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Summertime Bassin
By: Ron Wilson
July 19, 2006
For the last couple weeks I have been
experimenting with line. I am always looking for that better mousetrap
that
corporations are making to sell to us unsuspecting fishermen.
My true love in fishing is using a
lighter line and using a dart head on plastics to entice the fish out of
the weeds. My usual 8 pound test line worked OK but every now and then a
big hawg would come out grab the offering and bury me in the weeds and
bust my line for me.
I don't mind a fish getting away but I
want it to be on my terms, so I started experimenting with another
braided line. One of my fishing buddies Ron Fisher could not believe
that I was going to use a braided line on my dart heads to catch fish as
he knows that I am a true believer in the fish being line shy.
A week ago me and my Brittany dog Peggy
went to a private pond one afternoon to catch the evening top water frog
bite. While waiting for things to happen I picked up my spinning rod
with Cortland new super Master Braid 10 pound test line. I tied a dart
head directly to the light blue braided line and then put on a 6 inch
Keeper 1001B on it and pitched it out.
Now mentally I wasn't to sure about the
braid, light blue line and I figured the bass could see it with no
problems so I was skeptical I would catch fish. The first cast was nice
and smooth and the distance was equal to what I would achieve with my
usual 8-pound mono.
The bait hit bottom and a fish soon
started off with it. I set the hook and it was in the 2 pound class.
Hmmm, maybe the color will be ok I thought. The next cast resulted in a
5 pound plus bass, a couple jumps and a nice drag pulling short run and
the fish was brought to the boat.
Maybe the line might work out ok I
thought. Five fish later and I had one of those professional overcast. I
learned the hard way that you don't fill the spool up like you do with
mono as when a braid loop slips over the top of the spool you have a
serious problem. I stripped off about 20 yards of braid and it seemed to
work ok for the rest of the evening. Twenty-five bass up to 5 pounds
without a single retie, I would never get away with that using
monofilament line.
Last Saturday Ron Fisher of Hughson and I
went back to the pond for the morning bite. Ron said why are they
biting in the morning I said I like the cool morning to fish and that's
when the best phase of the moon will be and fish seem to pay attention
to the moon and its phases.
I started with senko's for a few fish and
then picked up the braid and Ron had a hard time believing what he was
seeing, me using braided line. I told him these big Florida strain bass
in the pond had caused me to be very aware of what they can do with
light line and after seeing him bust off quite a few fish himself he
should be one of the first guys to understand what I was doing, looking
for a way to use a lighter rod but still be able to handle the big boys
when they bite. I think it was fish number 10 that I set on that
suddenly peeled off drag a few times before I got the fish to the boat.
Ron said wow that's another nice one! She hit 8 ½ pounds on his scale, a
quick picture for proof and then a release. The dart head hook had
penetrated plumb through the fishes upper lip allowing me to control the
fish a lot easier that normal, then again maybe it was the knowledge
that I didn't have to worry about breaking the fish off.
I said Ron this is why I am experimenting
with the braid to see just how well it will work on my style of fishing.
I have 50 pound braid that I use for frogs where you have to bring fish
and weeds to the boat but I like to finesse fish most of the time so I
will continue using Cortland Master Braid to see just how well it works
over time and if there are times when the fish get line shy from it.
With my shades on, the line seems to disappear in the water somewhat,
but that is not what counts to me its what the fish are seeing. Last
Saturday by noon I had 32 bass and 4 crappy in the boat.
I looked at Ron rubbing his arm and said
your in the 50 fish range aren't you! He said yes how do you know I said
haven't you noticed me when my arms do that, that's when you have had a
great day bassin!
Ron had some 2 and 3 pounder's and one in
the 6 pound class he caught on a frog so he had a real good day
until 11 a.m. when he got that Charlie horse in his arm! Ron had 56 bass
and 5 crappy in the boat when we
left, he had found a better plastic bait that was working for him but
the fish were on the small side, you know a head and a tail with not a
lot in between while I was consistently catching nicer fish!
Braid line on a spinning reel, so far
Cortland will work just fine if you don't overfill the spool and instead
of adding fluorocarbon onto it as a leader I tie it directly to the hook
and so far it seems to be working just fine. |
