Mixed Bag 5/19/12

[Lard Almighty]

My intentions were two-fold today: 1) I had a new rod I wanted to test out, a 6 foot, medium action Quantum. I bought it to replace a rod that failed me miserably on my last Delaware River float. In the video, it is the one I was using when I missed that big brown and started dropping F-bombs all over the place. 2) I just picked up some Gulp minnows. I have seen Wilson clean house with them, and wondered if they would work just as well for me. I set out at 3:30 for the afternoon bite.

First stop were some ponds in Farmingdale by the Manasquan River. To my surprise, I discovered that these ponds are being drained! The bottom pond was almost dry, and the other two ponds had the flood gates locked in the open position. Not sure who maintains those ponds, probably the county since it is adjacent to the Highway Department facility, but I will make sure that someone gets an email asking for an explanation. Those ponds are one of my favorite spots, I'd hate to see them dry up.

Anyway, fishing was very good at least. I caught three decent bass, about a half dozen pickerel to 20", and some really nice sunfish, a couple so big I could barely get a hand around them. All fish hit the Gulp minnows. I also got bit off by several pickerel, as I was using 6# Spiderwire braid. They bite through that like it's sewing thread.

On the way back home I decided to try the falls at Hockhockson Brook for some trout. I did get some hits and misses on the Gulp minnow, but figured it may be a bit big for the fish to get in their mouths for a good hook-up. So, I put on my trusty Mr. Twister jig, dunked it in the Gulp juice, and first cast yielded a feisty brook trout. I proceeded to catch three more before I ran out of daylight and headed home.

So what's the verdict?

1) I like the rod. Lots of backbone, but still soft enough to cast a weightless plastic or a 1/32 oz. jig a reasonable distance. In the future I don't think I'll pair it up with braided line, as there isn't quite enough play in the rod to compensate for the no-stretch line. I love how it made short work of the couple of 2 lb. bass I caught.

2) Not too fond of the Gulp minnows. I got a lot of hits, probably more than I would have gotten with anything else. However, the fish had a tendency to swallow the bait, and I had to release a couple bleeders. Not to mention how deep those bite-off pickerel must have had the bait in their mouths. For someone like me who is almost totally C&R, that is an unacceptable rate of deep hooks for a single day of fishing. I may try them again for trout, which I will keep if they are gut-hooked, but for the most part my experiment with Gulp minnows is over.

[AndyS]

Nice write up, I like it !!