Well after what seems like an endless struggle with a bad cough and a bout of walking pneumonia, I was finally feeling well enough to get back out and try my hand a long rodding again.
I fished the high to outgoing tide up here in Carp from about 5:30 to 8:30.
If you remember from previous posts, I've been struggling with casting, tangles, breakoffs, and all that newbie stuff. Based on feedback from a lot of you guys I was suspecting the braid had a lot to do with it so right before I got sick I had removed a lot of it and, using what was left as backing, spooled the rest with 40lb mono. Well that, along with some casting technique pointers from Verne and Eric, seems to have made a big difference. I was finally able to start making decent casts and by the end of the session I think I was hitting about 60 yards or so.
That in itself was a big boost to my confidence!
First cast I threw a perch head and let it soak while throwing the LC. After about 30 minutes I see the long rod start bouncing so I grabbed it and waited for another hit then set the hook. Got him! I braced myself for a big fight and drag peeling runs like I've read about so often on here, but all I felt were little bouncing tugs as I reeled him in. Haha, oh well, still my first fish on the long rod so I'm pretty happy
Cute little thornback
Unfortunately, shortly after that the kelp started rolling through and I spent the rest of the evening hauling in pounds of kelp.
Probably should have gone home sooner but I just kept throwing bait out in hopes of another bite before it loaded up with weeds.
I must have hauled in over a hundred pounds of it. This is about half of what I pulled in.
Anyway, Thanks for all the info and advice! It's slowly coming together for me. One of these days I'll have a real shark to show for it!
