08-30-2009, 10:25 PM
Couldn't get off work to go to the big Floatilla at Lincoln Beach, but still needed my kitty fix; so I met up with my uncle at the Knolls to catch some cats.
We both launched at about 6:30, me in my tube and him in his toon. It wasn't long and I reeling in a hard fighting 23" cat. Looked over and my uncle was fighting one of his own at the same time. Took a picture of mine and released it. My uncle's snapped his line just as he was getting it to his toon. Moments later I was reeling in a 22 incher on one rod and watching line go out on my second rod. Landed the first one, but missed the second one. At this point I was excited, it looked like it was going to be a fast and furious morning. But even though I continued to get pop-and-drops all morning, I only landed one more cookie cutter and a white bass before calling it quits at 11:30. Only a couple times did the fish really take my line and run with it, the rest of the time I had to try and finesse them. I can't remember a trip where I have had such a hard time hooking anything.
My uncle ended up going home fishless. His line snapped on the first fish and he blamed it on his knots. He got re-rigged, starting fighting a second fish, got it to his toon and his line snapped again. At this point I realized he couldn't be that bad at tying knots, and I knew he had re-spooled the night before, so it probably wasn't the line. My uncle has newer rods, but his favorite (for sentimental and superstitious reasons) is an old fiberglass rod he got as a kid. My theory for the line breaks... bad guides.
Sure enough, once we got back to the truck, I looked at his guides and they all had grooves cut into them. The tip-top was the worst, and when you ran your finger around the inside of it, it felt like a steak knife.
He said he never noticed how bad they were and never would have thought to check them. I guessing that with most of the planter rainbows and non-fighting strawberry cuts he catches, the serrated tip-top wasn't much of a factor, but the hard fighting cats were too much.
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We both launched at about 6:30, me in my tube and him in his toon. It wasn't long and I reeling in a hard fighting 23" cat. Looked over and my uncle was fighting one of his own at the same time. Took a picture of mine and released it. My uncle's snapped his line just as he was getting it to his toon. Moments later I was reeling in a 22 incher on one rod and watching line go out on my second rod. Landed the first one, but missed the second one. At this point I was excited, it looked like it was going to be a fast and furious morning. But even though I continued to get pop-and-drops all morning, I only landed one more cookie cutter and a white bass before calling it quits at 11:30. Only a couple times did the fish really take my line and run with it, the rest of the time I had to try and finesse them. I can't remember a trip where I have had such a hard time hooking anything.
My uncle ended up going home fishless. His line snapped on the first fish and he blamed it on his knots. He got re-rigged, starting fighting a second fish, got it to his toon and his line snapped again. At this point I realized he couldn't be that bad at tying knots, and I knew he had re-spooled the night before, so it probably wasn't the line. My uncle has newer rods, but his favorite (for sentimental and superstitious reasons) is an old fiberglass rod he got as a kid. My theory for the line breaks... bad guides.
Sure enough, once we got back to the truck, I looked at his guides and they all had grooves cut into them. The tip-top was the worst, and when you ran your finger around the inside of it, it felt like a steak knife.
He said he never noticed how bad they were and never would have thought to check them. I guessing that with most of the planter rainbows and non-fighting strawberry cuts he catches, the serrated tip-top wasn't much of a factor, but the hard fighting cats were too much.
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