I had read various posts on the forums about Shimano discontinuing the Soare 500 size reel. I was over on http://www.jpfishingtacklenews.com and noticed that Shimano WILL release this reel in March 2022. UPDATE: The reel has been delayed until May.
I own the CI4+ version of this reel and it is a little beast. The new 2022 Shimano Soare XR 500SPG reel should be even better.
We spend time each year chasing perch for the fun of it and this size reel is perfect.
I just might have to order one of these when they become available. I know that the wife needs one!
We have a winter storm approaching but the weather was going to be decent for the first half of the day, so I drove an hour and a half over to the Illinois River to try my hand at catching some trout.
We had scoped out the Simp and Helen Watts fishing area last year and I wanted to return so that’s where I went. Cloudy skies, 59F, windy and high humidity greeted me when I arrived. There was only one other car in the parking area so I was excited. I was flying solo since the wife had to work so I packed light.
I donned my waders and laced up my wading boots. My rod of choice for the day was the Apia Grandage Lite 61 with the 2021 Daiwa Presso LT 1000S-P reel. I wanted to use a fly rod but chickened out due to the wind. With this major front approaching, the wind was steadily building.
I started with a jighead and a B-vibe and didn’t get so much as a bump. I then switched to a trout spoon and received the same treatment. Next up was some inline spinners. No takers either. I dug out my swimbait box from the Yeti Panga and selected a Lucky Craft Humpback Minnow 45SP-Suspending and attached it to my swivel. First cast and I hooked up. I gave the trout too much slack and he slipped the hook.
The hero of the day!
Second cast and I hooked into another trout, only to lose it at the riverbank trying to get a picture. Third cast and I’m onto another one. I put the boots to this one, never letting up until it was in the net. That’s the little trout in the first picture. That’s when I realized how hard it is to get photos when you are fishing by yourself. From that point on I didn’t even try.
Next thing you know I have two guys up on me. Literally one standing almost next to me and one in the water wading and casting right in front of me. We exchanged words and I held my ground ready to square off. I can’t stand when fisherman do that! They moved off shortly after and I continued to fish. Damn near a mile of riverbank to fish and you have to try and wade and cast right in front of me. That’s a JACKASS move if there ever was one.
Anyway, I ended up losing 4 and catching 5 before the bite turned off. One of them went 16 inches. I released them all, not even taking them out of the water. I decided to call it a day and head home before anything happened or got out of hand.
I took my time getting out of my wading gear as there were several Bald Eagles flying over the river hoping for an easy meal. They tend to over-winter in this part of the state and it is always good to see them.
The Apia Grandage Lite 61 rod allowed me to cast to the other bank.Relatively peaceful.
For the record…I’m not really into “Hero Shots” when the trout are stockers. Seems kind of lame in my mind, but that’s just me.
I took the scenic route home so I could relax and enjoy the outing. I did miss fishing with my wife and felt guilty about going, but she assured me she was fine with it since she had a pile of work to do and couldn’t get away. Believe me, I tried talking her into going!
Today was gorgeous! After dealing with two appointments this morning and being out in the sunshine, I decided to go practice my flycasting.
The wind was up a bit, around 15mph, but it was 67F when I stopped at a local lake. I decided to practice with the Loop Opti Dryfly reel and the Loop XACT 5wt 9ft rod. I try to practice casting every chance I get and in conditions I will experience quite often…such as wind.
The Loop 5wt was definitely the way to go. I also brought along the Loop Evotec 3wt 9ft and the Hardy Ultraclick 4000 to practice with. I figured it was a suicide mission with the 3wt due to the wind but gave it a shot anyway. I must say, I didn’t do to bad. Never thought I’d use a lot of “Kentucky Windage” while flycasting!
Great rod!I really like this Hardy Ultraclick 4000 reel
I will shamelessly admit that I really got into fly fishing after seeing the movie “A River Runs Through It.” I thought that this method would make a great addition to my fishing toolbox. It only took about 30 years before I managed to afford a halfway decent setup and decided to actually fly fish a lot.
I wrote the 4th Episode of Binge Thinking this morning and deleted it shortly after posting it. In fact, I’ve deleted the other Binge Thinking Episodes as well. They don’t really fit into the scope of my blog and nobody gives a crap about what I think anyway. My apologies for any confusion regarding a notification and then not being able to find it.
It’s because of the expense…pure and simple. I think the prices for boats are ridiculous. And I’d have to purchase a vehicle to tow it.
I’ve owned boats in the past and always enjoyed tinkering with them. Doing modifications and making them more efficient for my needs.
I look at my friends new boat and the new vehicle he bought to tow it and I just can’t justify that kind of expense at this point of my life. I don’t even want to go fishing with him in it. Multiple fish finders front and back and I can see him staring at the locator all day like people are glued to their cellphones. No thanks. I jokingly asked him how much that first bass was going to cost and received a death glare in response.
And since we tend to fish on the weekends, the lakes are way too crowded and it seems like there is a tournament of some sorts every weekend as well. I have no desire to do 60mph across a choppy lake or deal with the “cluster****” that we call boat ramps.
And with the unpredictable weather we have here…if I owned a boat, I’m sure it would sit unused more than I’d like.
I’ll stick to wading streams and rivers wherever I can find them. It’s less crowded, more quiet and slower paced.
With the weather being really nice this weekend we opted to work with Zip on traveling by car. He still gets car sick so we have started taking really short trips with him. He has never seen a pond or lake before so we decided to begin there.
He’s definitely not afraid of the water.
Also, we are still working on the basic commands and he is responding well. He likes to explore his environment so he and I will get along great.
And it would be silly of us not to fish while we were at these lakes and ponds. My wife finally tried out her TenRyu Rayz Integral RZI50UL-4piece rod. She liked it and stated that it didn’t cast as far as some of her other rods but would make a good creek fishing rod. I cast it a few times and concur with her assessment. Definitely not a long-range casting rod.
Watching her test the TenRyu rod.
It has been a relaxing weekend so far. Zip is curled up at my feet as I type this blog post. The weather will be taking a drastic turn soon. It is slated to be 71F later today but we have ice and snow as well as 5F temperatures moving in soon. We try to enjoy nice weather while we can. Stay safe out there…
Wish I had some trout pictures for you but I don’t. The pond was supposed to be restocked yesterday but I have my suspicions. I talked to two other guys who were fishing and they hadn’t caught a thing and hadn’t seen a thing either. When the resident experts aren’t catching anything, you know something is off.
The day started off at 27F with parts of the lake and shoreline covered in ice but it quickly warmed to 39F when the sun peeked over the hills. I went to test out the Daiwa Presso ST 62ML rod and the new 2021 Daiwa Presso LT 1000 reel. The rod casts very well and this reel is AMAZING. I didn’t think it was possible but it is smoother than the Daiwa Presso LTD 1025.
Good looking combo. Reel is spooled with Varivas Super Trout Advance Bush Trail VEP 4# line
Also, since I received my 2 replacement sections for the Abu Garcia Troutin Marquis Nano rod, I decided to throw that rod and reel combo for an hour. The Abu Garcia REVO MGX Theta 1000S reel is really smooth. This combo is a good matchup and I like the direction Abu Garcia is heading.
Very nice reel. Spooled with Varivas Super Trout Advance Twitch Master Nylon VLS 4#
And not to be left out…The Apia (Anglers Utopia) Grandage Lite 61. I received this rod yesterday and was really chomping at the bit to try it out. I wish I had tried the rod with the Daiwa Presso LT 1000 reel but stuck with the Vanford 1000 for the hour I fished with it.
I’m not really impressed wiith the Vanford reel. Love the rod though!
I have ordered a few ceramic bearings for the Vanford 1000 hoping to make it the reel it could be. It seems odd that the Stradic FL 1000 is so much better yet the internals are practically identical. But there is a noticeable difference (slight grinding). Possibly switching from braid to nylon will make an impact…just not sure. Not quite ready to give up on this little reel. When the bearings arrive I may do a complete teardown and cleaning and reapply high grade lubricant.
Apia Grandage Lite 61=56.5 grams. Daiwa Presso ST 62ML=75 grams.
So 3 hours fishing at a trout pond with zero fish caught. BUT…I gleaned a lot of important information from the rods I went to test out. Each was different in their own way, yet all were functional for my wants and type of fishing I like to do. Not surprising since all 3 were designed for completely different applications. The nod definitely goes to the Apia Grandage Lite 61…what a rod!
This is an Ajing (Horse Mackerel) rod and as such is relatively stiff. I ran across this rod while looking at UL Saltwater rods and decided to give it a shot. If you remember, my TenRyu Lunakia rod is also a similar rod. There are a couple of categories besides Trout that I look at such as Rockfish, Light Game and Ultralight Saltwater rods.
When it arrived and I removed it from its zippered case and put it together, I was concerned that it might be too stiff. After casting it for over an hour I can say that it is fine and casts a long ways. I’d put it right there with the TenRyu Lunakia as far as casting distance.
What drew me to this rod was the reel seat. As you know, I prefer minimalist style reel seats. The fact that it weighs 56.5 grams was another factor. It does have a solid tip for the last 3 rod guides and that tip is very thin.
SpecsThe knurled ring on the screw down reel seat is metal. Handle is very firm EVA foam.My preferred style of handle.Shot of the included protective cover for the tip. Another shot of the tip protector. Partitioned zippered rod sleeve.
I can definitely see myself using this rod a lot. I paired it with the Shimano Vanford 1000 and it balanced nicely. The Vanford is loaded with 6lb Daiwa J-braid which created a lot of noise throughout the rod. I will more than likely respool the Vanford with nylon line soon. Some Japanese rods are line specific…nylon, ester, fluorocarbon and braid. Something to be aware of when looking at JDM rods. This rod was an absolute joy to cast and even using a 2 gram trout spoon, I could feel the lure flutter as it was retrieved. To say I am impressed with this rod is an understatement!
Apia (Anglers Utopia) makes a wide range of rods in the Grandage series. I noticed they make the Grandage Lite in a 6ft 8in 5 piece rod too. Hmm…..
They’re here and my rod is complete again. I’ve been waiting impatiently ever since I received shipping confirmation.
Shipped in an 18 inch PVC tube. Padding not shown!2 Replacement sections.Complete rod and case. For reference: the handle section is 14.75 inches.
Since I spent a large portion of today running errands and getting chores done, I plan on going fishing tomorrow. Supposedly the local trout pond was restocked this morning so I plan on heading there tomorrow morning.
If all goes well and the weather holds…I have a surprise for tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
Something I wanted to try for the 2022 fishing season was the NiteIze Runoff Pouch. There were times when we hit the river/stream with only a few jigheads and a package or two of plastics. This little pouch will fit the bill. Waterproof TruZip zipper and IP67 rated to 1 meter should suffice for us.
Single belt loop.Just the basics.With room to spare.
I think this might work really well. It’s thin and unobtrusive. This waterproof zipper is a lot easier than the TiZip on the Yeti Panga and Patagonia Stormfront slingpack. I may just make a little 1/2 inch webbing belt for it instead of using the single belt loop on the back. I think that would keep it from sliding around better.
An issue we had last year was waterlogged packages of plastics and some corrosion on the jigheads. This will alleviate that. I prefer to keep my most used lures such as these readily accessible.
Can’t wait for Spring to fully test this idea out…
So many rods and reels…so little money. Being a curious person by nature isn’t helpful at times. With the multitude of technological advancements happening in the fishing industry, it is difficult to choose that ONE rod that does it all. It doesn’t exist and never will. I know this and yet I keep fighting it and keep searching for the perfect setup.
Honestly, I could spend weeks just doing research and refining my needs and wants…but that doesn’t catch fish. But with all of the “Graphite Wizardry” coming out of Japan, It’s hard to settle on one rod anyway. In a land of specialization and variety, the choices are endless. And that doesn’t help my cause. The concept of “perfection” is very subjective anyway.
And as I learn more about JDM fishing rods, the wider and deeper the “rabbit hole” gets. Area Trout, Native Trout, Ajing, Mebaru, Rockfish, Light Game etc etc equals more options, more decisions. Factor in lanquage translation and videos, for an outsider, it appears to be an obsession.
I plan on doing a group photo of all all the JDM rods we have, which might be a bit disconcerting once we actually have them layed out. The plus side is that we do use every single one of them. And we haven’t bought a bad rod yet, which is nice. How’s that for rationalization?
And I will state emphatically that this gear has definitely made our fishing better both in catch-rate and fun. And I haven’t even started looking at Japanese made fly rods! Hmm…Beware the Rabbit Hole!
Velox Seeker 