Del Gue wrote:
Bulldog,
Gotcha. Interesting handle, looks like a baitcast handle. It's pretty. I like the blue knobs.
Got word both my rods have shipped. Waiting to see what condition the micro is in when it arrives...Bass Pro's shipping on their rods leaves a lot to be desired, not just on rods, but on ammunition, too.
Just got back from a little tougher
Arroyo dock fishing this fall than ever before. The bait migrations are late, and we never got to fish the traveling schoolies, only the resident nursery trout, which are spooky and a lot tougher to catch.
I broke in a couple of rods and reels this trip, including loaning out a couple of rigged rods on and off (change-up is everything fishing there, so we each keep 4 or so rods rigged, and staged in portable rod racks).
Out of all the UL and XUL tackle I brought, the single best feature in this tricky fishing for subtle retrieves and detecting strikes was double handles on spinning reels. (and yes, the long UL and XUL rods made all the difference in getting the lures out there)
The double handles were notably better than my more expensive counter-balanced Livre handles.
The best all-around rod for its ability to cast a wide weight range and handle big fish was also on the economy end, the Black Hole Dark Horse 8' Rockfish UL
Also, if you google the rod, my Korea ebay vendor Autter has stock again.
though the spendier and 3-inch-longer Yamaga TZ Nano would definitely out-cast it, and remarkably cast lighter single jigs (2 g) - of all the UL rods, not surprisingly, it was the distance-casting champ, and almost more than I needed.
There were a couple of fish I caught because of its longer cast that I wouldn't have reached with any other rod than the spendy Yamaga.
But the 8' Black Hole had just the right fishing feel, great cast distance, and really good backbone for handling those doubles.