I took the new Huckabee rod to Thunderbird this morning for a tryout. Needless to say, I'm really pleased with it. I was what I call strolling. Slow double dipping. I had it in one hand and my proven Pro Angler 10' in the other. They are both great rods but the meat draga handles the heavier weight much better. It became quite noticeable when the wind came up some. I caught fish from 7 am to noon when I packed it in.

I got sidetracked a little at first. Wasn't 100 yards from the launch ramp when all the sand bass in the world began surfacing around me. I cast to them for about an hour with a Slab Bandit on a spinning rod catching almost one each cast. They were on the small side but great fun. Finally decided it was time to go look for Crappie. I found them in a couple of spots I like to fish. Wasn't hot and heavy but was very consistent all morning. Almost all dinks but I managed a few keepers (which I didn't keep) plus a couple of decent largemouth and one channel cat that went about 3 lbs. All were caught in my strolling mode. I caught the cat on the Pro Angler and it lifted him into the boat just fine. I'm sure the Huckabee would have been better at it. I thought the meat draga might get tiring as it's heavier than the Pro Angler but it balanced well with a Quantum Code Red reel and I never got tired. It is quite sensitive so I didn't have any problem feeling the dinks with a light bite. I see a couple of 11 footers in the future for strolling and using the draga for pitching, flipping and dipping. Gonna be a drain on my retirement income for awhile. Great rod!

I saw a couple of Yaks in the distance. Was that you, bigBone? Sure miss my Native Watercraft but it had to go due to my arthritis. The Lund barely works at my age.