Details:

I started out at one of my favorite ponds and fished off the dam. I got one decent fish, but the bite was slow, so I went to another spot. Two quick bites (and misses) ensued. Then ... I hooked something too big for this rod. I didn't see it, but I'm sure it was a catfish of a couple of pounds. He quickly broke the line and took the entire rig with him. Since I'm incredibly lazy, I did not have another rig, so I fly fished for the next couple of hours.

Later in the day, I went to another pond. The rig was the same, except I dropped the float down to 1/4 gram. That, coupled with wax worms, quickly brought 14 gills and 1 shellcracker to hand.

Verdict:

The rod is incredibly fun. It is not a big fish rod. It could never land any of the Lake Perris monsters that LedHed catches. For smaller fish, though, the rod is sweet. The two fish above were 7.5-8". It could probably handle crappie in the 9-10" range. Chris Stewart (Tenkara Bum) said he thought 2.5# line was just about perfect, and I agree.