Nice catches
The tree service folks canceled on me this morning because of a threat of rain.
The rain was over about over by 10:00 , except for a couple of sprinklers while I was fishing .
And I needed to be back home by noon .
I took three combos , figured thirty minutes each should give me an idea on how they would fish.
First up was the KastKing Kestrel combo . Kestrel reel and rod . I like the reel somewhat , the replacement, smooth winding with a nice carbon disc drag . Loaded with 6# KastKing yellow braid .
All three combos had a streamer hook/tungsten bead jig with a size 10 hook .
Casts with the Kestrel we’re in the 40-45’ range .
I started with a black Trout Magnet and it didn’t take long to catch a nice redbreast . I don’t know if it was the braid or the rod , but the redbreast felt double its size . I could feel every kick of its tail . Fun!
The Kestrel rod is rated as a featherlight finesse rod . It’s more of a regular five foot ultralight rod at best .
I caught a nice bluegill on the kestrel too , before switching rods .
Next up , 5’6” St Croix Avid ULF paired with a Soare XR 500spg , spooled with 7# Varivas pink tournament braid . It’s rated at 7# max , but it’s thinner than the KastKing braid and man will it cast . I’m guessing 60-70’ once the braid got wet .
This is easily one of my best casting combos. Even with a Bobby Garland Itty bit Swim’r , I was getting 15-20’ farther than the Kestrel/KastKing braid combo .
I caught four medium to small gills on the SC Avid/Soare combo .
A lot of fun in that combo even with smaller fish .
Last , was a 5’ St. Croix Triumph ULM , paired with a Piscifun Carbon X 500 reel, spooled with Daiwa J Braid X8 Grand in blue .
This was a surprise combo . It casts as far as the Avid . By this time , the fish had turned off , although the bites weren’t that hot to begin with.
I caught a good looking little warmouth on the Triumph/carbon X . The reel worked smooth too . I’d forgotten about this reel .
I apologize for being long but I tried to give the details in as short of a write up I could .
I like the Varivas braid the best , but the Daiwa grand is a close second .
I’ll be making myself fish braid for the next couple of weeks to give it a better shot of winning me over.
“ The bigger the Bend , the Wider the Grin ! “
Nice catches
The love for fishing is one of the best gifts you can pass alonggillchaser999 LIKED above post
It was nice of you to color code the lines for easy identification of the different combos. It is greatly appreciated.
gillchaser999 LIKED above post
60-70 ft. . Thanks for your review. I like that blue color too.
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heavenornot.netgillchaser999 LIKED above post
Nice write up. I’m sure you know Varivas has some 0.2 PE line that breaks at 5.6 pounds. While Ive not done the test casting with braid…wore myself out doing that with nylon….it will cast a 1 gram naked jig head a long way. It’s pretty good stuff.
Regards
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After you told me my 6# .11mm KastKing braid would probably test out around 11# , I figured the Varivas max 7# had to be thinner since it’s closer rated to actual pound test .
Braid diameters and breaking strength is all over the place . It’s had to decipher what is what sometimes.
The 7# was the cheapest I could find in the Varivas on Amazon .
I may try some of the smaller stuff later on , but I found a 3000 yard spool of Daiwa 6# J Braid X8 in 6# for less than $100 . That should stock me up for awhile. The 6# J Braid is 1.5# diameter . It’s dark green color but that’s ok , the chartreuse was over $250 !!!
“ The bigger the Bend , the Wider the Grin ! “
Thanks for all your time and effort. I kinda thought the pink would cast well for you. I bought my brother a spool of .175 in pink also, his first. Hope you get used to it and enjoy it like I do. I truly love the sensitivity. Nice looking fish too, by the way.
Creativity is just intelligence fooling aroundgillchaser999 LIKED above post