The One That Got Away.

Ray and I went to Wiley last Thursday to do some dock shooting. Ray knew where some nice docks were located in some deep water and thought that they may produce some crappie, but if they didn't we would try for some white perch. Well the short story is one crappie, one cat fish and one perch, all throw backs and all caught out in deep water.

But the high light was my rod that I shoot dock and the swamps low hanging tree limbs that I've had for 8 to 10 years. The story starts back when the crappie.com group on the main page use to have the Spring Fling and the Fall Brawl on Watts Bar in Ten. We went to that for a few years and even came in second once with my friend Sam W. We were match up because he was coming in from Ozark Mo. and didn't want to pull his boat if there was someone else that was fishing by their self and that ending up me and we've both become friends ever since. I've flown out to Mo. and we've fished Mo. and Ark. with Sam.

So Sam shows up and we fish a day or two before the contest and he tells me about this Shimano 5'6" rod that he's bought from Bass Pro, he lives 20 minutes from the home office Bass Pro, and he tells me about how the guy show him how sensitive it was and so Sam decides to buy it. But Sam then tells me that the rod cost $80 and I almost fell out of the boat, but he got it on sell for $40. He let me fish with it for a while and I'll have to say that it was the finest rod that I'd ever used to throw jigs. While at the first couple of trips to the Bar, Crappie Pappy and Don G. showed me how to shoot those 1/32 oz jigs under docks and in between the pontoon floats. So I tell Sam that if there is still another rod like that when he gets back home would he get one and send it to me. Now guys I think that the most that I'd ever paid for a rod that I fish fore crappie was about $15. I do have more expensive rod but they are my salmon fishing rods.

So That's how I came about the rod and have been so happy with it, far beyond anything I could have ever hoped for. So back to the trip Ray and I went to do some dock shooting last Thursday. So I the Ray about my prize rod and how I came about if and I'd never spent that much money on a rod. That I had been trying to find another one for several years on e-bay and even contacted Shimano and I haven't been able to locate one anywhere. I had received and answer from Shamino and they said that they hadn't made it in years and suggested another one as a replacement, but I don't have that e-mail any longer. But that I had located a guy that does rewrapping and restoring rods and that was going to be my way of keeping this rod catching crappie for years to come. So I had laid my plans for my prized rod.

So Ray and I had most of the worlds problems worked out and was enjoying our fishing and we were moving to another cove to fish. In Ray's boat the passenger sit next to the driver like in a bass boat . I had laid my prized rod next to me and the gunwale which is only a few inches away with my arm over it, with the butt of the rod facing to the rear of the boat.. So we reach the next cove and I start looking for my rod and I can't find it, no matter how hard I look for it... so after a few minutes I tell Ray about the sad news and my prized rod is GONE.. I think that the water that the boat kicks up is right at the gunwale and caught the butt of the rod and pulled it right out the back of the boat.. :-(

So I've had e-bay programed now for several years looking for another rod like my prized rod and nothing has shown up yet. It's a Shimano CPS56UL. 5'6", Line is 2-6 lb.,lures 1/16oz to3/16 oz., and has a fast taper. There has to be another one somewhere that I can get my hands on.

Ray told me y'all had a bit of bad luck, I see now what he meant. Sorry for your loss Mr. C. Hopefully a replacement can be found. I done a Google search on that rod and got several hits. Might want to give it a try.

sorry to hear about you loosing your favorite rod mr. C hope you find another one soon and better luck next time at Wylie

I absolutely refused to post a report on this trip. :banghead Can't tell you how bad I felt when he realized the rod was gone. He made some incredible cast with that thing. He can shoot it between the floats on a dock and skip it back 15 feet under the dock.
I can not believe that fishing the way we did in 5 to 20 feet of water under docks around timber did not produce one crappie. :dono
That on top of the lost rod made for a crappy, not crappie, day.
One highlight though, we stumbled upon the Wagon Wheel Rest in Ft. Lawn and had a really good meal.

I did have one laugh. There was a DNR marker over a brush pile and I threw a minnow at it on a slip cork and caught our one crappie, about 10.5". Gerald proclaimed that it was the first fish he had ever seen caught off one of them government brush piles.:Rofl

Ink, yea, I've been looking at all of the hits that I've been able to come up with for the past couple of years. Some are old postings and some are some that are close. I may have to settle for one that is just close... Thanks..

Gerald, sent you a PM.

Dang, Gerald ... sorry to hear that.

Since back in those days of shooting docks at Watts Bar, during the Spring Fling/Fall Brawl series, I've gotten away from the longer rods (>6') and found a rod that has served me very well over the last 7-8yrs. Like you, I remember thinking that the "dockshooter" BnM rod was just a bit too "flimsy", and wanted a rod that had good backbone ... yet had a fast taper tip, so I could shoot a good distance under those docks, even when I was 10-15' away from the edge of the dock.

I got asked to field test a rod for a new & upcoming company, called ESP. I chose the 5'6" UL rod of theirs ... and got the first rod off the machine (no company logo or label, just a sticker that said production model #1). It immediately became my favorite rod for dock shooting.

Long story short ... the ESP series didn't take off, and they weren't available for a year or so. Then I get a email from the same guy, telling me that Norsemen Outdoors had taken the series & run with it. I got a 6'6" PowerLite for casting jigs & a 9' PowerJig for vertical jigging ... as field test rods. I'm now using the 6'6" PowerLite as my #1 jig casting rod (& my 7' Sam Heaton has been relegated to the section of my fishing closet where rods I don't or seldom use reside).

If you happen to have a 2014 Grizzly Jig catalog ... you can see these rods on pg41. The top rod in the picture is the 5'6" rod & the rod underneath is how the 6'6" rod handle looks. The Grizzly website doesn't have the ESP rods listed, but the catalog does. Here's the link to the Norsemen Outdoors ESP 5'6" UL that I have : Ultra Lite rods | Shop | ESP™ High Performance Ultra Light Rods by Norsemen Outdoors .... but, bare in mind that Grizzly Jig advertises the same rod for $10 less than shown on the Norsemen Outdoors site. Add that $10 back for shipping costs from Grizzly & you're looking at around $65 for the rod.

Things that may or may not be a factor in your interest in this rod :

It has a Tenn style handle (no fixed reel seat) & the handle is graphite with corked ends.
It has slide on rings (hard plastic) to hold the reel onto the handle (but I tape mine for insurance).
It has micro guides & tip ... but, I've used 4lb & 6lb test mono with no problems.
It has an extra fast taper tip.

If you can't find your Shimano CPS56UL ... this rod "may" be one to consider.

Any further concerns you may have, feel free to PM me. I'll give you the straight skinny on this rod. The one thing I can tell you, right now /up front, is that you won't be using this rod for slip float fishing !! Those micro guides/tip are just not user friendly with even the smallest of slip float knot stops. But ... those same micro guides/tip do not hinder the line from going a good distance on a cast/shot. I'm currently using 6lb test Vicious Panfish hi-vis on my rod, and I'm getting the same distance & accuracy that I got when using 4lb test Mr Crappie Super hi-vis (USA made version). And I'm dock shooting with 1/32 & 1/16oz jigheads with 1.5" stinger style plastics.

Take care, my friend ... & holler at me if you need more info.

... cp :kewl

Hate y'all had a slow day and I know how you feel about losing the rod. Hope you find a good replacement.

Sorry for the lost rod and bad luck fishing. Maybe you will find another rod soon.

Shimano made other good rod, VTS-56ULT,I bought 4 of them, really like them, my favorite rod, they shoot real good, and they discontinued them in 2012, can't find them any where, I would buy 4 more of them if I could find them, I dont know why they think they have to change every few years, If it is a good rod , why not keep making them, they have a lifetime warranty , how can they made good on the warranty if they dont make them any more? I'm aggravated at shimano, now!
I hate you lost your good rod, I worry about mine all the time!

Ray, how long of a run did you make from the time you had the rod and the time you lost it? Is it worth going back over the section with a treble hook? I have caught a few rods and reels that have fell over in brush before. We can run your track and try if you want to. I got plenty of weighted treble hooks.:dono

Ron, we don't really know when it fell out. Unfortunately we ran from one side of Big A to the other so it could be anywhere including in the middle of the channel which is 30 some feet deep.
If I had seen it fall out I probably would have jumped in after it.

Hate you'll had bad luck! Thought it may be worth a try. Your new depth finder keeps up with your tracks so we could run back over it and fish for Mr. C rod n reel. Hope he can find another.:highfive

Wish I had thought to run back over the track with my DI zoomed in to the bottom. Next time I get up there I will give it a shot. I am still learning to use it and I never thought to zoom it down to the bottom 4 or 5 ft and see if it would show up.

Ray spotted a couple of Shimano rods at the local K-Mart that are about as close as I think that I'm going to find. He said that there were three but when I got there there were only two... So I bought both thinking that I'm not going to get caught again with out a rod to shoot with...I come to find out that he got the other one? I guess he liked what he saw on the last trip. I still think that we just had a bad day for fishing but some of those docks that we fished sure did look really good.

CP I do have a catalog and will look at that rod. If I had that first rod off the line, I think I'd put that rod up in a real safe place, it's not every day that a company does that.... I think often of those trips that we made to Watts Bar, of all of the many friends that I made there and those great fish fries on Sunday afternoon. I think that those fish were the thickest crappie for the lenght of any that I have ever seen. And the only place that I've seen and caught a Black Nose Crappie.. I think that those Black Nose are the ones that Don and Blackie use to catch and use a grease pen and mark them... :-) It's always good to hear form you. I hope Paul is doing well these days.

Hey, Gerald, my friend ... glad to see you're still out there after'em !!

Paul is doing fine. I'm doing OK, myself, after three months of health issues ... and looking forward to getting back out on the water, and maybe even back down to Watts Bar. I'm currently running a similar setup on a local lake, and calling them by the same names ... Spring Fling & Fall Brawl (on Green River Lake in south central KY). The only real difference is the fishing and fish fry are on the same day & the prizes are awarded by ticket draw from a hat ... as there is no "tournament" aspect to these events.

I hear what you're saying, about having #1 off the model line ... but, it's been such a good rod that I'd really hate to see it just sitting there for me to admire, and not use. It has, in fact, been such a good rod that I've pretty much retired two other rods in favor of it.

I've touted the ESP rods over the last several years, and everyone that has purchased one & replied to threads about rods has always stated positive remarks. I've fulfilled my obligation to field test & report back to ESP on what I thought of the rods and how they performed for me ... so I'm not recommending them because of allegiance to the company or the designer/VP of Marketing whom solicited my involvement. I truly like using the rods, and they perform better than the rods they replaced.

I just wish there was a retail outlet in SC that carried these rods, but according to the website locator ... there are none, and the closest outlets are in NC or GA.

Take care, my friend !!

... cp :kewl