fishing – Page 11 – Velox Seeker

Euro Nymphing Setup…

I ordered a euro nymphing specific fly line this week and it arrived on Friday. It is the Rio Euro Nymphing FIPS #2-#5 line.

I also have both the RIO Shorty and the Scientific Anglers ESN kit so I can keep my standard fly line if conditions warrant its use. I have a 3wt WF fly line on my Danielsson LW4 reel with the Rio Shorty installed. I’ll just carry two reels in the event I want to fish dry flies or something. I plan on tieing up some leaders today with formulas I’ve found online. I’d be curious to hear what others are using, so if you want to leave a comment please do.

I am excited to try these out but with the recent weather we’ve had, I might be delayed. For the RIO ESN FIPS line, I wanted to try the Danielsson F3W 2six reel so I put the main line on that reel.

Danielsson reels are an incredible value

I also ordered some nymphs from Fulling Mill but those won’t arrive until next week. I chose some Perdigons, Duracells, Coca Colas, Okie Dokies, Pheasant Tails, Hares Ears as well as a few jig streamers.

We have had two serious Tornado Watches in the past few days as well as thunderstorms, rain and yes…more wind. I don’t ever remember a Spring that has been this windy. We’ve been keeping an eye on stream conditions as well.

It’s somewhat frustrating to get some new gear and wanting to test it out right away, but Mother Nature has her own plans and I have to react accordingly. Patience is the order of the day and since it rained last night…maybe we can get onto the water by Sunday.

Thanks for reading!

Syndicate P2 Pipeline Pro 10ft 3wt fly rod…

I purchased a Syndicate P2 Pipeline Pro European Style Nymphing 10ft 3wt rod because it was something I was curious about. I know that I’m late to the party by several years, but I decided to give it a go.

I can see the value of this technique since fish tend to spend a rather large portion of their lives down deep. So why not incorporate it into the places we fish and the species we fish for. I’d like to try nymphs and streamer flies for the Neosho-strain smallmouth bass as well as various tightline techniques.

I have purchased both the Rio Shorty leader kit as well as the Scientific Anglers kit that does the same thing. Also, I built a Mono-rig because I wanted to try that out too. I haven’t bought a full-blown ESN fly line yet but probably will.

I tested out this rod with a Mono-rig for a bit this afternoon and it was hard for me to get used to stripping monofilament. I’m sure I could get accustomed to it, but it felt really unnatural to me. Granted, I was fishing a lakeshore with a cross wind and I’m sure this system was designed for river fishing. You definitely have to stretch the Mono-rig before fishing! Next opportunity and I will test the Rio Shorty and the Scientific Anglers kit to see if that makes a huge difference.

This rod performed really well. I tried it with the Mono-rig and could easily cast it 30ft. I also tried standard WF3F fly line and it did great. It suits my casting style as I would call this a Moderate action rod and I slowed my tempo just a bit and it performed tuck casts beautifully. I only managed to hook one Perch which was fun on this rod. I was intentionally trying NOT to catch fish but this little guy was hungry.

And as the weather warms up, more people start getting out and I tend to find new trash. I honestly feel like I’m starting all over at this local lake.

That white bucket was stuffed in a tree so I pulled it out and used it to fill half of the trash barrel. Fortunately most of the trash was in close proximity to the parking lot…WHERE THE TRASH BARREL IS. Please teach your kids, teenagers, friends, relatives etc etc that they need to put their trash in its proper place. I’m sure all of my readers already do this, but the word needs to get out to more people. Thank you in advance for being an awesome human being!

River Trip 23Apr2022…

We hit the road at 0515 hoping to be on the river by 0700 but we were 15 minutes late. Sunrise was at 0640 and the temperature was 67F with 22mph winds. I wanted to take the fly rod but opted not to since I knew the winds would continue to increase throughtout the day.

We had a near miss with Zip as he decided to chase after the two geese in the background of the photo above. I called him back and he came running but wasn’t paying attention and fell off the gravel seam into deeper water. He started dog paddling without making progress and he started drifting across into deeper water. I waded in at and the last second (the water depth was quickly approaching the tops of my waders) managed to grab him and drag him back onto the gravel bar. He was much more careful after that.

Nicer than carrying a bunch of water bottles

I was using the Daiwa Presso ST 62ML rod with the Daiwa Presso LT 1000 reel. My wife was using her Graphite Leader Bellezza RV 642UL with a Shimano Twin Power C2000S reel. We decided on using heavier rods due to the wind. We experienced periodic wind gusts of 30-45mph while on the river. Sometimes we had to anchor hard with our feet and brace ourselves. Wind AND current can be tricky at times.

We each carried a Yeti Panga 28 for our gear. Hers contained dog necessities while mine ended up being filled with trash. Even with all of my fishing gear inside, I still managed to haul out 2 beer cans, 2 plastic bottles, a beer bottle and an empty 5 gallon jug. Leave it cleaner than you found it!

She caught 6 Velox and I managed to catch 12 with one being decent.

The river was in great shape and we can’t wait to return.

Nothing recharges my internal batteries like being on a river. We had a great time and enjoyed fishing at a leisurely pace. Zip did really good and we look forward to future outings with him. The winds have been a real problem for us lately and we are hoping they will calm down soon.

We’ve been receiving these advisories daily.

I am truly grateful to be married to a woman who loves to fish as much as I do. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time!

Fishing Art…

I was in the fishing room the other day and the wife came in and commented that the walls looked kind of plain. I have maps hanging to remind me of trips we’ve taken and routes we have traveled, but nothing really artistic. She suggested a few ideas and I agreed. She ended up ordering two shadow boxes containing flies from “Classic Fly Tying” and they arrived today. They have several different shadow box versions to choose from.

These shadow boxes are done very well and will look amazing on the wall. I can see myself getting all of them in the future. If anyone is interested in purchasing items from the site, their web address is:

Home

Thanks for reading and we’ll see you soon.

Yeti Water Bottle Holder Size Large…

After a cursory search online, I was able to determine that Yeti did indeed make a larger version of their Water Bottle Pouch/Sling so I ordered one. I was wanting one that would hold the Sawyer Squeeze water bottle since I use that the most when fishing. Plus it would get it out of the backpack and be more accessible.

I added a bit of shock cord since the pouch was a little big for the Sawyer bottle.

I think this option will be perfect for river fishing.

I know everyone complains about the prices of Yeti goods, but when actually comparing similar items, it’s just about on par with everything else. The quality on every Yeti item we have purchased has been outstanding and I feel it was money well spent. I have no affiliation with them and have purchased everything with my own money…I’m just saying that their stuff is pretty damn good. And again, I’m not selling anything, just showing what we use. Fish can’t read so find what works for you and go with it. Take care and Happy Easter.

Outing to Local Lake 16APR2022…

Well, the good news is that the wind stopped howling out of the South. The bad news is that its howling out of the North. Temperatures yesterday were 84F and sunny but today it was 51F, rainy and overcast. That’s a typical Oklahoma spring…the weather is always terrible on the weekends.

Between gusts of wind and rain showers, we managed to get out and fish for an hour. She caught 2 little largemouth bass and I caught one. And I do mean little. We figured that the front that moved through would push them back into deeper water and we were correct.

What can I say…it beats staying at home. Some times you just have to go fishing and that’s exactly what we did. The weather looks great next week but my weather app shows more chances of rain for next weekend. Go figure.

Nothing to be done but to muddle through it and wait for better conditions. Besides, soon enough I’m sure I will start complaining about the heat! Catch you on the next one.

Yeti Water Bottle Pouch/Sling…

Today the wife and I were on a mission. We were trying to find 2-piece Medium Power Bass Spinning rods and weren’t having much luck. We hit Bass Pro and Academy in Tulsa to no avail. The rods they had were either 1-piece or super cheap rods. We like to purchase stuff somewhere in the middle. We ended up heading home empty handed to get some chores done around the property.

Fast forward a couple of hours and I mentioned that I was hungry and sought her opinion on grabbing something to eat. We decided to head over to the next little town to eat. After that, as we were driving to the highway, I offered to drive over to Dick’s Sporting Goods. We both kind of laughed since we’d never had much luck buying fishing gear there. But we said what the heck and drove to it.

We did manage to find an Okuma 2-piece Medium power rod and as we were walking to the checkout stand…we stopped at the Yeti area to see what was new. I told her that she should get the Yeti Sidekick to go on her Panga 28 since it adds room to hold regular use stuff like soft plastics. She snatched one up. As she was checking it out I noticed something on the bottom shelf of the display and asked her to hand it to me. It turned out to be the Water Bottle Pouch/Sling for their 18oz Rambler. I looked it over and we decided to each get one. We have been trying out various methods to attach a water bottle to the side of the Panga 28 but never really liked any of the options.

These are very well made and seem to be really practical. They’re easy to put on and take off and don’t flop around all over the place. Now on to the pictures…

We think these will work out really well and plan to test them out thoroughly. I need to do some research and see if they come in a bigger size. That would be nice for the Sawyer Squeeze Filter Bottles we use a lot.

On a side note: I tried to talk her out of getting a Yeti Panga 28. Instead I suggested she get the Yeti Hopper Backflip cooler so she could carry the ice cold beer while we were fishing but she was having none of it. Can’t blame a guy for trying! Catch you on the next one…

Local Lake 03APR2022…

We decided to fish a local lake that we hadn’t fished in quite awhile. It requires a boat so we loaded up our Jon boat and headed out. I know that I did a post previously where I explained why I don’t own a boat…but I consider this a glorified beer can more than a serious boat. But they do serve their purpose. Besides, we can’t tow much behind a Subaru.

This was going to be Zips first outing on a boat and we were curious as to how he would do. It ended up being nothing to worry about as he really enjoyed being out on the lake. I like this dog more each day!

After inspecting the entire boat…he decided to curl up and relax.

I took my new Smith TRMK-423UL rod and the 2021 Diawa Presso 1000 and I have to say…it performed really well. A couple of times it should have broken and didn’t. I’m impressed!.

This bass made multiple runs underneath the boat and the rod held.

Nice Crappie! They were on the beds so we released them to fulfill their duty of creating a future population.

Several chunky little Largemouth Bass were caught.

I was constantly manning the tiller. Most of the time I had the stern pointed into the wind and the motor on Reverse #2 just to hold our position to some extent.

Once the sun fully came up, the wind really started building and we decided to get off the lake. We have a storm system rolling in later tonight. Typical Oklahoma Spring weather. We fish every opportunity that “time” and the “weather” allows. Thanks for reading…

Smith Troutin’ Spin Multiyouse TRMK-423UL Spinning Rod…

I have been looking at this rod for months and decided to just get it. I want a short rod for some of the creek fishing I have planned. What drove me towards this rod is that it’s fiberglass in the last section. This should allow more flexibility in the tip to make several different types of casts with really light lures.

Zippered nylon case with end pockets and velcro keepers for the tip sections.

Tip section ends in fiberglass where the rest are graphite.

Don’t ask me…I have no idea why. Youse-guys??

This is the first 3-piece rod I have owned. Supposedly it is stronger than a 4-piece since it does not have an extra junction. Also, It should be lighter because of that. I think at some point we will be splitting hairs when it comes down to specs. Per the manufacturers website, it lists this rod at 74 grams. Although I will note that their spec sheet says it’s FULL GLASS but also states “with solid glass only in one tip section.” I will probably have to pony up for an Anglo&Co. G411 rod to get the full benefit of fiberglass. Maybe someday…

Also, something that I have been kicking around is doing pictures of bending curves for each of my rods. Not sure if there is any interest in that…if so then I will give it a shot. Take care out there and get out and fish.

Lake Fishing- 02APR2022

After a full night of rain, we didn’t have much hope of catching anything but decided to go anyway. If nothing else, we’d be able to stretch our legs as well as letting Zip run all over.

We decided to take our bigger rods since we were hoping for White Bass or even a Striper. In the end, we caught nothing but rays of sunshine.

Her first time out with her new Yeti Panga 28 backpack.

Interestingly enough…in the picture above, Zip keyed in on a Beaver that we didn’t notice.

He wasn’t scared of us and never went far from that tree. We left the beaver alone and continued on our way.

Zip always stays pretty close…so that’s good!

Retrieving a stuck lure. Water temps right now are around 54F.

It’s still early in the season and our weather patterns are all over the map from 84F down to 31F…and sometimes, that swing is in one day. Factor in the spring rains and its a toss-up if we can go fishing. And being back to work hasn’t made it any easier. We’re relegated to only fishing weekends at this point.

Zip is getting better on the car rides so that is a huge plus. I feel like I’m starting to ramble so I will finish this post up and say “Thank You for reading it.”

We’ll catch you on the next one!

Local Lake Outing 27MAR2022…

We had planned to go fishing today as the weather forecast called for sunshine and about 70F for the high. We waited for the temps to hit 55F before we headed to the lake.

I was using my Apia Grandage Lite 61 with the Abu Garcia MGX Theta 1000s and she opted for her Daiwa Iprimi 62UL and her Daiwa Presso LTD 1025.

When we arrived there was one other car there, a guy who was taking pictures of the lake. As we were gearing up, another car pulled in and they bailed out to claim “their spot” while their dogs ran leash-less all over the place. We find that weird since there are plenty of good places to fish along the shore. To each their own.

Water is still pretty cold…but the bass are definitely moving up.

Our total for today was 7 bass in the hour we were there.

After the wind started picking up and more people started to arrive (it’s a really small parking area) we decided to call it a day. We picked up trash on our way back to the car and visited with a few fishermen along the way. It was great to get out, the fishing is beginning to pick up and the sunshine felt great.

We have had some decent rainfall recently and as you can see in the picture, the lake level has come up about 2 ft. Outings like this are enough to whet the appetite, but we are still waiting for things to stabilize.

On a sidenote, we went to the MLF (Major League Fishing) Expo yesterday that was in Tulsa. We walked around and saw a lot of interesting products. Even though we don’t do that type of bass fishing, some of the items were really neat. I got to talk to the Abu Garcia rep and play around with the new Zenon Baitcast reels (VERY NICE) and the Zenon spinning reels. The Abu rep was very sympathetic in regards to the JDM tackle they make but don’t import into the US. He didn’t understand the reasoning behind it…and like us, orders it from Digitaka and other places.

We also visited the Daiwa booths and asked about their range of JDM gear and got several silly excuses in response. They blamed shipping and other such nonsense. Their US catalog is completely void of the gear we like and use, which is to be expected. But we knew before going that it would be highly unlikely that we would find anything for our needs at this expo. In fact, just inquiring about ultralight rods raised eyebrows in every booth we visited. They were politely dismissive but it was still kind of funny. The tech-centric approach and the sheer cost of gear was astounding. And it blows my mind that there are boat motors that cost as much as my car! If I was still fishing bass tournaments, I’m sure I would’ve seen things differently…it’s just not my thing anymore.

Until next time…

Elk River Recon 19MAR2022…

We finally managed to carve out some time to make a reconnaissance run up to Missouri to check out the Elk River.

We drove 306.5 miles and were out for 6hrs 47mins.

Again, this idea started with a blue line on a map and subsequent research showed that it had potential. We like to visually check out an area before committing to an extended trip.

Extremely shallow. River channel is on the opposite side.

Access is limited to this river from what we could observe along our routes. There are canoe livery’s everywhere and renting a canoe seems to be the best option if we decide to commit to fishing this river.

He was quite content to sit and watch us fish.

We proceeded to head on over to Pineville since my wife found an access point to the river on a map. I think it was called the City Of Pineville Elk River Public Access.

One acre of land next to a bridge. It does have a “boat ramp” if you can call it that. Lots of rebar and metal pipes in the river around the bridge.

In all honesty, we weren’t super impressed with what we saw and it looks like this will be a madhouse during the summer. The sheer number of canoe rental companies was astounding and hints to our trepidation. In all likelihood we will fish this river at least once. If we could find a long section to fish without staring into peoples windows things might be different. Who knows, maybe our first impression was wrong. I hope so anyway. It was still fun to get out and explore new waters. Hopefully the weather will begin to stabilize some and we don’t get too much rain in a short period of time. But the fishing season is definitely right around the corner and we’re ready for it.