ghostrider408
Swing one for a mean one
Last night I was fishing a back cove for bluegill and crappie, as I am entered in a warm/cool water fish species tournament that is a solo affair, lasting a month, with the winner and subsequent second and third places being a race to catch as many individual warm/cool water species as possible out of 18 warm/cool water fish. Anyway, I had already caught my wiper (a 22-23 inch specimen) on my Sage X 890. Since I was fishing a quiet cove I opted for my Sage ZXL 690 for the job. After hooking and releasing a bluegill and a black crappie, night started to set in and the moon began to rise. I changed out to a size 2 muddy buddy streamer in black color (love black flies at night).
Hoping to get into some bass possibly, I heard and then saw a substantial pop/swirl on the surface about 60-70 feet out from the shoreline. I began to double haul a few casts 70-75 feet in that direction. On the fourth cast or so, I had retrieved half of my line (35 feet) or so, and a had a hard grab that sent a shockwave through my right arm! Within two seconds my running line at my feet was out of the guides and this fish was tearing line off the reel. I knew I had hooked a good fish (was certain it was a wiper from the way it hit and immediately took off into a violent run)! This wiper ran deep and my buddy took my headlight off my head and put the beam on the water where my line was submerged in an effort to help me track the fish and try to keep it out of the edge rock along the shore.
At this point the line went completely limp and I thought for about 3-5 seconds that it was off. But, I hand stripped as fast as I could and felt the weight of this brute again, as he was running back toward me on the shore! The wiper made another strong run and picked up the slack line and on the reel he was again! This is where it gets cool! I then put that ZXL's non-fighting butt onto the side of my hip and got a good 45 degree bend on the rod and put the wood to that fish, at which point the ZXL was bending into the cork! I kept the pressure on, reeled up and pumped that butt section into the fish to lift him out of the depth. A couple of minutes later we saw him come up out of the depths and my buddy netted my biggest wiper to date!! Twenty-seven (27 inches) and a weight estimate of 12-15 lbs. (didn't have a scale), only a quick measure on the tape and he was revived for a couple of minutes and a good tail kick later, he swam away to fight another day!
I normally fish for wiper with an 8 weight, but I have to say the ZXL handled the big streamer and beast wiper like a boss! A fighting butt would have been nice instead of burying the nickel silver reel seat butt into my hip, but it worked. So, my take is that the ZXL is one mean rod that has some balls in reserve to put the wood to big fish! Long post I know, but wanted to get it out there what the ZXL 6 wt. is capable of!! Rod is mated to an old school Ross Gunnison Pre-94 size 3 with SA Expert Distance WF6F line. BTW... my younger brother gave me this rod as a Father's Day gift a few years ago, so it has always had a special place in my quiver.
Tight lines guys!
Hoping to get into some bass possibly, I heard and then saw a substantial pop/swirl on the surface about 60-70 feet out from the shoreline. I began to double haul a few casts 70-75 feet in that direction. On the fourth cast or so, I had retrieved half of my line (35 feet) or so, and a had a hard grab that sent a shockwave through my right arm! Within two seconds my running line at my feet was out of the guides and this fish was tearing line off the reel. I knew I had hooked a good fish (was certain it was a wiper from the way it hit and immediately took off into a violent run)! This wiper ran deep and my buddy took my headlight off my head and put the beam on the water where my line was submerged in an effort to help me track the fish and try to keep it out of the edge rock along the shore.
At this point the line went completely limp and I thought for about 3-5 seconds that it was off. But, I hand stripped as fast as I could and felt the weight of this brute again, as he was running back toward me on the shore! The wiper made another strong run and picked up the slack line and on the reel he was again! This is where it gets cool! I then put that ZXL's non-fighting butt onto the side of my hip and got a good 45 degree bend on the rod and put the wood to that fish, at which point the ZXL was bending into the cork! I kept the pressure on, reeled up and pumped that butt section into the fish to lift him out of the depth. A couple of minutes later we saw him come up out of the depths and my buddy netted my biggest wiper to date!! Twenty-seven (27 inches) and a weight estimate of 12-15 lbs. (didn't have a scale), only a quick measure on the tape and he was revived for a couple of minutes and a good tail kick later, he swam away to fight another day!
I normally fish for wiper with an 8 weight, but I have to say the ZXL handled the big streamer and beast wiper like a boss! A fighting butt would have been nice instead of burying the nickel silver reel seat butt into my hip, but it worked. So, my take is that the ZXL is one mean rod that has some balls in reserve to put the wood to big fish! Long post I know, but wanted to get it out there what the ZXL 6 wt. is capable of!! Rod is mated to an old school Ross Gunnison Pre-94 size 3 with SA Expert Distance WF6F line. BTW... my younger brother gave me this rod as a Father's Day gift a few years ago, so it has always had a special place in my quiver.
Tight lines guys!
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