To me it's a combination of two things - the take and the fight. For the take there needs to be some sort of challenge or technicality to it, it doesn't necessarily need to be difficult, but it needs to feel like I've one something right - made the right choice of fly or lure, made a good cast that nicely drifted until a certain log, etc. The fight is also what makes it exciting - through the fish's sheer power, aggresiveness, or stamina, whether overall or based on the size of the fish.
Some of my favourite experiences are fly fishing small streams where you can often pinpoint where a fish will be and make a cast there, fly fishing for big pike is incredible, and the fight of a 100lb sturgeon is unreal!
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