Creek Fishing , Redbreasts , and More

I returned to the old mill creek again this morning.
We had a good rain since last visit and the water was up a little and flowing better .
Although we’re still having hot days , our nights are getting into the upper 60’s and the fish I caught today felt cold compared to what they have been .
I took a couple of combos , a 6’3” Abu Garcia MB3L , paired with a Shimano Symetre 500 and two pound Floroclear and a 5’6” St Croix Triumph ULF2 paired with a Shimano Sahara 500fj and same line .
I mostly used black rabbit fur hand tied jigs with Tungsten beads from 3.5-4.6mm .
I fished the Abu first and after one spot I switched to the SC Triumph.
I liked the feel of the 5’6” rod better for creek fishing. It was more accurate and felt lighter in hand .
I caught eight redbreasts , five bluegills, two small bass ( one tiny LM and a 7” shoal bass) and last but not least a fine creek shellcracker.
My biggest redbreast was caught using a size 8 jig hook and 4.6mm bead that allowed me to reach out to a seam I haven’t been fishing because I couldn’t reach it before .
I caught three fish out of that spot , all nice ones .
I lost five jigs today , hang ups on bottom structure, and the last one took out my St Croix rod .
I’d gotten hung up and when I pulled back on the rod to try and pluck the line to see if it would come loose , the top section of the rod snapped, just in front of the ferrule.
This is the second 5’6” St Croix Triumph two piece UL rod I’ve had break on me , both in the same spot .
I’ve plucked the string on all of my rods trying to free my jigs and never have they failed me .
If they don’t come loose plucking , I grab the line and pull straight back until it or the line gives.
The little shoal bass spit up a crawfish when I got him in . A good size crawfish for a small bass .
I also hooked some bass fisherman’s chatter bait . I couldn’t believe somebody would use such a big lure in such a small creek .
Except for breaking a rod and losing five jigs , it was a fun morning.
I’m including a pic of the spot where I caught my biggest redbreast , just about center of the picture and creek .
Redbreast pics to follow .

Awesomeness! Thanks for sharing with us

Redbreast pics

Looks like a great trip

Im glad to read about what was a very good trip. I’m also terribly sorry to hear of the fatality. We get attached to our gear and to lose a favorite hurts a bit. Those are some good lookin redbreast you came up with, I’d be happy with those myself. I had one of those days that you just have to keep plugging away at. Hollered at my supervisor over their stupidity and wasting my time by changing the game plan almost every hour. Funny thing, I’m still employed. Then to come home and read this put the smile back on my face. Thanks, friend of mine.

Skeet , luckily, the rod wasn’t really a favorite.
I’ve been fishing the Triumph series trying to convince myself they were just as good as the Premier and Avid in the 2 piece 5’6” UL .
The feel is pretty close and they do fish real similar, but I’ve had two of the Triumphs break on me .
Knock on wood, but I’ve never had a problem with my Premier and Avids .
I’ll be calling St Croix one day next week about their upgrade program.
I hope I can pay a fee and upgrade to another Premier .
Right now I cannot recommend the Triumph UL rods .

Just love those redbreast. Congrats!


Regards


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

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Originally Posted by Alphahawk

Just love those redbreast. Congrats!


Regards


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

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Thanks , me too !

:ThumbsUp

Sounds like an entertaining day ! I'm sorry to hear about the rod. I always use those circumstances as an excuse to buy something new ;-)

I understand about no recommendation. I don’t own any SC rods but like a couple. When I shopped and felt the action and overall feel side by side with the premier models I didn’t care for them. Their 66lf is one that I like a lot for crappie fishing but I have 3 or 4 rods that size now. I hope they show a little love when you speak with them. Always a roll of the dice.

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Originally Posted by skeetbum

I understand about no recommendation. I don’t own any SC rods but like a couple. When I shopped and felt the action and overall feel side by side with the premier models I didn’t care for them. Their 66lf is one that I like a lot for crappie fishing but I have 3 or 4 rods that size now. I hope they show a little love when you speak with them. Always a roll of the dice.

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They’ve always treated me fairly .
I’ve not had but a couple of SC rods over the years that gave me any issues .
When I had two SC rods destroyed when my pickup was totaled for me , I called them and explained what happened they replaced both of them for $50 each . All I had to do was supply pictures and serial numbers.
They replaced one of these Triumphs for no cost last year .
I got to reading reviews about this particular model and a lot of folks had tips snap on them .

I want to touch on the subject of the spine, or spline of a rod. Custom rods are always built with the spine of the rod in direct relation to the bend of the rod according to the placement of the guides. Factory rods aren’t built on the spine and the torque generated when the rod is stressed and the spine is off center has caused tips to snap. I’m not bashing SC at all, some pretty expensive rods are built the same way. I don’t build any high end rods but what I do build is built on the spine and I really like their performance. Makes a person wonder.

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Originally Posted by skeetbum

I want to touch on the subject of the spine, or spline of a rod. Custom rods are always built with the spine of the rod in direct relation to the bend of the rod according to the placement of the guides. Factory rods aren’t built on the spine and the torque generated when the rod is stressed and the spine is off center has caused tips to snap. I’m not bashing SC at all, some pretty expensive rods are built the same way. I don’t build any high end rods but what I do build is built on the spine and I really like their performance. Makes a person wonder.

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I would be surprised if SC didn’t build their rods according to the blank’s spline. With the exception of the ones that are built in their southern plant in Mexico .
I would think they would train their employees down there to do that also , but who knows .
I’ve experimented putting together a couple of rods and with multi piece rods , finding the spline or spine I found to be more difficult.
I alway thought getting the top pieces right was more important than the lower pieces.

I believe in what you say about two piece rods also, not much flex in the lower part. Most of us know something about spline. The breaking of the tip from the torque was brought up in a conversation at Mudhole a couple of months back and was news to me. Just wanted to pass it on. Hope you get out tomorrow.