At last we had a day where I could go out and try out my new fishing outfit.  My daughter, Theresa, had asked me what I wanted for my birthday last November.  I told her that while looking through the Bass Pro and Cabela’s  catalogs, I saw what I thought would be a very good spinning outfit but one that I really shouldn’t indulge in; a little over my usual budget for fishing gear.  Most of my  reels are Abu-Garcia or Mitchell,  and, I have an assortment of rods, Berkley, St Croix, Bass, Field and Stream, Diawa, Shakesphere and a few other brands, but the new Abu-Garcia Veritas caught my eye as did the new Abu-Garcia Soron spinning reel.  Some of these outfits  are over 50 years old, but, taking care of them all these years keeps them fishable.

Well, my daughter, Theresa, got me the outfit but , with the stipulation that it was for my birthday and Christmas.  Now getting back to my story.

It was about 52 degrees and overcast with a strong wind from the South at about 25-30 mph.  I had to  cast into the wind or perpendicular to it.  I put on a 3 1/2 “ money minnow, shad color,  with a 1/8oz weighted  Gamatzu minnow hook.  On the second cast I hooked onto a really nice largemouth bass, and, you might know it, I didn’t bring my camera along or my  measuring stick.  But I know that the bass was at least 6 or 6 1/2 lbs., a real beauty.

I thought about tying him up while I went for my camera, but , decided not to for the fishes sake.  So, I let him go.  The genes in that fish will help keep the pond supplied with excellent offspring.  The new outfit handled that fish exceptionally well, I am very pleased with it, it’s the best spinning outfit that I’ve ever owned.  I know that there are many more  outfits that can cost up to ten times as much, but I’ll stick with things that are affordable, after all, I’m not the with the congress or using White House arithmetic.  Even though my daughter was paying for the outfit, I knew where to draw the line.

I had loaded the spool with PLine, 8 lb. test.  The rod action is fast tip medium action ad the # 240 Soron reel.  I cast for another 1/2 hour with only one small tap.  I tried a crawdad on another rod and a spinner on a third rod with no results.

Tight lines

Jim

My daughter has a good idea; why don’t you, my readers, list their favorite lures, maybe the top ten that you catch most of your fish on and the circumstances, i.e., water color, depth, etc. Mine are:

1. Fly fishing:

a. 1/32 oz hula popper (black/white) clear water

b. Betts frog (one size only) clear water

c. Swimmin Minnow (2 inch murky water

d. Rapala 1 1/2 ” floating shad minnow. Black and silver. clear water

2. Spinning/Baitcasting:

a. Yum baby craw, murky water (small split shot)

b. Kitani straight worm (black/red) murky water and clear water (no weight)

c. Zoom ribbon tail worm (pumkinseed) murky water (small split shot)

d. Zoom ribbon tail lizard (green) murky water and clear water with or without weight

e. Rapala (clear) x-rap medium diver, clear water, five feet

f. Rapala Floating jerk bait 4″ (clear water) black and silver

These are the lures I can usually rely on but not always. I do use spinners and jigs depending on the fishes moods.

The canoe was fun but a little too cramped and low in the water. I was able to cast my poppers but, being so low , I was unable to see clearly where my popper was and to see hits. So, I shortened my casts to see better and avoid casting and snagging brush and wood in the water. I was probably spooking some fish but still caught a few. Gene is using his floating tube as you can see and he thought it was better suited for casting. In the other pictures you can see that I switched to Theresa and Timm’s raft. It was a little higher and I had more room for my equipment. The canoe was purchased so that when going to those remote walk-in places I could get away from the shore which sometimes is almost impossible to fish. The canoe is also lighter than a raft and will be easier to carry on the trails. It will definitely not be suited for two people to fish from even though it is a two man canoe. I will use it again on those remote small ponds in the future.