Blooding the Stradic

[ryanyoung]

G'day All,

I decided to spoil myself the other day, with the purchase of a new Shimano Stradic C14 1000, and naturally was itching to give it a decent christening. So, after pairing it up with my 1-3kg Pleugher and spooled with Powerpro 5lb, I headed down to the local haunt where I was to meet up with Fergie for an afternoon/evening session chasing...yep....you guessed it.....bass!!!

(My addiction within fishing....the mighty surface lure lol)

After an early mark from work, I arrived about half an hour before Fergie and began flicking an SX48 around, and then changing out to another lure, and another, and another....The bass were just not interested, with not even a bump to keep me on edge. With the arrival of Fergie, I finally got some interest, and soon landed a small bass of about 20cm as he began to unpack. Once Fergie was set, we began giving the area a good going-over, and before ten minutes had passed, I managed to hook a decent bass, which subsequently wrapped me around a snag and twang.....SX48 gone .

The melancholy didn't last too long however, as before five more minutes passed, we had a double hookup :woohoo: !!! The bass were a definite upgrade on my first one, these went around high thirties. After two successful releases, we again started flicking into the snags, and once again, a double hookup :woohoo: :woohoo: !!!! At this stage we were pretty pumped and laughing at the probability of getting two double hookups consecutively at this particular spot, it was pretty cool.

After that, things died down a bit, with only one more fish being caught before dusk arrived. With the humidity and the time of day, I expected to see a fair few bust-ups on the surface, however they were infrequent to say the least. Still, I decided to tie on a 55mm? R2S Bubblepop and started giving the surface a work over. Fergie also went for a surface lure. The very first cast, I had bass show interest four times, however these were sluggish, half-hearted efforts, with the fish being pretty non-committal about the whole scene. With the tail-end of last light hitting us, I cast my popper deep into the snags on the opposite bank, thinking to myself that if I hooked up in there, I was going to be down a lure, so I gave it a few aggressive flicks until I was right on the front edge of the timber, and began a subtle retrieve. Two nudges of the rod tip later, and the bubble-pop disappeared in a surge of water as it was hit hard . A decent fight later, and I had him up, coming in at 44cm.

Whilst this was happening Fergie kept up with some casts deep into the snags, and before long, his popper took a massive hit and drag started peeling. Fergie let out a cheer, as this was his first hook-up on an actual popper, and just as he was beginning to play the fish, it spat the popper . All was not lost however, as we switched back to vibes, Sebile Flatt Shads and R2S Tungsten vibes being the weapons of choice.

A quiet period once again visited as the evening wore on, and we both started receiving calls from home, wondering about our prolonged absence, so we reluctantly called it a night.....and then quickly visited another spot as a nightcap, where Fergie picked up another bass on the sebile.

All in all, a great night of fishing, with thirteen or so bass caught between the two of us. The largest went 47cm or so (yes....I still haven't caught my 50cm+ model lol), with the majority of them being low to mid forties.

Thanks a lot for the company Fergie, had a ball, and got to blood the stradic on some good, hard fighting fish.

Cheers, and thanks for reading.

Ryan.

[Dinodadog]

Well done I see a couple of cleanskins there, bad luck about the 50+

Dino

[ryanyoung]

Well done I see a couple of cleanskins there, bad luck about the 50+

Dino

Hi Dino, yep, most of the fish we got were a lot healthier than I have typically seen from that spot. The ones that did show damage/illness, looked to be on the improve also.

I am sure the 50cm+ is only a session away.....although I seem to say that a lot ha ha ha!!!

[Scope]

Great effort there Ryan! Those little ci4's are great. Just tested mine out on the weekend too!

Some nice bass in there too. Cheers - Jono

[eg_vtec]

nice solid bass. well done on blooding the new stradic. nice reportt

[Perky]

Great report Ryan, and good to see some Bass on the chew.

How did you like the 1000 size for chasing Bass? I currently use 2000 and 2500 reels but i have been thinking of going a little smaller.

[adambris]

i feel your pain ryan, i am at 48cm and after years of trying still cant crack 50.

AAARRGGGHH!

[Surfingant]

Great session guys well done, how do you find the little CI4? I've been thinking of getting one for my little 1-2 kg rod.

[Luc53]

Great session.

You'll crack the 50 then you'll be heading for 55 then 60.

Luc

[ryanyoung]

Great report Ryan, and good to see some Bass on the chew.

How did you like the 1000 size for chasing Bass? I currently use 2000 and 2500 reels but i have been thinking of going a little smaller.

Hey Perky, I have found the 1000 perfect for bass, I prefer lighter gear all-round in order to flick those lighter lures further. I have used 2500 before for bass, and found it pretty good, however at that stage, I had never used a 1000. Now I don't think I will ever go back to a larger size for bass. The smaller reel handles the fish very well, and the drag is awesome.