]

For me it's the snook and there's not even a close second. Seeing one come from under a mangrove shoreline or a dock in dark tannin water to engulf your fly or plug in a quiet backwater creek is something magical.

 

Sounds just like Barramundi ....

For me I like the court Jester. Ye ol' Pikey Bream. Goes so hard at your fly one day coming again and again, tail strikes the next, and nowhere to be seen the day after! Leaves you laughing insanely many times that something so small can cause so much heart ache....

[vicrider 0]

Tho is has been years since I used any form of live bait, the days of fishing steelhead with a small, neatly tied spawn sack were special. The steelhead would stop the spawn sack and you'd feel what we used to call the "munch". That moment between the "munch" and setting the hook was one of the most exciting feelings in the fishing I've done. Having caught numbers of Lake Superior and Lane Michigan trout, chinook, cohos, lake trout, and browns on yarn flies and rubber eggs, it still doesn't give you that momentarily heart stopping pause before the hookup that a spawn sack does.

[ditz2 0]

Available to everyone. Makes us all smile. Sometimes aggressive and sometimes shy and trying. The sunfish family (including bass)

[Peterjay 0]

The most challenging, elegant and spirited fish I've personally caught with regularity are false albacore. Little tuna are as powerful and beautiful as anything on the planet; they’ll destroy reels and literally kill themselves to avoid capture. All a responsible angler ever gets to see of them is a quick glimpse before they're released. (most of them will not survive "grip 'n' grin" photos - don't even get me started) It takes a lot of hours and considerable skill to nail one from the rocks, and the top albie guys would have to be classified as obsessed, to put it mildly. Albacore are the ultimate fly rod fish in my part of the country, and the fact that they’re only around for a few weeks out of the year just adds to the mystique. Everybody has their favorites, and that’s mine. Pound for pound, albacore have few equals when it comes to shore fishing.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Referring to a fish as noble sounds odd to me at first but I know referring to a fish as being noble is a literary thing and I think I know what is meant by it so, I'll give it a shot. So far, it seems like all fish are noble. Maybe its something about holding that thing from the other world in your hand that has few words to describe the humbling feeling you get, so, noble is used to describe the subject that has brought you to awe.

Also, considering I've been in awe over more fish in my hand than I have met men that I am humbled by. I think if PJ were reincarnated as a fish, he would be the noblest.

 

Kirk

[mridenour 0]

The one that got away.

[agn54 0]

PJ, it's funny how fish are viewed differently in different parts of the country. Down here, false albacore, what we call bonito, are usually seen as a nuisance. They get really thick and frustrate offshore guys trying for kings, dolphin, snapper, and other popular species. They often call them by the derogatory term boneheads. Other than a few piers in the southeast they aren't really caught from shore and few guys target them with fly rods. I used to love catching them when I fished down there especially on light tackle but unfortunately never had the chance to try them on the fly.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

AGN, you're right. Jimbo Meador took me out of Mobile once to catch them on a fly so his son would have shark bait for the next day! I caught a few and we saved them for Jimbo's son to use for cut bait the next day. They were a kick in the butt to catch though especially on my 9wt.

[agn54 0]

For me it's the snook and there's not even a close second. Seeing one come from under a mangrove shoreline or a dock in dark tannin water to engulf your fly or plug in a quiet backwater creek is something magical.

 

Sounds just like Barramundi ....

I once read an article on the similarities of baramundi and snook, apparently they have a very similar physiological make up. A buddy of mine was talking to Blare Wiggins ( a Florida TV host) about snook and he mentioned that scientists have pointed to a study done on baramundi to show the damaging effects that can happen when holding a snook vertical by the jaws, as happens to baramundi. He said that both fish are susceptible to internal damage when held that way. It's not surprising they have similar feeding habits.

[Peterjay 0]

PJ, it's funny how fish are viewed differently in different parts of the country. Down here, false albacore, what we call bonito, are usually seen as a nuisance. They get really thick and frustrate offshore guys trying for kings, dolphin, snapper, and other popular species. They often call them by the derogatory term boneheads. Other than a few piers in the southeast they aren't really caught from shore and few guys target them with fly rods. I used to love catching them when I fished down there especially on light tackle but unfortunately never had the chance to try them on the fly.

 

Yeah, a lot of perceptions are strictly in the eye of the beholder. Guys who are chasing kings and snapper aren't usually flyrodders, and they're overmatching fish like albacore. Similarly, bonefish are tremendous gamefish on a 6wt, but you could haul them in like bluegills on heavy gear. Same with little tuna. It's hard to believe you could find a better gamefish on an 8wt or 9wt. The way we fish albacore is a lot like Atlantic salmon fishing; you have to put in a lot of hours and you need a wealth of savvy to even get a hookup, let alone land one. The reward is an 8-15 pound fish that'll put you 150 yards into your backing in a matter of seconds. There are relatively few shore anglers who are really good at it, and those guys probably catch 90% of the tuna in any given season. Bluefin and yellowfin are bigger than albies, but they're less suitable for fly gear, and they're impossible to get from shore. Hooking a 50-pound bluefin on a fly often means spending an entire afternoon on one fish, and that's not my idea of fun. IMO, albacore are the perfect fly rod fish - plentiful enough to target, hard to come by, and magnificent fighters on suitable tackle.

[Chefben4 0]

The most "noble" fish.. Interesting post. The responses of course are equally as interesting.

When I saw this I decided to google "noble". The number 1 definition was this: possessing outstanding qualities. Well that could be a lot of fish.. To me the fish that first came to mine that was "noble" was the Tarpon. Not only do I find them noble they are incredibly humbling. Every time I fish for them I am brought back to reality that Im not that good lol. Tarpon are interesting fish and anyone that fishes for them or wants to should really read about them. They go back a long ways and the scientific studies being done recently are very cool. Regardless I could go on for a while about how Tarpon possess outstanding qualities but Ill save it for another day!