Maybe a couple of minutes. I catch between 10-20 fish a year that weight over twenty lbs (usually one a year breaks 30) and while they all run deep into your backing and generally tear your up, they are still freshwater fish. It doesn't take 45 minutes or an hour to land a big carp, though I hear that all the time. I actually ran into a guy on the river last week that watched my buddy hook, land and release an 18 lber. He came down and told us the story of a 23 lb carp that took him "over and hour" to land and had to be "shot in the head with a pistol." Actual quotes, that guy cracked me up.Originally Posted by adglife
Carp fight as hard and take more line (due to sheer size and strength) than any freshwater fish, but about the only fish around here that could possibly take and hour to land is a 10 ft long sturgeon.
In my opinion, the 16-18 lb carp are the real athletes...they take way more line than a 20 plus lber.
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