I Like My New Rods

[Dan360]

I haven't been having the best luck with LMB this year so far. I've been trying new baits and methods to become more versatile, but it hasn't been working out. Winter/Early Spring bass fishing has never been my strong suit, so I should have probably stuck to baits that I have confidence with instead of all of this new stuff. I really enjoy finesse fishing and I've always used gear a bit lighter than most. I've been trying to use larger baits and heavier gear to no avail. Since its my birthday, I decided it was time for a couple of new rods. My wife killed my favorite baitcast rod in my tailgate earlier this spring so that was #1 on the list. The next rod was going to be a spinning rod for light finesse baits.

I wanted my new casting rod to be lighter than my current spinnerbait and crankbait rods. I envisioned a light rod in the 8-12# range with a slightly softer tip for my favorite baits: light spinnerbaits (1/8 to 1/4 oz), lighter lipless cranks, smaller shallow cranks and suspending jerkbaits. Oddly enough, I found the action I was looking for in Shimano's second generation of Compre rods with their Worm/Jig 6'8" 8-12# Med/Fast. Its labeled as "Fast", but I would say it has a considerably softer tip than most of my "Fast" rods that would be purposed for worm/jig fishing like this rod is supposed to be. I set it up with a Shimano Citica 200E and 10# mono.

I wanted my new spinning rod to have a light enough tip to be able to load up with light floating stick/jerk baits and light weight/unweighted plastic rigs. I also wanted it to have enough backbone for long hook-sets. I found a first-generation Shimano Compre 7'0 6-10# light/med/fast on clearance it felt like it was going to be perfect. Set it up with a Shimano Symetre 1500 with 6# mono (might go to 8# with the other spool).

I put the boat in the water at Lake St. Clair near Lacey at 1:30 in the afternoon. Oddly enough, there was hardly any breeze on the water (which is great because my aluminum boat acts like a sail). Since it was later in the afternoon, I decided to fish a bit slower and rigged my new casting rod with a texas-rigged Zoom grub with 1/8 oz weight. I rigged the spinning rod with a #1 Gamikatsu Finesse hook and wacky rigged a 3 inch Senko.

After three hours of fishing, I was pretty much convinced I had the perfect rods for my style of fishing and I think they'll be dynamite on smallies. The 6'8 Compre Worm/Jig casting rod loads up easily with a light bait and pairs perfectly with the Citica reel. I wasn't warm on the new skeletonized rod handles but I realize now that they make the rod really light and sensitive. I didn't miss a single fish today with that rod (but it could have been the fish, really aggressive today). I pitched a grub toward a dock and had to deal with a bit of a bird-nest. When I looked up, my line was running rapidly along the bank 10 feet from where the lure had landed. Reeled up, set the hook, nice 2-pounder.

The spinning rod was just as impressive. I used the 3 inch senko on a wacky rig to cast to isolated clumps of weeds. I was able to see a few bass cruising the shallow areas, so I tossed the senko up ahead of them thinking I would feather the bait with the light rod to coax a strike. That didn't really work out due to the bass charging anything that hit the water near them. The fish were really aggressive today.

I had a great day and it was my first 10-fish day of the year. Honestly, it was also my first 5-fish day of the year as well. I just haven't been putting it together until today. Sorry for novel!

[Bisk1tSnGraV]

A very nice time out on the water it sounds like for sure. Thanks for the great write up.