Gills and More in VA

Grand daughter number 1 celebrated her 5th birthday this past weekend in VA so we made the 5hr pilgrimage North with gifts for her and fishing gear in the trunk for me. I have posted many fish on here from the little lake behind their house over the years as this particular body of water has become a great place to fish the JDM UL gear and catch lots of small to medium size Panfish in good numbers. I took two rods, the Shimano Soare Mebaru rod and the Olympic Graphiteleader 18 Corto. The Shimano has felt left out since the early Spring, so he was up for the trips out Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Armed with the Diawa Presso Ltd. and the Sunline 3lb Ester the finned inhabitants did not stand a chance. Trout Magnets on a 1/48 Bobby Garland jig head in a couple of different colors tipped with Berkeley Wax worms proved deadly all weekend. First set of pics.
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Nothing large but sure was a lot of fun on the limber-tipped Shimano. It will cast the light jig a good distance. The next morning, I had a free loader looking for an easy meal, I did not feed him any of my catch, he did well on his own. It was foggy and I slid the boat in for round two.
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Lots of drag squealing fun, and to say I caught over 50 fish on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning all total would not be an exaggeration, they are always hungry seems like.
Saturday afternoon and Sunday mornings trip I changed rods, same reel and bait, to let the lightweight and rigid tipped Corto carry the load.
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Not as many pics snapped, but still lots of fun. Now luckily this lake is in the back yard of my daughters house and the Grand babies were occupied while I squeezed some angling time in, even Grandma asked how the fishing was going and did not mind my absence. All fish were released unharmed and hopefully be waiting on me the next time we visit.


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A great weekend - Grand babies, JDM gear and loads of fish
Congrats

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Awesome weekend STM! What do you think about 3-lb Sunline Ester? I thought is was pretty good but not like the orange 2.3-lb Varivas Ester. I have some 3 and 4 pound braid in order. I’m hoping I like it better than the bigger Ester lines I have tried.


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Originally Posted by D10

Awesome weekend STM! What do you think about 3-lb Sunline Ester? I thought is was pretty good but not like the orange 2.3-lb Varivas Ester. I have some 3 and 4 pound braid in order. I’m hoping I like it better than the bigger Ester lines I have tried.


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I really like the Ester, and it actually behaved for me after not having been used for a couple weeks. It was very tough in the lily pads you see in the background pics when I just fished from the bank, and was surprisingly abrasion resistant. For this body of water, the Orange Varivas in the 2.3lb would be more than enough, but I fish the two big public reservoirs at home in TN much more(obviously) and the 3lb is a little better on the bigger lakes for Non targeted Species Encounters [emoji16]. The Yellow Unitaka Braid I use seems to be the best line I have found for my particular applications. It may be available in 4lb test also. I actually had the Luvias spooled with that braid with me in case the Sunline did not behave but as you can see I never got it out of its pouch!!


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A very good weekend Stan. You got more crappie than I have been lately, wait til a stud crappie slaps that little bug. Good fun. Munchkin hugs make it all even better. Thanks for taking us along.

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Originally Posted by StantheMan2567

I really like the Ester, and it actually behaved for me after not having been used for a couple weeks. It was very tough in the lily pads you see in the background pics when I just fished from the bank, and was surprisingly abrasion resistant. For this body of water, the Orange Varivas in the 2.3lb would be more than enough, but I fish the two big public reservoirs at home in TN much more(obviously) and the 3lb is a little better on the bigger lakes for Non targeted Species Encounters [emoji16]. The Yellow Unitaka Braid I use seems to be the best line I have found for my particular applications. It may be available in 4lb test also. I actually had the Luvias spooled with that braid with me in case the Sunline did not behave but as you can see I never got it out of its pouch!!


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Unitaka also makes 2 and 3-lb braid. I ordered some up. It is on sale right now from Plat.
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Great post! I enjoyed the fish pics and looks like you had a ball! D10 any of the braid not yellow? I just can’t do the bright colored stuff... it messes with my confidence lol

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Originally Posted by VaCrappieMan

Great post! I enjoyed the fish pics and looks like you had a ball! D10 any of the braid not yellow? I just can’t do the bright colored stuff... it messes with my confidence lol

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All of the light stuff that I have found has been a high vis color. I have been using a 6-ft leader with the orange Varivas Ester and have caught a lot of fish. I was a little skeptical at first but after seeing Randy boat hundreds of fish with the orange Varivas Ester line, I was a believer. I have used it on several sunfish trips and I don’t think they pay attention to it at all, if you use a leader.


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Originally Posted by D10

Unitaka also makes 2 and 3-lb braid. I ordered some up. It is on sale right now from Plat.
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I bought mine from Plat also, I used Nanofil for years, still have it spooled on some Plueger President reels for guests, but this “True” 3lb test line seems to perform better. Also, at 11.59, it is cheaper than Nanofil even with shipping, and no tax.

VA dude, I had a colored line phobia for years, but after using and catching fish on the Yellows, Greens, and even White braided lines I do not think anything about it anymore. However, with that being said I have fished South Holston, Wautaga, Little Wilbur, Ft Patrick Henry and the Boone Dam tailrace waters while I was in college at ETSU and only used the clear lines. This little lake is crystal clear like those waters, the bottom is covered with moss, and I have to swim the Trout Magnet back over the grass to keep it from hanging. I can literally see the fish dart out from the darker spots in the grass and slam the bait. In the picture you see the chartreuse Wax Worm tippet, I can follow it back when fishing from the boat and when it disappears from sight I jerk, sometimes before I even feel the bite. Start by Gill fishing with the colored braids, if you catch fish using them then it will help the confidence factor.

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Originally Posted by skeetbum

A very good weekend Stan. You got more crappie than I have been lately, wait til a stud crappie slaps that little bug. Good fun. Munchkin hugs make it all even better. Thanks for taking us along.

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This trip was a welcome change of pace, I have been snatching the Crappie from the deep brush all Summer, it was nice to get back to the Cricket Crunchers and Shell Crackers. The fight is just so much more fun.

Amen Stan. There’s no hit like an 8” redbreast. I’ve almost had the rod taken from my hands a couple of times. The gills and the crackers fight completely different. I can tell what they are most of the time before I see color. I’ll never be the same from here on......

Looks like a whole lot of fun to me....beautiful fish.

Regards


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