I have had the same experience with Florocast and wont ever use it again.
Gene - Red》X《 - Asheboro
Gene - Red》X《 - Asheboro
Broken lines, broken rods, and broken hearts on Upchurch
Last week a friend of mine from school mentioned he wanted to get out fishing with me sometime. I talk about kayak fishing all the time and with an extra kayak in the garage it's an open invite to anyone that wants to come out and get on some fish. We settled on Thursday and everything looked like it was lining up for a great morning of fishing. We were getting out there around sunrise to catch the morning bite leading into a major activity period from about 8 to 11. Targeting bass and carp possibly some panfish if things really slowed down. In a few previous trips I had found the bass and gotten them to bite and the carp are predictable and very easy to catch. The bass are active early in the day and shut down once the sun gets up, then it's time to switch over to carp and pick them off around docks and in the shallows. When everything works out it makes for a great time catching.
I found out that morning it was my friends first time in a kayak and obviously his first time fishing from one. It's a blast taking first timers out for a totally new experience. We got on the water at little after 630 and headed straight to where I knew the bass were holding. Marked a few fish in the channel on the way out and the surface water was dead still. First fish we saw on topwater were carp biting in the strip of floating algae and vegetation over the channel. They would eat bread but couldn't get them to take a hook.
Finally moved into bass territory with the water level down significantly over the last couple weeks. Plenty of fish hitting topwater but not willing to hit a spinnerbait or a spro frog. A buzzbait probably would have done nicely. Finally with relatively clear water with a flat surface and bass in cover I switched over to the always reliable weightless trick worm. Letting it settle to the bottom with a couple sips of coffee then slowly retrieving it back and maintaining bottom contact. That did it and I put the first fish in the boat for the day. A 16" 2lbs largemouth that had a soft bite but put up a great fight.
He also gave away the pattern and I kept fishing that area. The wind started to pick up slightly and I stuck the kayak in some grass. Casting back through the grass I picked up up another soft tick on the line and set the hook into what felt like a snag until my snag started swimming left and taking drag. I started playing the fish and with hardly any effort the line snapped. I was fishing 10lbs braid main line with brand new 8lbs flouro leader tied on the night before. I had lost carp on this same spool of flouro before. I shook it off and tied on a fresh hook and worm. I worked another spot and felt another line tick and carry and set the hook into something with some size that immediately went into open water pulling drag. I got the fish to the surface where it came halfway out of the water with a massive head shake. It was easily the biggest bass I had ever seen, safe guess 6+lbs. My friend and I had some choice expletives which I kept repeating the entire time I played the fish. It went back down and I played it carefully knowing I had a real fish on the end of the line. Again with minimal effort the leader snapped and I just sat down and floated around for a minute. Still makes me a little sick to my stomach thinking about it. I cut off the leader and tied off to straight braid. We kept searching for bass with frogs in the thick mats and a little flipping and pitching but the bass bite had shut down.
So we headed over the old reliable carp spot. Ran into a couple other FAAN kayak anglers who had already hooked into a carp a piece. With our loaves of bread in hand we tossed a few chunks around the dock, tied on circle hooks, and baited them with bread balls. Soon enough the carp started slurping up floating bread and bread balls went in after them. They hit the falling bread balls like a freight train and it was on. I managed 4 good fish and my friend broke off 2, on 10 lbs braid, with a medium/fast spinning rod? He had his drag cranked down and was seriously overplaying the fish. Finally I tied on his last hook and loosened up his drag and he hooked into a solid carp that took off running drag. He leaned into it putting way to much bend in his rod and trying to man handle the fish snapped off his brand new Abu Garcia Vendetta below the second rod guide. The fish stayed on and we got it in the net at 19.5" and 3lbs.
And his first and only fish from a kayak. It was also a personal best for him in freshwater which took a little bit of the sting off losing a rod in the process.
Talking to some folks after it seems like that 8lbs Stren Flourocast is just a bad batch of line. It has broken off on every fish over 3lbs and I regularly fished 8lbs and 12lbs flouro main line all last summer. I'll be junking that spool and I've got a spool of 12lbs seagaur invisx I'll be using from now on.
I found out that morning it was my friends first time in a kayak and obviously his first time fishing from one. It's a blast taking first timers out for a totally new experience. We got on the water at little after 630 and headed straight to where I knew the bass were holding. Marked a few fish in the channel on the way out and the surface water was dead still. First fish we saw on topwater were carp biting in the strip of floating algae and vegetation over the channel. They would eat bread but couldn't get them to take a hook.
Finally moved into bass territory with the water level down significantly over the last couple weeks. Plenty of fish hitting topwater but not willing to hit a spinnerbait or a spro frog. A buzzbait probably would have done nicely. Finally with relatively clear water with a flat surface and bass in cover I switched over to the always reliable weightless trick worm. Letting it settle to the bottom with a couple sips of coffee then slowly retrieving it back and maintaining bottom contact. That did it and I put the first fish in the boat for the day. A 16" 2lbs largemouth that had a soft bite but put up a great fight.
He also gave away the pattern and I kept fishing that area. The wind started to pick up slightly and I stuck the kayak in some grass. Casting back through the grass I picked up up another soft tick on the line and set the hook into what felt like a snag until my snag started swimming left and taking drag. I started playing the fish and with hardly any effort the line snapped. I was fishing 10lbs braid main line with brand new 8lbs flouro leader tied on the night before. I had lost carp on this same spool of flouro before. I shook it off and tied on a fresh hook and worm. I worked another spot and felt another line tick and carry and set the hook into something with some size that immediately went into open water pulling drag. I got the fish to the surface where it came halfway out of the water with a massive head shake. It was easily the biggest bass I had ever seen, safe guess 6+lbs. My friend and I had some choice expletives which I kept repeating the entire time I played the fish. It went back down and I played it carefully knowing I had a real fish on the end of the line. Again with minimal effort the leader snapped and I just sat down and floated around for a minute. Still makes me a little sick to my stomach thinking about it. I cut off the leader and tied off to straight braid. We kept searching for bass with frogs in the thick mats and a little flipping and pitching but the bass bite had shut down.
So we headed over the old reliable carp spot. Ran into a couple other FAAN kayak anglers who had already hooked into a carp a piece. With our loaves of bread in hand we tossed a few chunks around the dock, tied on circle hooks, and baited them with bread balls. Soon enough the carp started slurping up floating bread and bread balls went in after them. They hit the falling bread balls like a freight train and it was on. I managed 4 good fish and my friend broke off 2, on 10 lbs braid, with a medium/fast spinning rod? He had his drag cranked down and was seriously overplaying the fish. Finally I tied on his last hook and loosened up his drag and he hooked into a solid carp that took off running drag. He leaned into it putting way to much bend in his rod and trying to man handle the fish snapped off his brand new Abu Garcia Vendetta below the second rod guide. The fish stayed on and we got it in the net at 19.5" and 3lbs.
And his first and only fish from a kayak. It was also a personal best for him in freshwater which took a little bit of the sting off losing a rod in the process.
Talking to some folks after it seems like that 8lbs Stren Flourocast is just a bad batch of line. It has broken off on every fish over 3lbs and I regularly fished 8lbs and 12lbs flouro main line all last summer. I'll be junking that spool and I've got a spool of 12lbs seagaur invisx I'll be using from now on.
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