Tag Archives: stream fishing

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)

https://videopress.com/v/kiXrUwMR?preloadContent=metadata
https://videopress.com/v/mehkDeKM?preloadContent=metadata

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…

My Current Quiver of Fly Rods…

I was tempted to do a group photo but just couldn’t get a good enough picture to really show the level of detail I wanted to convey. So, we’ll just show them one at a time…

Moonshine Drifter 9ft 5wt with Sage Trout 4/5/6 reel.
Fenwick Aetos 9ft 5wt with Nautilus XM 4/5 reel
Loop Xact 9ft 5wt with Loop Opti Dryfly reel
Fenwick Fenlite 9ft 5wt with Danielsson LW 4seven reel
Echo Ion XL 9ft 6wt with Galvan Rush LT reel
Loop Q 9ft 8wt with Danielsson L5W 6nine reel

Yes, I do actually use all of these. The 6wt is for throwing streamers or when its windy. The 8wt is for bass or pike. The 5wt’s are for general use and I just pick one that I’d like to fish with for the day.

That being said…I am not getting on with 2 of the rods. The Moonshine Drifter and the Fenwick Fenlite. They just don’t suit my casting style so I may move them on down the line. I have an old 2-piece Okuma Magnitude 9ft 5wt I bought years ago just to have a practice rod and it casts better than the Drifter or Fenlite. The others I really like. I just wish we had a decent fly shop locally. Everything is 2 hours away or more.

Also, and I’m probably going to anger some folks, but I don’t see what all the fuss is about when it comes to the Loop Opti reels. In my humble opinion, the Danielsson reels are better made at a cheaper price. Fit and finish is of a higher quality too.

I have a couple of other reels that I didn’t show because I don’t have rods for them. They are a Hardy Marquis LWT 4wt reel, Danielsson Dryfly 5wt reel, a Loop Q 5wt reel and a Danielsson F3W 2six 4wt reel.

I am chomping at the bit to hit some streams soon and am really wanting to fly fish them. Hopefully the weather stabilizes soon…

LOOP OPTI DRYFLY REEL…

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted a Loop Opti Dryfly reel. I’m sure it was because “all the cool kids” had them, but still, it’s a good looking reel and I just wanted one. So the other day I was surfing the web and ran across one on http://www.us.looptackle.com and decided to get it.

I like large arbor reels and especially ones with a full cage. This reel is lighter than I expected, but still seems beefy. I definitely like this style of reel pouch as opposed to the plain Jane neoprene cases almost every other manufacturer uses.

I am currently waiting for the fly line to arrive. I opted for a WF5F line which is what this reel was designed for.

On a side note…it did indeed snow this past Tuesday followed by rain and thunderstorms last night. The weather is definitely not doing my fishing any favors. We are waiting for things to dry out a bit and for the water levels to drop before heading out for more fishing. It’s frustrating to say the least, but here in Oklahoma, we’re always at the mercy of the weather. Take care…

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…

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

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!

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!