Pleasantly Skunked Tonight

GOMH SW & Sullivan Platte River Outlet

I watched The Classic down at Lake Conroe all day.  It stayed cloudy with a North wind.  It got up to about 41℉.  I was kind of bored by the weigh in so I headed to the GOMH.  There is still some ice in the SPRO and open water hasn't progressed much toward the small island in Platte.  There was more open water to the North in Channel Inn Bay.

I wasn't really expecting to catch anything in 30 degree water, but you never know.

I  fished for about 5 minutes in the wind on the NE side, then I switched to the SW where it was actually kind of pleasant.  I got better acquainted with the Daiwa SS SV and the 6'10"Med Tatula and I tuned the Vision 110 Knock Offs I put hooks on.  Maybe they will catch me some fish some day.  I like the colors, but the quality of the lure blank isn't the greatest.  I didn't realize I had to put hooks on them, so I overpaid a little bit.  Oh Well.

I ended up fishing for about an hour.  Not a hint of a fish.  It was just nice to be out.  

Reel Introduction #Fail

Daiwa SS SV Reel on Daiwa Tatula 6'10"M Rod

So my scratch and dent Daiwa SS SV that I got for a steal on eBay arrived from Japan today.  I knew it was coming today thanks to tracking, so I stayed up for it instead of going to bed.  I spooled it up with a full 125yrd spool of Fireline and headed to GOMH to test my new to me combo out.  That was a mistake.  I should have watched the SV Concept Demonstration Manuel on YouTube first.  I only discovered there was such a video after coming home in defeat.  I had seen several videos about Daiwa SV reels but hadn't seen that one.  The video's I had seen led me to the mistaken belief that the SV spool was practically backlash proof;  Had I watched the video first I would have discovered that was not the case.  I also learned I overfilled the reel from the video.

So I get to the GOMH and the wind is blowing like a son of a gun out of the SE.  No problem, I would just go to the NE side.  So instead of going right to trying to skip a Fluke, I go to see what the reels got as far as casting distance from up on the concrete.  After a couple of solid casts with the breaks set at 4 or 5.  I backed them down to 2 or 3 and was really impressed with how far I was throwing the Fluke.  A distance that I'm pretty sure I've never matched with a Fluke on a TD-Z and 6'8"M Avid.  To be fair I don't think I've ever tested that combo for distance and certainly not with such a strong wind at my back.  I never thumbed the spool as there was no need to do it.

Then I went down on the rocks to try skipping the Fluke.  I didn't readjust the brakes.  I was so excited the see what the reel could do I didn't pay attention to my casting mechanics.  I threw the Fluke with a lousy trajectory and backlashed the reel something awful.  So awful in fact that after 25 minutes and little progress or hope for getting it out I started cutting it out.  I was frustrated and ended up screwing that up resulting in losing all but maybe 40 yards of line.

With all the line taken off the reel wasn't casting nearly as far.  I was able to get it to skip the Fluke ok with only a minor overrun with breaks set at 5.  I did try casting into the wind with an X-Rap for a little bit.  I also had the TD-Z Avid 6'8" combo along for comparison.  I was having a hard time adjusting to the differences between throwing with the Avid/Z combo with which I am confident with and the Tatula/SV combo which I was not confident with.  I was getting chilled in that wind so I gave up my testing.

  At Tackle Tour I got some advice.  I am going to try putting some 15lb J-Braid 8 on the reel next and I definitely won't fill it so fully.

Skipping With A Baitcasting Reel

I think next year I am going to make a concerted effort to master skipping with a baitcaster.  I have gotten better at it over the past couple of years, but there is definitely room for improvement I need to make.