Author Archives: veloxseeker

Pictures of the 4APRIL2021 Outing…

My Dad doesn’t give two squats about fishing gear pictures and “reviews” so I’ve been trying to figure out how to add more pictures to a blog post. I finally Googled it and learned how to create a Gallery and add pictures.

We had a great day fishing and caught 22 fish in approximately 3 hours. Ended up with 21 Largemouth Bass and one Crappie. Hope you enjoy the pics!

We also took a moment to clean up two bags worth of trash. As mentioned in previous posts…we do this EVERYTIME we are out fishing.

And YES! She caught the biggest Bass today…as usual.

4APR2021-Fishing at Local Lake…

Today, we didn’t have any plans since the kids were all out of town, so we decided to go fishing at one of our local lakes again.

It was a beautiful day with minimal wind, lots of sunshine and temps in the 70’s. In fact, we had the entire lake to ourselves.

We ended up catching 22 fish total…21 Largemouth bass and one Crappie in about 3 hours worth of fishing. It was awesome! No pressure, no constraints…we just had fun being out together and catching fish.

Ultralight Fishing Kit…

Years ago, I was doing ultralight backpacking and thought it would be wise to incorporate an ultralight fishing kit into my setup. I found out about Zimmerbuilt through a friend of mine so I purchased a Zimmerbuilt Tenkara Strap Pack. This was designed for Tenkara fishing but I thought it would work really well for what I had in mind. It stays in my vehicle since I tend to stop at ponds and creeks a lot so I wanted something small yet handy.

This Strap Pack has quite a few mounting options. It was obviously intended to be worn on a backpack of some sort, but I just use the lanyard it came with and just sling it over my shoulder. It works perfectly for my intended purpose and is highly functional.

Here is a link to his site: (no affiliation)

https://www.zimmerbuilt.com/store/p20/Tenkara_Strap_Pack.html

A Birthday Present from my Wife!!!

This was quite a surprise. It is a Shimano Calcutta Conquest BFS reel on a Major Craft Finetail Stream Stage FSX-B502L rod.

I guess she noticed that I had been watching lots of videos about this reel and this style of fishing. I kept mentioning in casual conversation that I would like to try it and apparently she was listening lol!

Now, let me say this, baitcast reels are not my specialty. I can use them passably but not really well. I can use them from a boat but have never tried them from a kayak or while wading a stream. So I practiced in the front yard for several hours until I got the hang of it. I will definitely be trying this combo out on several streams soon.

Thanks again babe! You’re the best…

A Picture of a Crappie I Caught Today…

I rarely take pictures of the fish I catch and what’s worse is that I’m woefully unprepared when I do feel like taking a picture. My phone was safely tucked away in a waterproof bag so I had to grab my GoPro to take a quick snapshot. If you’ve ever fished from a kayak then you understand that rummaging around looking for something is never easy or convenient.

I caught several Crappie this morning and a few small bass but released them all. I was trying out my Major Craft Finetail Banshee FBA-602L spinning rod coupled with my Daiwa Presso LTD 1025 reel. I think these two will stay paired up from here on out. What a great combo!

Testing Out a Major Craft Finetail Banshee FBA-602L

I’ve never been one to care about matching rods to reels when it comes to colors, but when I saw the Finetail Banshee…I couldn’t resist! When I ran across the rod on Digitaka’s website I thought WOW, “that rod would pair up perfectly with my Daiwa Presso LTD 1025 spinning reel.” So I pulled the trigger.

I have been wanting to try a rod with Fuji Titanium Guides and Torzite inserts. CHECK

I wanted to try a Fuji TVS reel seat. CHECK

So I took the rod out this morning and was pleased with its action and power rating. With a flick of the wrist I can cast a 2.2 gram jig a LONG ways. And as you can see…they pair up nicely with each other!

03April2021-Kayak Fishing

The wife and I took the kayaks down to one of our local lakes this morning. The weather was typical for Oklahoma…WINDY! The sun was out and the temps were in the low-to-mid 60’s F so it was nice.

My ride is a Wilderness Systems Thresher 140 and hers is the Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120. It was fun being able to finally get out and paddle. According to the Garmin locator…water temp was between 55.9F and 56.2F. Hopefully the water will hit 57F and things will fully turn on.

I managed to catch several small bass and a few nice crappie. I was testing out 2 new rods and reels and will do a follow-on post shortly.

The Wife’s Setup for Bigger Fish…

The wife opted to try her new setup (new to her) which was a Tsunami Air Wave TSAWSS702M coupled with a Van Staal VR50 running 15# Power Pro braid.

I didn’t get on with the Van Staal VR50 because the reel stem is too short and it constantly smacked my knuckles when reeling. Apparently this has been fixed with the newer versions of this reel. But she loved the reel and her fingers are smaller so she didn’t have the same issue. She made several comments about the aesthetics of the reel and how solidly it was built. I have been sorely tempted to get the Van Staal VR50 Black but keep talking myself out of it.

This was her first time really casting lures on a short surf rod and she did great. It takes a bit to get the hang of it but she did fine and actually had fun casting for the few hours we were out there.

She tried the Major Craft Seabass CRX-904ML and liked it as well and was able cast it just fine. Come summertime, we will be going after catfish and white bass for sure.

Stay tuned…

We Managed to Get Out This Morning…

We went to a nearby lake to test cast a couple of rods and reels. The lake was about 7 feet high and still in the Low-50’s if not upper 40’s temperature wise. We threw a cast net for shad but they hadn’t moved up close to shore yet which is understandable.

My rod choice was the Major Craft Seabass Allaround Game CRX-904ML coupled with a Shimano Stradic FL 4000XG running Power Pro 20# braid. As the name implies, this rod is aimed at fishing for Seabass, but I think it will work just fine for our local Stripers, White Bass, Hybrids and Catfish. Its a 9-footer but it breaks down into 4 pieces which makes it convenient for small cars and it would be possible to travel by air with it as well.

The reel worked flawlessly as you’d expect with a Shimano. I think Shimano has finally got its head in the game on mid-priced reels. This Stradic is really, really good.

I tested various lure weights from 1/4 ounce up to 1 ounce and the rod handled them easily. Its rated for 10-30 grams. I still haven’t found a rod from Major Craft that I haven’t liked.

The weather was amazing…sunny and 74F!

I Turned 50…

Well it finally happened! I hit the Big 5 0. My family got me some wonderful gifts that I will be using this year while fishing and I couldn’t be more excited.

However, my Dad’s health took a serious turn for the worse so that has overshadowed everything else at present. We are hoping he will pull through and are sitting by our phones waiting for any updates on his condition.

I haven’t posted anything to the blog because it just doesn’t seem important right now. So please bear with me. Thank you

Caught 4 Little Bass This Morning…

The wife and I went to a local lake to fish for about an hour this morning. We ended up catching 4 between us so that means the skunk is off her hands!

It is good to see them starting to move into the shallows finally. The temperature was 55F and sunny with winds out of the South-Southwest around 10mph. The water temperature was still around 50F but it is warming.

I was using the Major Craft Finetail Stream Switch Style rod and she was using her TenRyu Super Yamame rod. Although it was a short outing, we both had a lot of fun.

If the weather trend continues…we’ll be fishing a lot more often.