Thread: 2 ultras and a light

That’s what I took with me for a quick trip to the river. Just having the new rig all put together and not having used it left too many questions unanswered. Plus my ocd was about to make me nuts. I only had about an hour and a half so I hit it hard. Up for trial today was my all new Presso 1000 reel and Daiwa trout X in 6’0”xul. I spooled it up with some Varivas .15 at 4.2 lb test and a clear 4lb mono leader. I tied on one of Deepfry’s one feather jigs that had a #6 hook instead of my normal #8. First thing is that this is my first high carbon content rods and they’re everything y’all say they are. They load and flex different on the cast and the guides work perfect helping me make casts of 50’ when I pitched it hard and had the room. It took a few casts but I got to feel the first take from a nice gill. Its first fish being a nice sized gill has to be an omen maybe?

All the head shakes or tail flips or whatever they are felt very different to my Fenwick I used this past weekend. Even my Phenix 1-5lb line Mirage doesn’t feel this good, doesn’t cast this well either but it’s close. All the little bumps seem amplified compared. Today I caught a lot of Warmouth and fliers (stumpknockers?) with some gills and one lone crappie. There was also a first for me today after many, many fish caught from this St Johns River system. It was a fish I’ve only heard of and never even seen before. I’ve heard them called a butter Catfish. Not super big at maybe 11” or so and hit like a good gill but I knew from the fight that it wasn’t. His facial features seemed kinda chunky and different from the other cats I’ve caught and his color was undeniably yellow, even the slime on the line. Once again, the net was home. But I did get a pic so tell me what y’all think.
But in closing I’ll say that it’s about what I’ve been told to expect and I’m not disappointed in the least. Light in hand with both the reel and rod together, casting beyond my expectations and sensitivity like I’ve never experienced before. I even broke a cardinal rule and shot it up under a couple of cypress but not as enthusiastically as I do with the Fenwick. The guides are a bit bigger and I believe this helps with the smooth and seemingly unrestricted casts. Now I gotta learn to keep it out of the trees. It was a bullet that I thought about for a very long time before taking the bite and I’m glad I did. The reel and line behaved nicely with few loops and wind knots to deal with and it was breezy. I want to thank everyone for the information that you share and educating me in the process. Many thanks to Gillchaser on his patience and recommendations on this, it was a big help.Thanks for coming along and I guess you’ll have to make room in the rabbit hole. Pass the chips please……