Weekly Meetup - The search for new spots

[gillchaser999]

Met up with my fishing buddy this morning a little before eleven.
We were in search mode , for new areas to fish off the boat ramps .

Also , since little guys have been dominating our catches lately , I took five combos with me today . I figured on catching five fish on a rod before switching to a different combo , to determine which one I thought was the most fun rod to catch small gills .
The rods were :
St Croix 4’6” Premier paired with a Shimano Soare XR500spg
St Croix 5’4” Trout Series paired with a Shimano Symetre 500
St Croix 5’6” Avid paired with a Shimano Soare XR500spg
Major Craft 5’4” Finetail Mt. Stream paired with a Shimano Symetre 500
Major Craft 4’10” Finetail Glass paired with a Shimano Soare BB 500spg
All were spooled with 2# Flouroclear .

The areas we concentrated on were picnic areas with water access.

The first was a large park with several areas we tried . Some were better than others .
One important factor in these new areas was some had SHADE ! Something we never had fishing the boat ramps . With a full sun day , the shade was welcomed .
I was able to make a full rotation of all of my rod combos and wound up catching 34 fish total .
Although most were small , I did catch a few nice ones in the mix .
After the rod trial , I picked my favorite to fish the last area we tried today .
The rod was the 5’4” Major Craft Finetail glass rod with the soare bb reel .
It was just fun with whatever size fish was on .
And at the last spot , it got put to test . I hooked something that took off like a rocket and almost spooled me two or three times .
The bank was about four feet above the water line , and I had no idea how I was going to land whatever was screaming the little Soare’s drag . It kept heading towards deep water .
I had it on for over ten minutes and the line went limp all of a sudden .
The line didn’t break . I think it was cut by the teeth the fish must have had .
The line was clean . No slime , so it wasn’t a catfish. I’m thinking a big spotted bass . Something in the 4-5# range or bigger . The big ones don’t jump like the couple pounders do .
Could have been a hybrid or striper , but I think the water is too warm for them to be in close to the bank .
Whatever it was , it was a lot fun just battling it while I had it on .
Most of the new area are mowed on a regular basis.
The short rods came in handy with overhanging limbs and for traveling through the woods the couple of times I did to check out new territory.
Fun day . I’m ready to go back !