The post Cold windy day on St. Clair = 100+ fish day appeared first on Out In Michigan.
]]>Yesterday I headed out on the pond aka Lake St. Clair for a little panfish action. The game plan was to head out on the main lake and go after some perch with plastics. When I woke up in the morning the wind had already started whipping out on the lake.
So it was time to change up things and search out some calmer waters. I went up into the extreme shallows looking for gills, but the wind soon made it impossible to see the pockets in the weeds. I was able to catch a few nice gills with the largest being 9 inches.
I then made a move to an area that I have had some good luck at. I tied on a drop-shot rig and plastics. When I got into my area I find out I am not alone here.There was up to 12 boats with in sight distance of me working the area. One of the docks I have been fishing was open so I made a be line for it.
After setting anchor I went to working the dock complex in front of me…..I soon had none stop action.I was pitching the drop-shot rig to the and past the dock pillions and worked it back to the boat. The fish really hammered the offering of a Candy Plastics Munchies from Micro Spoons and Jigs in Glow rigged on a VMC Spinshot in size 8.I was fishing the rig on a St. Croix Panfish series rod model PFS70LXF which is a great rod for dropshotting panfish.
If you would like some more info on Drop-Shotting panfish check out my blog on this topic here.
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]]>The post Whip’R Panfish Rod appeared first on Out In Michigan.
]]>I have been on the hunt for several years for a true dropshot rod for fishing gills and yellow perch on the inland lakes here in Michigan. No matter what brand of rods I had looked at I just couldn’t seem to find what I was looking for. I was trying to find a rod that matched up to a bass dropshot. The rod had to have lots of backbone and taper quickly into the tip section.
For years I just couldn’t find what I wanted, I even entertained custom rods but could never find a blank to match what I was looking for. Fast forward to about a month ago; I was looking at ice fishing products doing some research for some up coming articles. I was on K and E’s websites looking at jigs when something caught my eye. It was a new ice rod combo they were offering. That combo promoted me to look at their other rods not just the hardwater products.
That is when I saw an image of a fishing rod that had the bend I was looking for with the words “Ultimate Panfish Gear” on it. I started thinking to myself have I found the rod I was looking for?I was quickly on the phone with Jim over K and E asking him about the rod. It wasn’t long until I had a rod in the mail to me so I could do a product review on the rod.
I was excited to see this rod come to my doorstep a few days later. I quickly rigged it up and headed on down to some docks on Lake Erie where I knew there was good numbers of gills and pumpkinseeds. I rigged the rod up with a simple dropshot rig with a waxworm on the hook and started working it like you would a dropshot Goby for bass. It didn’t take long for me to see that this rod had the action and taper I was looking for. So then it was time to change up the rigging a bit after catching some nice 7 inch gills. I set it up with a Thill Shy bite and started casting to structure. I wanted to check out and see how it handled fishing the way most pan-fishermen would use the rod. It preformed pretty well for a rod in this price point. I fished with this rod on and off on Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair and un-nameable inland lake over the next month. I was fairly happy with the rod.
The rod is made of a composite construction, the top 1/3rd is made out of fiberglass which then leads into the back 2/3rd which is made of graphite. The rod has a split rear grip which lowers the overall weight of the rod and it shows off it blank through construction. The reel seat was kinda oversized for a panfish rod, but it held the reel tightly. I am not sure on the brand of guides this rod has but they have ceramic inserts which handled the braided line I was using well. The openwater series of these Whip’R Rods comes in 7 lengths from 4ft to 8ft long. I was fishing the 6ft 6 inch model. Many of the rods are 2pc construction.
Quality
The quality of this rod is what you would except for a rod in this price point. It is well made and should give the budget minded angler many years of fishing.
This was as reliable as one would except from a fishing rod it never broke the guides where straight the expoy on the threading that holds the guides on looks to be done well. The cork on the handle of the model I used had very little filler in it so that means the must have used a fairly high quality cork. The reels seat on my rod has no slop to it and held the reel tightly.
This rod retails for $29.99 to $38.99 which puts it in just about every fisherman’s price range. Currently in today rod market this is rod is fairly unique. So there really isn’t anything I could compare it to just yet.
I would recommended this rod to my fellow panfisherman that are on the hunt for a dropshot panfish rod. It is one that is worth a look by just about every panfish angler.
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