wiper on the UL

[INFrank]

Fishing today was between storm front running through the area. Since mid-May, I've been kayak fishing and catching plenty of gills, crappie, assorted sunfish, and bass. Today there wasn't enough time between thunderstorms for a worthwhile kayak outing, so I just fished off the boat ramp. I was excited to use a brand-new 6' Handing Magic-L that arrived earlier in the day.

I got the 6' version of the rod because I started to love the 4'7" one so much. Initially I was put off by the short rod, but it really started to impress me with its sensitivity. Funny thing is I broked the 4'7" Magic-L last night trying to get off a snag while in the yak -- first rod I've ever snapped.

Anyways, the 6' Magic-L arrived this afternoon, and I paired it with the same reel I had on the 4'7" one -- Piscifun Carbon X II 1000 with 2lb Nanofil and 3lb Sunline Small Game FC.

After a few decent bluegill and a couple small largemouth at the ramp, the tiny little 0.5g tungsten jig with a micro fluke got hit hard. I thought it was a channel cat at first until it started making z-shaped runs. Took about 5 minutes to get in, and it was a chunky 15ish inch wiper.

Great fight on such a light combo!

[SuperDave336]

Nice. Good job

[BuckeyeCrappie]

Sweet!

[BIGFISHNFREAK]

Fun stuff, great variety.

[JUNGLEJIMJIGS]

Nice wiper, they don't quit fighting. Wish I could find more around here.

[INFrank]

Nice wiper, they don't quit fighting. Wish I could find more around here.

Boy, they sure do put up a fight. I thought I was going to haul in a fish double the size of the one that actually showed up!

It's only my third one I've ever caught -- one was only like 9 inches and the other, while around 18 inches and probably 3.5-4 lbs, was on a MH casting rod -- and the first sizable one on UL. Since I had snapped the same make of rod the day prior I was being extra careful bringing the fish in. (I don't know if that other rod was defective or something, but I did notice after it was broken I could snap it with almost zero effort in the sections towards the tip.)

I'm also am building up confidence in using a braid/leader combo. Had some issues earlier this spring when first trying to use leaders with knot slippage/breakage. What I've experienced is alberto knots are problematic on extremely light braid (4lb Daiwa Xbraid Finesse and 2lb Sufix Nanobraid) but that a double uni works perfectly. Leader line held like a champ on this fish.

It probably seems odd to run a 3lb FC leader on 2lb braid, but from what I can tell, that 2lb Sufix Nanobraid feels thicker than 4lb Daiwa Xbraid. Supposedly the Nanobraid is 0.03mm compared to 0.06 for the Xbraid Finesse...but I have my doubts. Breaking point also feels significantly higher than 2lbs.

[Jiggertrigger]

We have white bass which look very similar. Strong fighters!!

[skeetbum]

Great fish for little tackle! I know the fun you had, we’d get them while looking for crappie in the St Johns River. I agree that the nanobraid breaks higher than the stated strength. I use it on a couple of my rigs. Now if I could only see it!