lake fishing – Page 3

Back in Town…

I was talking with our oldest son about 2 months back. He had just returned from a trip to the Boundary Waters with a group of friends that didn’t go as well as he’d hoped ( a lot of trips just happen like that and I’ve had my fair share too.) I commented about him and I doing a trip together and he agreed. I went about getting a permit as well as a rental canoe and lodging and planning out an itinerary.

Long story short, we spent the past week canoeing and fishing up in the Boundary Waters together and it turned out to be one of the best trips ever. The fishing was tough due to them still being in their summer pattern/deep water. We earned every single fish we caught. I don’t have all of the pictures yet so will only post a few of the main ones.

Resident Trumpeter Swans who sounded off every morning at 0600 sharp.

I am currently surrounded by gear that needs cleaning, drying, sorting and stowing. I have a pile of things to do before I can write a proper blog post but I will do that ASAP. Feels kind of strange knowing that I was in Des Moines at 0530 and home by noon. At least I have 2 more days to get things caught up. See ya soon!

Blog Update…

My apologies for not posting anything to the blog for a couple of weeks. My work schedule has drastically increased to include longer hours and weekends as well. We are still experiencing temperatures in the upper-90’s to 100F+ so we haven’t been fishing at all. The good news as far as I can tell is that the temps will start slowly decreasing next week.

Yes, we could hit the rivers and fish but we haven’t had any measurable rainfall in over a month which will effect water levels. At times like that, it’s like “shooting fish in a barrel,” so I feel that it isn’t very sporting. I prefer to have a sustainable population of fish for the future as opposed to “getting mine now.”

Some people may disagree but I prefer to have an ethic when it comes to this sport. This isn’t a rant, nor am I pointing fingers. Rather, it’s just my ethos and I will not deviate.

I definitely have upcoming blog posts which I think readers may like. They are still a few weeks off but I promise they will be forthcoming. Stay tuned for those and I hope everyone is doing well.

Gomexus Reel Stands…

We have been using Gomexus reel stands for about 2 years now. It is a cheap and effective way to protect your spinning reels. Since we fish rivers and streams a lot, and there are rocks everywhere, these tend to keep the reels off of the rocks when we set our rods down.

We generally use the Gomexus R1 42mm fixed stand but when they released the Gomexus R6 48mm foldable stand, we wanted to try those.

Since we store our reels in padded cases or neoprene covers, the foldable design has been really nice.

R6 Foldable Stand screwed down and locked

At first I was hesitant about using any reel stand. I thought it was a gimmick and that they would be unwieldy of even unbalance the rod and reel. But the more I used them the more I liked them.

To me, it’s a cheap way to keep your reels from being scratched and beat up on rocks or gravel. The Gomexus R1 costs $10 USD. If I’m using a $150 reel, then $10 isn’t much to add a level of protection. The Gomexus R6 costs $12 USD and it’s worth it for the foldable feature.

Gomexus R1 fixed on a 2019 Shimano Stradic FL 1000S. No more worries about scratched reels or damaged bails.

I have no affiliation with Gomexus, or anybody else for that matter. I’m just showing a few of their products that we use. They also make knobs and reel handles for both baitcast and spinning reels. Most of their items are produced in a range of colors as well. If you’re interested, check them out.

http://www.gomexus.jp

Or you can find them on Amazon.

Tailwalk Keison Runsback spec * N 56ML Spinning Rod…

After using a Tailwalk Troutia 55L for quite awhile, I decided to see what else this brand offered. Perusing the rod listings, I ran across this rod. I enjoy using Light and Medium-Light rods when fishing streams and rivers because the added backbone helps fight fish in current as well as getting them into the net faster.

Length: 5’6′ -Max Lure: 12g -Max Line: PE 0.8 and 99% carbon/ 1% glass.

Nice hardware. Double down-locking reel seat. Cork is decent.

I’m looking forward to testing this rod out too. I’ll either get up really early to fish or just suffer through the heat. Time will tell.

Palms Pinwheel PFGS-69UL+ Spinning Rod…

First off, I apologize for not posting anything for awhile. We have been having internet issues and it seems that dial-up is faster than the service we pay for.

With that out of the way…I’d like to showcase a new rod I recently bought. The Palms Pinwheel PFGS-69 UL+ spinning rod. I like how Palms shoots a video explaining their rods in detail. I wish all of the manufacturers did that.

I knew this was a saltwater ultralight rod which was designed for shore jigging. What I didn’t expect was how stiff this rod is. I would compare it to a Light-Medium Bass rod to be honest. In fact, I ended up putting a Shimano Twin Power C3000 reel on just to get it to balance. And that’s fine with me. I fish farm ponds as well so this will be a good choice when I target largemouth bass since this can handle them well. Fit and finish was excellent and I like the aesthetics of this rod.

I’m looking forward to trying this rod out. Prospects are somewhat questionable since it appears that summer has truly arrived. Starting on Monday the weather forecast is calling for 100F+/38C+ every day for as far out as the forecast shows. We’ll see how it goes…

The 2022 Shimano Soare XR 500SPG Spinning Reel…

It finally arrived! The wife has been wanting one of these for over 6 months. Last Thursday when I got to work, there was an email that popped up on my phone from Digitaka stating that the Soare XR 500’s were in stock. This was at 0504. By 0505 I was on their site ready to purchase two reels but it already stated that it was THE LAST ONE. I bought it instantly and by 0506 I had confirmation of the order. These reels went fast!!!

Rear View of 2022 Shimano Soare XR 500SPG

L: 2022 Soare XR 500SPG and R: 2017 Soare CI4+ 500S

Rear View of 2017 Shimano Soare CI4+ 500S

Before I list the specs, I will say that the 2022 Soare XR is smoother than the 2017 Soare CI4+. I definitely like the color scheme on the 2022 better but that is just my preference. The handle fits better and has a bit more accents. The handle knob was changed and I’m not sure if it’s for the better or not. Gear ratio was decreased. Line capacity was increased a little bit as well. Maybe she’ll let me try it out.

2022 Shimano Soare XR 500SPG

-WEIGHT: 135 grams

-GEAR RATIO: 4.7:1

-DRAG: 3 kg MAX

-RETRIEVE: 58 cm

BEARINGS: 8/1

-CAPACITY: MONO 2#-115m, 2.5#-100m and FLUOROCARBON 3#-70m

2017 Shimano Soare CI4+ 500S

-WEIGHT: 140 grams

-GEAR RATIO: 5.6:1

-DRAG: 3 kg MAX

-RETRIEVE: 69 cm

-BEARINGS: 8/1

-CAPACITY: MONO 2#-90 m, 2.5#-80m and FLUOROCARBON 3#-70m

For Perch and small streams, these will be perfect and we can’t wait to test hers out. Stay tuned for that.

Practice With Centerpin Rod and Reel…

I ordered a Blood Run Skein Cane Centerpin Rod which was 13 feet long and has 4-sections and is rated for 6-10 pound line. It definitely casts a lot better than the Crappie rod I was using last time. Coupled with a Kingpin Imperial 475 Centerpin reel, it made casting a dream.

I practiced casting for about 45 minutes until I felt that I had the hang of it. In the end, the Cross-body Wallis Cast seemed to be the best for me. In time I will practice a couple of other casts just to have options.

I ended up catching 3 Largemouth bass while the wife caught 7 Crappie and 2 Largemouth bass.

I had been waiting several days for the weather and my work schedule to cooperate so I could get out and practice. I did get a few “bird’s nests” while casting which were not fun to untangle, but I think that after a couple of more casting sessions, things should smooth out a bit.

I still feel that this is a viable option for some of the rivers we fish and will test that theory out soon. Stay tuned for that. See you on the next one.

Our JDM Rods…

I have debated on whether to post this or not. I’m sure I will catch flack for the number of rods we have, but we use them all and they all serve a purpose. This has nothing to do with bragging because I am not that kind of person. Nor am I suggesting that you buy any of these.

I have mentioned on previous blog posts as to why we bought JDM(Japanese Domestic Market) rods. And I still stand behind that after 4 years. For us, it took our angling to the next level for the type of fish that we go after.

First up is our pack rods.

The one on the left is my heavier rod for White Bass, Hybrids or Stripers. I drive a Subaru so I needed a multi-piece rod. The others, we use for when we have to walk in quite a ways to reach a river so we don’t have to deal with full length rods when moving through brush. They fit inside our Yeti Panga backpacks.

Next up is our general purpose rods.

There are several duplicate rods as some are hers and some are mine. They cover the spectrum from Medium-Light to Ultralight and we select them for target species, size of rivers, current flows etc. Some are baitcast rods as well.

There really isn’t a bad rod in the bunch. As long as you stay within the rods specifications and intended use, you shouldn’t have any issues. And yet again, I will warn against lifting a fish or high-sticking, ask me how I know!

I have done blog posts on each of these rods in the past, but this is the first time we have taken a group photo. Most of these rods are designed for either Area Fishing or Stream Fishing on Japanese waters but they work extremely well for chasing Velox (Neosho-strain Smallmouth Bass.) Adapt and improvise!

Thanks for reading.

Centerpin Reel Practice…

We managed to get all of our morning chores done by 0630 and decided that after coffee, we would run down to one of the local lakes so she could fish while I practiced casting the centerpin reel.

We are so sick of this wind and there is nothing we can do about it. Day after day of 20+ mph winds gets really old. And it didn’t help with me trying to learn the Wallis cast and the BC Swing cast. I’ll have to wait for a calm day or drive 2 hours to the river to practice.

My original plan was to just cast lead weight to get a feel for this centerpin reel but I opted to rig up a float, some weight and a hook baited with earthworms and go fishing.

First cast and I hooked into a very healthy Bluegill that put up a great fight. The only rod I had that was close to a float rod was a 10ft Crappie jigging rod which didn’t work out too well, but I managed to catch 11 fish on it.

Mrs. Velox Seeker caught 8 Crappie and 1 Largemouth bass on her spinning setup. We were both constantly battling the wind as well as weeds. I managed to catch 6 Largemouth bass and 5 Perch, all of which were fun on the rod and centerpin reel. After the wind picked up with gusts over 30 mph, I switched to a spinning setup but couldn’t catch a cold. Zilch, zero.

All in all, I was impressed with the potential of the centerpin reel and the ability to make long, controlled drifts. With a legit centerpin rod I think this will be a highly effective method to fish a river for Smallmouth bass.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend…

It has been a hectic week for us and we were looking forward to the weekend holiday. We had 3 full days of rain earlier in the week which killed any chance of us getting out to fish.

We celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary as well as my 25th anniversary at work. We also had family in town for a few days. The calendar was full.

Saturday looked promising but we awoke to thunder, some rain showers as well as high winds.

The video doesn’t do it justice because this went on all day long.

On a side note, I got a wild hair and decided to get a centerpin reel for float fishing the rivers. I fondly remember beginning this fishing journey by using a bobber on a small pond with my father and catching crappie, perch and eels.

From all that I have read, centerpin reels provide the absolute best drift possible while using a float. As is typical, I will have to configure this method for catching smallmouth even though the gear available in the US is predominantly designed for salmon and steelhead.

I like learning and as such, this should be fun and will add “another tool to the toolbox” in regards to fishing skills. I guess anything that has to do with fishing has my attention. But there are far worse addictions other than angling!

Take care and thanks for reading.

Loop Opti K2 9ft 4wt rod and a Loop Opti Creek reel…

I have wanted a 4wt fly rod to fill a gap in my fly rod collection. Sometimes a 3wt rod isn’t enough to cast certain flies and a 5wt is too much. I firmly believe in having the right tool for the job.

I found this rod and reel on sale over at the Loop US website and decided to get them. I like the fact that the Loop Opti Creek is a silent reel. There are times when I don’t want to hear a reel clicking away all day and that’s why I chose this one.

I have been impressed with Loop Tackle from a function and aesthetic standpoint. To date, I have only been able to wave this rod around in the yard and I really like it. As I’ve stated before, a Medium Fast action such as this rod has, suits my casting style well. Once the weather clears I will definitely take it to a local pond or lake to test it out fully.

I plan on using this rod to fish the Cossatot River soon and can hardly wait. We are in the process of finalizing our itinerary and accomodations and the excitement is running high. Stay tuned for more and have a great weekend.

River Trip 15MAY2022…

We were awakened last night by a strong thunderstorm and a heavy downpour. We debated about continuing with our plans to fish the river on Sunday. Needless to say, we headed to the river a little later than normal. As much to fish it, as to see how much it had changed from the recent flooding.

It narrowed some areas whilst widening others.

I took my Loop XACT 9ft 5wt MF fly rod and the Loop Opti Dryfly reel. I caught 5 fish on a #6 grey and olive squirrel tail Bunny Leech with a 3mm bead head. The rest I caught on my Tailwalk Troutia 55L spinning rod. Zip was really curious about the fly rod and I was afraid of hooking him since he tried chasing the fly.

The river level was around 7.25 feet so MVS felt comfortable wading across at the same spots I did.

The whole time I was fishing, my phone, which was stowed in the backpack, kept announcing a Thunderstorm Watch was in effect til later this evening. So we kept an eye towards the sky as we fished.

I did manage to figure out two river crossings but will need a full day to figure out the main stretch. Hopefully we can get that done soon. And Zip actually swam one crossing which was something new. I’m glad he’s becoming more comfortable around the river. It’s no fun wading across while carrying him.

If you remember in my last post from this river, you might recall the picture of the tree that had been washed out. Well, it’s completely gone now and more than likely several miles down stream.

I guess we had two milestones on this trip, Zip crossing the river on his own and also, not getting car sick on the ride! Although we caught 19 fish, the above mentioned milestones were the highlights of the trip.

It has gotten hot here quite a bit earlier than normal. It was 70F when we arrived at 0815 and by the time we left at 1300, it was 91F. It was actually too hot to wear waders as we were both soaked with sweat. And that’s fine by me as I prefer to wet wade.

All of the practice that I’ve put into my fly casting has paid off. It was really fun today and I hope to keep improving and learning. Have a Great Day and we’ll catch you on the next one.