Fun with Abu Garcia Diplomat Extreme 6' 2" UL!

I have not posted much lately but have been fishing right along. It has mostly been hit and miss....if I don't catch a 100 fish I think it is a bad day...LOL. The fish finally seem to be congregating in the dead lock...but it is not yet what it will get to...which is where the grates will have literally thousands of bluegill in them for about 3 weeks straight...and then they will leave and not be back until spring. Today I got 100 fish in 4 hours....half of them crappie and the other half bluegill. The bluegill were mostly 8 inch fish...chunky with broad shoulders but the bigger ones are yet to show up. They will be about the 8 inch mark also but will have more girth to them. The crappie were all at the 11-12.5 inch mark. It was a whole lot of fun on the Diplomat Extreme. Probably the most fun rod out of all my area trout rods....that even includes the XUL and SUL models. I have said it before but this rod is all about the tip. The fish really do hook themselves as Abu Garcia stated..of course they were talking about trout but it works for bluegill and crappie also. You will feel a slight tension in the tip as it bends and the fish is hooked. There is no way I can describe just how delicate and soft the tip on this rod is. In about 2 weeks trout should be stocked below Normandy Dam...really looking forward to testing the rod out on some trout. In all likelihood this will be my fun go to rod come spring for bedding Gills and shell crackers. I used a Sow Bug Trout Magnet today on a Daiwa Gekkabijin 1.5 gram jig head with a #8 hook. The reel was the Revo MGX Theta spooled with the Varivas 2.# test Ester mono.


Regards

Hard to believe having a better day than that, and it is going to get better? Wow! That is great fishing, good for you.

Sounds and looks like an awesome day to be out fishing ! I'll be glad when I can hook up with some of those Daiwa jigheads.

Fun times for sure! Thanks for sharing !

Great report, and no wonder you have been on the quiet side of late! 100 and bigger days to come! Congrats!
Bob

Fun day, trying to get a deer in the freezer early in the season then it is back to fishing. Great catch on the soft rod.

A great day to my way of thinking. Some kind of fun.

I'll take a day like that anytime. Nice looking fish.

Thanks for the comments. Went back the next day....zip....nothing in the dead lock. Headed down river to fish for some spots. Caught a few 11 inch fish but was run off my spot by three 65 foot open cockpit boats running up river at full speed. The wake...waves....they were kicking up were huge. Had to run behind an island to get out of it. While I caught it on a great day that spot is usually not good at all in October.


Regards


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

I am interested in where the fish in that area go from day to day and why. It is interesting to me that their presence there is spotty like that.

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Originally Posted by D10

I am interested in where the fish in that area go from day to day and why. It is interesting to me that their presence there is spotty like that.

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I have searched all the flat water around with no luck. The Sequatchie River is a little ways down from the dam but I have gone as far up as I can go and nothing there. Battle Creek is about 2 miles down river but no luck there either. I have talked to old timers who have fished it since impoundment and they all talk about this. In the middle of winter one can sometimes find shell cracker up in Battle Creek. I have looked at areas down river where they might spawn in the spring....scanning with the si for hours and not finding a single bed. I have searched all the way to the Alabama line. They have to go somewhere I just don’t have a clue.

Regards


Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

I've been looking for this rod or maybe the slightly longer one but can't find either in stock. Any idea who might have them in stock? Did see one on ebay for north of $500.

Unfortunately no shop I know of has them. Buyee.jp Yahoo Shopping had tons of them...but are completely sold out now.


Regards

Looks like I may have to do a pre order but have no idea how long it would take before it would get here.

Nice fish, Alfahawk.

I was looking at that rod (or it's twin the Carobus Extreme) but was a bit nervous about picking up an ultralight without having held/felt how it loaded and make sure the rod tip recovery isn't slow and wobbly. I've liked my Loomis IMX SR842-2 / 7' light fast action a lot, but was looking for something new to cast light crappie jigs up to 1/16oz, but I have a tough time getting a loosey-goosey, non-backboned rod image out of my head when I hear the word ultralight. I was considering a St. Croix Legend Elite Panfish LEP64LXF / 6’ 4” / Light/ Extra Fast to give me a little more sensitivity and jig control. Or is the Diplomat tight and more than enough rod for nice crappies? Thoughts?

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Originally Posted by IMFSHN

Nice fish, Alfahawk.

I was looking at that rod (or it's twin the Carobus Extreme) but was a bit nervous about picking up an ultralight without having held/felt how it loaded and make sure the rod tip recovery isn't slow and wobbly. I've liked my Loomis IMX SR842-2 / 7' light fast action a lot, but was looking for something new to cast light crappie jigs up to 1/16oz, but I have a tough time getting a loosey-goosey, non-backboned rod image out of my head when I hear the word ultralight. I was considering a St. Croix Legend Elite Panfish LEP64LXF / 6’ 4” / Light/ Extra Fast to give me a little more sensitivity and jig control. Or is the Diplomat tight and more than enough rod for nice crappies? Thoughts?

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The Diplomat is more than enough for crappie....any crappie. It is however a solid tip rod...and that tip is extremely soft. But that tip is what gives one "Automatic Hooking". Crappie literally hook them self with this rod. I would not boat lift any crappie with this rod though. I landed an 15 pound drum with this rod today using 1.8# test line. The rod is not mushy soft but it is an Area trout rod which are much softer than JDM light game rods. The Extreme is very sensitive for sure. You may also want to take a look at the Lunakia LK632S-LMLS rod at Finesse Fishing which is a light game rod and would probably make a great crappie rod. Here is a video of me using the Diplomat landing 75 crappie.

https://youtu.be/PaSH80j96s0
Regards

Big smile on my face. I didn't realize you were the TroutMagnetMan guy. Thank you for taking the time to followup. Looking forward to seeing when the rod becomes available again. Are you putting any fluorocarbon on the end of that hi-viz mono?

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Originally Posted by IMFSHN

Big smile on my face. I didn't realize you were the TroutMagnetMan guy. Thank you for taking the time to followup. Looking forward to seeing when the rod becomes available again. Are you putting any fluorocarbon on the end of that hi-viz mono?

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The hi-vis line I use is all polyester line and I do use a section of FC leader of about 4 foot.


Regards