Apart from Salmon....

As much as I adore catching Grayling and Browns.. It has to be the Rainbow... They go like the proverbial clappers!! IMO

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Before you cast the fly, make sure you can handle the fish! Vuoi imbrogliare? Poi Non competere! (If you want to cheat, then dont compete)

Caught some well mended escapees in rivers in my day, and when they run from pool to pool you could be forgiven for thinking you had a good salmon on.

'In a river' & 'pound for pound' it has to be a sea trout of about 4 lb. They are almost as athletic, and certainly more acrobatic, than any spring run salmon.

Apart from the Derbyshire Wye; I can't think of any UK river containing rainbows worth catching - much less where they "go like the clappers".
Cap'n - would you care to elaborate as to where?

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Save the softmouth trout

Yep totally agree. Best fighting game fish in the UK. Had them on dries up to 2lb on a 3 weight, great scrap.

Walker

I'd go with sea trout or here in NI dollaghan which are a lough neagh trout that run the rivers in a similar way

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And when none bite, I praise the wise
Whom vain allurements ne'er surprise.

Setting aside salmon, I'd have to say steelhead. The sensation of setting the hook into a steelhead just into the river is like grabbing a live electrical wire.

The first steelhead I really set the hook into was in a narrow section of river on the south shore of Superior. I was fishing a current seam on the side of a rock bar, it's a small feature only about 10 feet long and I was standing only about 15 feet from it. On the first cast, BANG!

I set the hook and the fish came out of that rip like it had been set on fire. It's funny to think of now, but on a tight line the fish moved toward me and then came rocketing out of the water about 10 feet from my nose. The fish easily jumped head-high and I was so startled at that big fish coming out of the water so violently, I ducked down.

That was my undoing as the fish took advantage of the slack line and threw the hook.

I've never caught a steelhead that didn't seem like it was everything I could handle. The way that slack line comes snapping up, it's just unbelievable.

I vote steelhead.

Grouse

Out of the UK it has to be wild river-run rainbows, although some may argue for in favor of the pacific steel head.

I guess we have to take into account the king salmon also although others on here may be
able to give first hand accounts of these fish.

I've seen NZ river rainbows shatter tippets and rod tips on brutally long runs.
These are fish well over the five pound mark and they are can be more acrobatic than the Atlantic Salmon.

In my opinion, the Sewin is the best fighting river fish pound for pound. As mentioned earlier, a fresh one of about 4 or 5lb will give a hell of a tussle.

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Every dog has its day.....

Based on my limited experience I'll go with that. Never had one over 2lb but with the last one on I kept looking for the other fish on the point fly becasue I couldn't believe one fish could pull so hard!
GD

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We come from dust; we return to dust. I'm going to fish

Have to agree on a sea trout the first time I ever caught one on fly it was 4lb and in the dark I thought I had hooked a monster. Amazing scrap never had a brown or rainbow come close.

Saying that I have caught the humble mackeral on a single handed fly rod and the scrap they give is unbeleivable .