Steelhead vs Smallmouth.

[wildtrout2]

They pull harder, they just do.

If a 15' smallmouth was tied tail to tail to a 20+ inch trout and dropped in the water the trout would be torn apart in 60 seconds.

It's kind of like how a 3-pound bluefish pulls harder than a 10-pound freshwater fish regardless of the species.

Good analogy. I've always thought of bluefish as salt water piranha.

 

[Skook]

I hooked several chrome, hot steelhead this past November in the Salmon River, NY on a centerpin. As soon as I set the hook the fish made a few spectacular jumps and then took off like a shot heading back toward the lake. At my age, I won't try running them down while standing in the middle of a boulder-strewn river. My only hope at not getting spooled was to feather the reel and hope to slow them down.

I was using a fresh spool of Seaguar JDM Grand Max 2X fluoro tippet that is rated somewhere around 10 lb. test. For steelhead fishing I spend an inordinate amount of time and attention tying my snells and knots, even finishing them with a coating of Loon Knot Sense UV epoxy.

It didn't matter. The fish that took off and were determined not to be landed weren't, and I don't think there was anything I could've done differently. Inevitably, the ones that got away snapped my line after I applied more and more pressure to the reel in a losing battle.

The pound-for-pound argument might hold up, but when a 10+ lb. hot, fresh steelhead in a big river makes a blistering run on relatively light line, there is not much else like it in fresh water.