Category Archives: Fishing Trips/ Outings

Loop Evotec Cast 3wt…

The wife and I went to a local lake in-between rain showers this morning. I really wanted to try out the Loop Evotec Cast 9ft 3wt rod. The gusts of wind made it difficult at times so patience was the order of the day.

This rod has great action…

My casting stroke needs a lot of work, but it was fun using this rod. The Evotec casts far better than I do and I definitely have room to “grow” with it.

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I was surprised when I caught this Crappie…

I enjoy grabbing a fly rod and reel and a small selection of flies and hitting some local water. It’s a bonus when we have the entire lake to ourselves.

We each caught 2 fish and then the wind kicked up and the rain started moving in. We decided to pick up some trash before heading home. We do this every time we go out. I know it sounds like a broken record, but if word gets out and everyone leaves the waters cleaner than they found them…we’d have stellar fishing areas.

4 bags of trash!

I made it a point to pick up as much broken glass as I could. We fished bottles out of the water and beer cans out of the weeds. It really ticks me off since there is a trash can RIGHT THERE!

Outing 25 April 2021…

The wife and I took a quick trip to one of our local lakes this morning. We counted 6 boats on the lake with more arriving when we left. All told, we fished for 2 hours before the wind kicked up and it got kind of crowded. We walked to the opposite end of the lake and in no time we had 5 boats up on us. Guess that happens when you’re catching fish. There was no ill will amongst anyone and I think everyone was just glad to be out fishing and trying to get out of the wind.

Today was the first time I was able to use my Major Craft Finetail Area Stage FAX-B642UL baitcast rod. I LIKED IT! It was a little more limber than I was expecting but worked very well. I ended up catching 6 largemouth bass. Conditions weren’t great due to all of the recent rainfall. The lake was about 4ft high and stained. It was a day of catching “salad” as we call it. Almost every cast forced you to pick grass, weeds or algae off of your lure. But like I tell the wife, “if you aren’t fishing in the weeds then you aren’t where the bass are.”

I took the GoPro this time and tried to shoot some video for the blog. The wind made it tough due to where we were positioned on the lake (facing into the sun)

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I managed to catch 2 of the 6 fish on video. Because of the wind, the GoPro wasn’t able to pick up my voice commands very well. The sun felt great and we had a blast just getting out there and relaxing and catching fish…

Got Out With My Shimano Calcutta Conquest BFS…

We waited for the temps to climb this morning and then headed to a local lake. I wanted to take my Shimano Calcutta Conquest BFS reel and my Major Craft Finetail Stream FSX-B502L rod. I figured that the only way to become proficient with it was to use it for several hours. I only experienced one minor backlash in 3 hours of fishing so I was pretty happy. I managed to catch 6 fish, 5 Largemouth bass and 1 Warmouth but I didn’t get a single picture. As anyone who is familiar with Oklahoma knows, wind is always a factor and today was no different…it was blowing at 20+mph today.

Due to previous commitments, we had to cut and run after 3 hours.

10APR2021 Outing..

We decided to get out and explore an area for some new fishing opportunities. Unfortunately, due to the rains last night, several of the roads were off limits to our Subaru. We tried a couple and almost got stuck…Thank God we bought new tires!

She caught one decent sized White Bass while I smell like skunk…LOL. She was trying out her new rod and reel she bought, the Major Craft Finetail Stream Switch Style FTX-46/505UL and the Abu Garcia Revo MGX Theta 1000S. She had a lot of fun on that little rod and I apologize for not getting any pictures. By the time I got into position to get a picture she had released it.

The rivers were up and stained due to all of the rain. It was 78F yesterday evening with strong storms and a tornado a few miles north of us. We woke up to 42F temps when we left at 0545. We debated about not even going but decided to anyway. Everything ended up being a muddy mess and the cold wind didn’t brighten our spirits one bit.

But, as usual, it was good to get out and I’m sure I will endure a good “ribbin” this evening since I caught ZERO! It’s only fair…

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.

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.