Nothing spectacular, but caught my first 3+ lber of the season. Couple good takeaways though.
First, I've got a new method for weighing my fish. Bought a Fish Grip Jr. because I read you could pretty easily lip a fish then throw the whole thing up on your scale to weight it, without risking any damage to the fish. The documentation I've read for the Fish Grip Jr says it has a hole in the handle specifically for that purpose. When I got it, I found that was not the case. Emailed the company and they said only the newest generation of the Jr. model has it. Oh well, ended up carefully drilling my own hole and it works fine. You can either attach the gripper, then hit tare to zero it, or just weigh everything and subtract the 2oz that the gripper weighs. Haven't quite mastered the technique yet, but should work out fine.
Next takeaway is that I am slowly becoming a Senko-first guy. Last 2 times out, I have only caught fish on Senkos. One of those times it was a pretty obvious split too. I threw Flukes, Trick Worms, etc., then switched to a Senko and caught 3 fish. Conditions were the same, and area I was fishing was virtually the same as well. I fish from shore, and generally bring a casting and spinning setup with me. I think from now on the spinning setup is going to start with a Senko tied on.
The 3 lber was taken on a Watermelon w/ Blk/Red flake Senko. That color has become my go-to, seems like I catch all my Senko fish on it. I want to grab some Black w/ Blue Flk and Watermelon with Chartreuse tail as well, they seem pretty popular. Rod/reel combo was a Abu Garcia Orra S w/ 20 lb braid and Lightning Rod Shock 7 ft M. With the rebate Berkley was running and the already low prices at Walmart, the rod cost under $30. And for that money it's fantastic, works awesome with the braid, no complaints yet.
Incidentally, anyone who wants to verify their scale, this guy has a pretty good approach - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2rbmPPxCVc. I haven't gone to those lengths yet, but I compared to a food scale we have and the Rapala matches it almost exactly.
First, I've got a new method for weighing my fish. Bought a Fish Grip Jr. because I read you could pretty easily lip a fish then throw the whole thing up on your scale to weight it, without risking any damage to the fish. The documentation I've read for the Fish Grip Jr says it has a hole in the handle specifically for that purpose. When I got it, I found that was not the case. Emailed the company and they said only the newest generation of the Jr. model has it. Oh well, ended up carefully drilling my own hole and it works fine. You can either attach the gripper, then hit tare to zero it, or just weigh everything and subtract the 2oz that the gripper weighs. Haven't quite mastered the technique yet, but should work out fine.
Next takeaway is that I am slowly becoming a Senko-first guy. Last 2 times out, I have only caught fish on Senkos. One of those times it was a pretty obvious split too. I threw Flukes, Trick Worms, etc., then switched to a Senko and caught 3 fish. Conditions were the same, and area I was fishing was virtually the same as well. I fish from shore, and generally bring a casting and spinning setup with me. I think from now on the spinning setup is going to start with a Senko tied on.
The 3 lber was taken on a Watermelon w/ Blk/Red flake Senko. That color has become my go-to, seems like I catch all my Senko fish on it. I want to grab some Black w/ Blue Flk and Watermelon with Chartreuse tail as well, they seem pretty popular. Rod/reel combo was a Abu Garcia Orra S w/ 20 lb braid and Lightning Rod Shock 7 ft M. With the rebate Berkley was running and the already low prices at Walmart, the rod cost under $30. And for that money it's fantastic, works awesome with the braid, no complaints yet.
Incidentally, anyone who wants to verify their scale, this guy has a pretty good approach - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2rbmPPxCVc. I haven't gone to those lengths yet, but I compared to a food scale we have and the Rapala matches it almost exactly.