I need a fresh water fish capable of giving a good run (I guess I'm thinking of something like a game fish--marlin or swordfish--but in a river.) Something big enough to actually tow a small boat for a short distance. So far the only two I've been able to think of to research (sturgeon and catfish) didn't quite pan out, at least as far as I can tell by reading about them.
Of course, it's a fantasy, so I can just make something up. A baby water dragon might be interesting. But I haven't had any other fantastic creatures in this one so far, so it might feel a little out of place.
The last time I fished was for the stocked fish in the pond at a local park (catch and release) where the biggest challenge was trying to keep the crawfish from stealing your bait. I was probably eleven or twelve at the time.
I'm beginning to like the baby water dragon idea, the more I think about it. There are a couple of places where I could work in the existence of water dragons and/or other fantastic creatures so it wouldn't feel like it was coming out of left field. Besides, a dragon can do anything you want it to--who's going to prove you wrong?
Other Australian fish that may fit the bill include Saratoga and barramundi, which are strong fighting fish and the big ones are around 4-5 feet. Murray cod can grow to 6 feet, and weight 250 pounds, but the fight would be short lived.
I can see this fish pulling a small row boat.
ETA: It was the goonch that was believed to have eaten people in India.
http://www.otterreserves.com/goonch.ht
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/weird/article1784470.ece
[This message has been edited by MAP (edited August 01, 2010).]
In still waters, pretty much any fish that puts up a good fight will tow a small unpowered boat quite a ways.
(Now, if you'd asked for a saltwater fish, I could tell you from personal experience about a five-hour fight with a swordfish that pulled our boat so far out to sea it took us an hour at full speed to get back into sight of land after we finally got the fish on the boat.)
In the oceans there is nothing to use as a hiding place so escape is the normal tactic at least for free swimming fish.
Fish that are bottom dwelling hiding in coral kind of thing, are ot fighters. They will hide or just act heavy.
Finding river fish that really fight is not as easy. Big ones I presume, might not be great fighters.
But could you have one that was extra big, if you really wanted?
quote:
I thought salmon and trout were fighting fish, though they aren't usually big enough to pull a boat (more likely they'd pull the fisherman out of the boat, if any pulling happened).
Well, see, he starts out by catching a trout, but then something takes the trout--and his line.
Since I'm making something up anyway, right now I'm going with the baby water dragon. It gives me a chance for some good imagery.
I have to go back and fill in some gaps anyway. I'll just make sure to establish the existence of water dragons ahead of time. There are a couple of places where I can do that pretty easily.
[This message has been edited by Meredith (edited August 04, 2010).]
In still water, a salmon or large trout that fights for 15-20 minutes is going to move a small boat a noticeable distance. It really doesn't take much force to move a boat.
As a very, very rough calculation:
Salmon can swim 12mph. I don't know how long they can sustain that speed, so let's cut it in half to 6mph. At 5280 feet in a mile, that's 31680 feet per hour.
This rowboat weighs 70 lbs. Put in two humans and some equipment, and we'll say 400 lbs.
So, let's pick a 20-lb salmon who fights for 20 minutes. Normally, it would be able to travel 10560 feet in that time, but due to the tension on the line, some of that force is exerted on the boat. (See Newton's third law.) The ratio of the weight of the boat to the weight of the salmon is 20 to 1, so (very roughly) the boat will move 1/20 the distance: 528 feet. That's 1/10 of a mile, more than the length of a football field. That's not a great distance to travel in 20 minutes, but it is noticeable.
(Note that I've left out direction of the pull and a whole host of other variables. This is meant to just give a ballpark idea of the magnitude of the motion.)