pond fishing – Velox Seeker

Transition Time…

Locally, trout fishing season is over. Most ponds were stocked on Feb 28th for the last time so it’s been slim pickings. And as the title alludes to, we’ve shifted our focus to other species. As we transition from Winter into Spring, a new set of challenges are presented. We didn’t have much of a winter here in Oklahoma, or anything resembling a pattern of stability, sure we had some snow and some cold temperatures, but the weather fluctuated wildly so we had to pick favorable conditions that gave us the advantage.

I think we did pretty well during the Trout season by catching quite a few and we got to test out some new rods and reels as well as tackle. I’m not going to lie, it’s been a rough start to the year from the fact that I’ve managed to break four rods so far. Two were my fault but the other two still baffle me..maybe there were defects, I’m not sure.

As Spring gains momentum, we are grateful to leave the cold behind and the suffering which that entailed. Now we will have to contend with wind and rain. Oklahoma can really test ones patience! As usual we have set our goal for 50 outings and currently I am setting at 25 so I’m not too worried about meeting that goal.

We’ve been hitting various local ponds and lakes to see what was biting and have been pleasantly surprised. Neither one of us are what you’d consider “Crappie specialists” but we’ve done well in locating and catching them consistently. The Largemouth bass are starting to become more active and the various Perch species are beginning to move up into shallower waters. Right or wrong, I refuse to keep spawning fish, especially ones out of highly pressured waters.

We’ve had a lot fun so far in 2024 despite a few setbacks. Flowers are blooming, trees are beginning to leaf out and temperatures are climbing into the 70’s and 80’s here. But looking out the window, I can tell the wind is blowing with gusts into the 30mph range. We have to pick our moments and ride the ride.

See you on the next one…

Reality Check…

Last Sunday my wife and I went to one of our little local lakes and fished for a few hours. We did pretty well considering the wild weather swings we’ve had.

Our main goal was to see if the Crappie had moved up into a pre-spawn pattern. Long story short, they had not, but rather were still scattered about the lake.

I managed to catch my Personal Best Black Crappie during the process which ws pretty cool. I will post two pictures, one of a perch and the other of the Crappie so you can get an idea of the scale of the fish in the net.

Needless to say it was a great outing and we had the lake all to ourselves for the entire time we were fishing.

I went to work the next day, Monday, and was showing my co-workers a few pictures and catching up on recent events when I was informed that one of my co-workers had passed away on Sunday. It hit like a sledgehammer because nobody had thought it would happen to that guy. He was super nice, friendly and just an all-around great guy. He passed from a heart attack at home at the age of 55. Entirely too young!

It tends to hit home, especially since I’m about to turn 53 and it certainly makes you wonder and question things. There are very few guarantees in life and we must use our time wisely. Perhaps I need to change things in my life and reset my priorities? I definitely need to schedule a medical checkup since I’m notorious for not going to the doctor until it’s absolutely necessary. It was a wake-up call for all of us.

I want to keep fishing for many more years and enjoy what time I have left, and I’m sure everyone has plans until they leave this Earth.

My thoughts are scattered all over the place and we are still processing his death. I don’t want to ramble on incoherently so I will finish this post and wish Travis a fond farewell and may he rest in peace. Godspeed my Friend.

Rethinking Ajing Rods…

I have a preference for composite grips and really light rods. The downside is fragility and that’s an issue for the way I fish. Granted, Ajing rods are usually used off of a dock or sea wall with few if any obstructions and the target species isn’t a large fish.

For reference: some of my Ajing rods have a 0.6mm solid graphite tip section sporting 1mm-1.2mm guides…that’s tiny! Sensitivity is outstanding and they are phenomenal to fish for ultralight game with.

APIA Grandage Lite 61 top and TenRyu RZI-50L-4 below

However, I have recently broken two rods while at the trout pond. In both cases the tip sections snapped off midway to the top guide. I can’t say for sure why this happened but it did. I don’t think I was high sticking and in fact in one instance the rod was laying on the ground while I was tying on a swivel/snap. When I went to cast I noticed something didn’t look right and the tip section was dangling.

I can’t be too upset since I was clearly using these rods for a purpose they were never designed for and for a target species that was quite a lot larger than their intended quarry. It just rams home the point that I need a more durable rod for the type of fishing we do. I’m just not the type of angler who wants to coddle and hyper-protect my gear. Specialization can definitely have it’s pitfalls and these are highly specialized rods. Fortunately the Ajing rods were not expensive so it wasn’t painful or heart wrenching. But it was a good learning experience. And I’d rather it happen at a local trout pond instead of 4 miles down a smallmouth stream!

For me, I’m leaning back towards the TenRyu rods even though they have cork handles. I’ll gladly give up a bit of sensitivity for durability and as of yet, all of our TenRyu rods have performed flawlessly. Sometimes following a theory/concept doesn’t pan out and that’s OK and I don’t consider things like that a failure if I have learned something valuable in the process. The best lessons are often learned the hard way!

New Veles Handcrafted Lures Arrived Today…

I can’t get enough of these lures! They swim well and are easy to fish. After my first couple of purchases, my wife decided to get some for herself. Can’t say as I blame her. So we will start with the 4 she ordered!

Personally, I REALLY like the lure that is second from the left. Stunning.

I ordered 2 more myself just to increase the variety in my arsenal.

I think now, we have a good range of colors and shapes. These lures handle and track very well in the water.

We were pretty excited to get these lures. After a week of ice and cold temperatures followed by several days of rain…it was nice to receive fishing related items in the mailbox, but it will be awhile before the rivers and lakes settle a bit. Hopefully we will be able to wet a line sometime this weekend. 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…