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It was a gram day...

by Craig T
(Iowa)

Rod: TenRyu Rayz Spectra 5’1”
Reel: ‘18 Daiwa Exist Finesse Custom LT1000S-P
Line: Sunline Small Game PE .4

Took a road trip to a place I haven’t been in a few years to see how well it has fared after a summer of heavy rains. The public area is a short half mile of the stream with private both up and down stream with no access. Definitely some changes, a couple bends are no longer sharp bends with pools but rounded riffles with a deeper run. Fish were hard to find but were definitely there, this is an area I used to fish regularly and was an unknown hole in the wall place. This has obviously changed as there were 3 cars on arrival and 8 when I left a couple hours later.

I started with my go to 3g Smith Edge spoon and quickly found that the first few fast runs I couldn’t keep the spoon down in the water when I remembered I had ordered a 4g Crusader from Chris. The 4g Crusader worked wonders as I worked a few fast runs. Another Finesse Fisher turned me on to the Micro Snap Swivels and that has made changing spoons quick and simple so I figured it was a great day to play around. I tie the swivel right to the PE .4 with a 10 turn Trilene Knot and there is no slippage, also makes it nearly bomb proof.

After moving to some slower water and finding trout hanging across the stream under a downed tree I figured I would have some luck. Switched back to a 3g Smith Drop spoon and no takers not even a glance, same when I tossed on a 2.2g Daiwa Adams. Flipping open my case I looked at my 1.2g Daiwa Lupins and was curious if I could get across the stream with something so light. Surprisingly I cast right across the 40 foot wide run and into the bank on the other side. Oops. A few casts to the trees and no takers so back to the spoon case I went.

Plucked out a 0.8g Daiwa Presso Vega in Nightmare and was amazed at how well this rod loaded up and easily cast it across the stream. A few casts and a missed trout later I hooked into a small Redhorse sucker. Guess I shouldn’t have been surprised as this rod is rated for 1-7g lures but being such a huge range I figured there would have been some sacrifices.

This PE is super amazing and strong. I was able to retrieve from several hangups that should have cost me my spoon. Working back up stream and up to the top most pool had a few more misses on 2.2 and 3g spoons so upped my game back to the 4g Crusader and hit a small Brown that was twice the size of the Crusader. The next cast was this great Rainbow in the picture. He put up a hell of a fight in the deep pool.

Calling it a day to head back it was a great long weekend with 3 days and over 9 hours of wading streams in gorgeous 40+ degree days. I only wish I had played with the smaller spoons sooner.