Best fish ever vs Biggest fish ever,,,,

[chewy01]

I overheard a bloke at monduran the other day say he caught his best fish ever (barra)and his mate asked :D was it his biggest to which he replied of course.Just wondering if most people are of this train of thought cause my best fish are nowhere near the biggest iv caught,where and how i caught them also matters.

[marty+jojo]

My biggest fish was a 101cm threadfin salmon from the Brisy river, but it was not my best. The best fish i have caught was a 88cm snapper from Mud Island, i rate the snapper better because it would have pulled the threadie backwards for 100meters, also the snapper was caught on 6 pound line.
So for me my best fish was not my biggest.
Marty.

[Keechie]

my biggest ever 82cm barra and most favourite 40cm golden trevally on a plastic;D .

regards,
keechie

[tunaticer]

While we all desire to catch a large fish, I am not going to be surprised to see the vast majority of the biggest ones released today and in years to come.

Personally I am over wanting to catch a big one and am perfectly happy with decent sized fish for the table. Generally I will take a maximum of 3 feeds for my family for a trip and usually only 1 meal's worth.

Most enjoyable fish I've landed????.... 75cm jack in ningi creek while wading around with a 2" hardbody for bream on 4lb fireline. Im lucky i was wading because after he hung me up in the reefs I had to tail grab him and drag him out.

Biggest fish I've landed???..... a cod well over 4' long and probably close to the 100lb mark or better.

Jack.

[nigelr]

Gotta agree with tunaticer.
Best fish for me these days is definitely the tastiest caught on the day (or night!)
I'd rather catch a 10lb mulloway than a 60lb, 'cause I prefer to eat them that size.
Hard to successfully release a big jew after a prolonged fight on the beach so I believe, personally much too nice a creature for me to kill.
Each to their own however!
Cheers.

[NAGG]

For me .... some of the most memorable captures have had more to do with the situation rather than the size

2220345 kg dogtooth tuna taken on 10kg (calcutta 700) fishing the edge of a isolated seamount (Madang PNG) 5 Fathoms dropping to 300 ........The fish was following up hooked red bass .... when I fed it a loaded jig ........ None of us thought it would be landed !
15mins later my mate hooks up on 24kg & never turned the handle ......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz for 5mins ..... then all over

Then you have a 43 cm bream hooked in the oyster racks on a SP ...... My first SP bream .... ( & still my PB)

[steve99]

I must be one of the few politically incorrect members that enjoyed catching and keeping big fish.
Obviously, my biggest catch was the 307kg tigershark in my gallery. Most memorable - theres been a few - 23kg jewfish,23kg kingfish,30kg yellowfin.

Getting smoked on 24kg gear by a blue marlin is memorable in itself. I just wish Id stayed connected to all those freight trains

When I think about it there is too many memories to list.

Steve99

[Noelm]

hhmm let me see, best/most memorable would be split between two, a 12.2 KG Snapper and a 39KG (cleaned) Kingfish, but the hardest was a 92KG Yellowfin 0n 15KG with no trace and a 4/0 Suicide hook, whimpiest was a 145KG Black Marlin on 24KG was about as entertaining as catching a Whiting on the same tackle, but I have caught others that were OK, so that one must have been sick or tired or something!

[NAGG]

hhmm let me see, best/most memorable would be split between two, a 12.2 KG Snapper and a 39KG (cleaned) Kingfish, but the hardest was a 92KG Yellowfin 0n 15KG with no trace and a 4/0 Suicide hook, whimpiest was a 145KG Black Marlin on 24KG was about as entertaining as catching a Whiting on the same tackle, but I have caught others that were OK, so that one must have been sick or tired or something!

:P 92 kg fin on 15 ( 200lber:thumbup: ) ....... Now that would have been hard yakka ( how long did it take?)

I played with a approx 150lber on 8kg ..... off the Banks ( just under 3 hours) ...... when it got nailed by a Tiger ( 2 bites) ........ Never cracked the 100lb

Gotta love those yellowfin .......

Nagg

[Noelm]

it was also at the Banks, was zipping about in the cubes and would not take a bait, so I switched down to 15KG and a 24KG trace, still no go, then took off the trace, and still would come up, have a look and turn away, but happily eat all the other cubes about 2 metres from the Boat, finally swapped the hook for the 4/0 and a very tiny cube with the hook completely hidden, tossed over two cubes and the one with the hook, the 'Fin took both without hooks, then scoffed the "loaded" one, took about 2 and a half hours, the 15KG (Amilan) line was still OK and the hook was just in the upper Mouth area, still have the hook and a length of line in my "collection"

[chops_rx2]

Removed....

[NAGG]

it was also at the Banks, was zipping about in the cubes and would not take a bait, so I switched down to 15KG and a 24KG trace, still no go, then took off the trace, and still would come up, have a look and turn away, but happily eat all the other cubes about 2 metres from the Boat, finally swapped the hook for the 4/0 and a very tiny cube with the hook completely hidden, tossed over two cubes and the one with the hook, the 'Fin took both without hooks, then scoffed the "loaded" one, took about 2 and a half hours, the 15KG (Amilan) line was still OK and the hook was just in the upper Mouth area, still have the hook and a length of line in my "collection"

Thats one of the best sights in fishing ( I reckon) Fin wizzing around a cube trail at the back of the boat ........ I still bare the scars of a fin that took a strip bait & I was still pulling the wind on off the reel ( ouch)
Mate .... that takes some courage dropping down to just a main line!

Its been a while since I've had a crack at some fin ..... but I'll get my chance in May ( Bermagui)

Cheers
Nagg

[Noelm]

yep, anyone who has witnessed a good Yellowfin at the Boat eating bits of Pilchard will not forget it in a long time, probably the best "take I ever had was at Narooma a few years ago, we were getting smallish ones (about 20 to 25KG) and I was about to put out another bait, but the line was caught at the tip, while I was jiggling the rod to free it and a 71KG model grabbed the Pilly right on the surface, nearly drowned us and had line (in free spool) jumping and tangling, then untangling in an instant, what a moment that was.

[TonyM]

Wow pretty hard to decide which one was best, they're all fun to catch!

Whilst it's always great to get a new personal best, I tend to remember the first catch of a new species moreso than others.

Since I've been lure fishing most memorable catch would be my first Saratoga caught in a local river fishing with a mate, closely followed by my first impoundment Barra (which ended with one treble in the barra and one in my hand) won't forget that in a hurry! Neither of those fish were particularly large, although I can remember the day I caught them like it was yesterday.

Bait fishing my favourite would be a 47cm bream I dragged out of the oyster racks at the bay behind my house on the hawkesburry after chucking a mullet strip into the rack (and yes it was on an alvey!) :D

[chewy01]

Thanks for the feedback everyone,probably i have 2 neither of which are the biggest. One was the 96 cm barra at monduran casting my 3-5kg raider spin rod in the sticks and the other was my first saltwater barra on fly walking a creek bank at mackay. the monduran one was mostly luck but still landed him and the mackay barra was only 75 odd but in the middle of a hot bite where we landed about 12. and the scenery was awesome to go with it.Im with tony though. my best fish is probably the next one i catch.

[dnej]

Date September 1975
Jew weight 45 lbs,in old terms
Line 9lb breaking strain.
Bait slab of Tailor
Time 2.5 hours
Surf at Sunshine beach.
Tide Low tide

Had to carry gear,and fish up the sand cliff.Hard work after 2,5 hours.Was shaking like a leaf,when two othe guys dragged it out of the surf for me.
David

[chewy01]

gr8 fish mate no wonder you were knackered

[Cammy]

i have 2 memorable catches,
first one was my 90cm flatty caught off the southern wall at yamba on mullet.
second was my first ever barra , was 74 cm, on whitbait!!.
they are both my favorite, i cant choose!

Cammo

[Horse]

The next one is my favourite;D .

My biggest is a 350lb+ Marlin on a TLD 25 out of a longboat but my favourite fish would be a toss up between the 100cm salty Barra from inside Fraser or the 25lb Jew landbased in a Noosa canal on 8lb.

To me the experience is heightened by something out of the ordinary.

[PaulMark]

My best fish wasn't even mine,it was the first fish my grandson caught by himself.Proud grandad or what,it was only a just legal whiting but the enthusiastic reception it received was magic.