Stan Fagerstrom
12-18-2001, 09:12 AM
A Quality Spinning Outfit Offers
Solution To Many Angling Problems
By Stan Fagerstrom
I’ve got a problem for you to ponder.
You’ve just been invited to take part in a fishing adventure that will take you into three different countries. You’re delighted at the chance to go, but there’s one problem that’s driving you nuts. You don’t even know for sure what kind of angling problems you’re going to encounter while you’re gone but you’ve been told you’ll be permitted to carry only one rod and reel combination.
What one outfit would you select?
I've had to make just about that that kind of determination many times over the past half century. I've never been stuck with packing just one outfit, but many times I’ve been limited to only a couple. I've reached my own decisions in this regard. I don't care where my travels take me, the outfit I pack first is a spinning rod and an open-faced spinning reel. I know chances are great this set up will get me by under a variety of conditions.
Having made that choice doesn't mean I think the spinning outfit is always going to be the best choice to solve every problem I encounter. You can't, of course, use a lightweight spinning outfit for many kinds of Alaskan salmon fishing. I'd much rather have a casting rod and a level wind reel for most kinds of bass fishing. The same goes for drift fishing for steelhead. Be that as it may, day in and day out no single outfit does the variety of jobs that can be handled by a good quality spinning rig.
I've had experienced fishermen, some who have traveled extensively, attempt to tell me the only outfit worth carrying on a fishing adventure to New Zealand is a fly rod. Baloney! I've had occasion to fish in that beautiful land almost daily for a month on two different occasions. On both trips I had opportunity to use my spinning outfit every bit as much as my fly rod if I chose to do so. You can, if you choose, do the same.
The thing that makes the lightweight spinning outfit such a wonderful tool is its versatility. Purchase extra spools for your spinning reel. Load one with four-pound line, another with six, a third with eight and a fourth with 10. Those four different line sizes let you cover a tremendous variety of fishing tasks.
You can slip the 4-pound test spool onto your spinning reel and throw tiny jigs in the 1/32nd-ounce class. Such tiny jigs, equipped with miniature curly tailed plastic worms, are among the most deadly of lures for panfish like crappie and bluegill. They also work well for some of the exotic species you find in other parts of the world.
Four-pound line also works just fine for lightweight trout fishing. You can troll with it. If you choose, you can use it to throw a floating bubble and a fly. I've had opportunity to spend a couple of days fishing with General Chuck Yeager, the famed test pilot. Here's another guy who has fished all over the place. One of his favorite angling adventures is hiking into the high Sierras for golden trout. He often catches them with flies. On a fly rod? No way! He uses a lightweight spinning outfit and one of those bubbles I mentioned.
Yeager told me he has done the same thing on some of the top trout waters of Montana as well as in New Zealand and other parts of the world. "I can get way out there where the fish are with my spinning outfit," he says. "Often conditions wouldn't permit me to do that with any other kind of outfit."
I've had the good fortune to make two fishing trips into the Amazon. Both times I wound up using my spinning outfit as much as anything I brought along. The piranha down there in that beautiful but treacherous jungle country grabbed the same lures I like to use hereabout for crappie and bluegill. My main problem was I often didn't get them in the boat because their razor-edged teeth sliced my monofilament like sharp scissors.
If you’re interested in specifics, the spinning rod I pack most often is a G.Loomis SJR700. This one-piece spinning rod weighs only 3.64 ounces. It is 5 feet, 10 inches and is rated for four to eight pound line. I use it in combination with a Shimano open-faced spinning reel.
Too light for most freshwater fishing, you say? Well, I've caught largemouth bass to 7- pounds on that wonderful little stick. Admittedly, the fish dictate what happens for awhile if you hook a good one in heavy cover on that lightweight rod and that’s exactly what happened with that 7-pounder. But I’m always surprised at the power that rod has packed into its slender length. As for the Shimano reel, in my book they’re tops.
I recall trips I made for sea run cutthroat on Washington State’s lower Cowlitz River. I went out with one of the most knowledgeable cutthroat anglers from that part of Southwest Washington. The technique we used was throwing small spinners up under the willows along the shoreline. The outfit I used on that occasion was an open-faced reel and that same G. Loomis SJR700.
I caught my share of cutthroat with it on the Cowlitz. I also had similar success on those New Zealand adventures as well as elsewhere. In New Zealand I used that rod with 4 or 6-pound line on my open-faced spinning reel. It was a perfect outfit for getting the distance required with the lightweight lures we used. The rod was also perfectly matched to the size of the fish involved.
I’ve used line heavier than 10-pounds on a spinning outfit, but I usually do so reluctantly. The lighter the line, the more enjoyment you'll get out of spinning tackle. If you do find yourself in a situation where you must use heavier line tests, by all means check out some of the small diameter braided lines now available. Some of them work quite well on an open-faced reel.
A note of caution is in order where these braided lines are concerned. Spool one of the new braids with a diameter of only 6-pounds or so on an open faced reel and the breaking strength might be as much as 20 pounds. A lightweight spinning rod isn’t rated for that kind of line strength. Try setting the hook as hard as you do with a lighter monofilament line and you risk rod breakage. Use common sense at hook setting time. If you don’t you may screw up the angling adventure of a lifetime through your own carelessness.
Few fishermen have spent more time with a level wind reel in their hands than I have. I've managed to make a living demonstrating and talking about them around the United States for a long, long time. And all that demonstration time is in addition to countless fishing trips. Nobody loves a level wind reel and a casting rod more than I do.
Even so, if I'm ever stuck with taking just the one outfit I mentioned in the beginning, I’ll pick my spinning outfit every time. If your angling adventures take you into the same parts of the world mine have taken me you’ll be wise to consider doing the same.
Solution To Many Angling Problems
By Stan Fagerstrom
I’ve got a problem for you to ponder.
You’ve just been invited to take part in a fishing adventure that will take you into three different countries. You’re delighted at the chance to go, but there’s one problem that’s driving you nuts. You don’t even know for sure what kind of angling problems you’re going to encounter while you’re gone but you’ve been told you’ll be permitted to carry only one rod and reel combination.
What one outfit would you select?
I've had to make just about that that kind of determination many times over the past half century. I've never been stuck with packing just one outfit, but many times I’ve been limited to only a couple. I've reached my own decisions in this regard. I don't care where my travels take me, the outfit I pack first is a spinning rod and an open-faced spinning reel. I know chances are great this set up will get me by under a variety of conditions.
Having made that choice doesn't mean I think the spinning outfit is always going to be the best choice to solve every problem I encounter. You can't, of course, use a lightweight spinning outfit for many kinds of Alaskan salmon fishing. I'd much rather have a casting rod and a level wind reel for most kinds of bass fishing. The same goes for drift fishing for steelhead. Be that as it may, day in and day out no single outfit does the variety of jobs that can be handled by a good quality spinning rig.
I've had experienced fishermen, some who have traveled extensively, attempt to tell me the only outfit worth carrying on a fishing adventure to New Zealand is a fly rod. Baloney! I've had occasion to fish in that beautiful land almost daily for a month on two different occasions. On both trips I had opportunity to use my spinning outfit every bit as much as my fly rod if I chose to do so. You can, if you choose, do the same.
The thing that makes the lightweight spinning outfit such a wonderful tool is its versatility. Purchase extra spools for your spinning reel. Load one with four-pound line, another with six, a third with eight and a fourth with 10. Those four different line sizes let you cover a tremendous variety of fishing tasks.
You can slip the 4-pound test spool onto your spinning reel and throw tiny jigs in the 1/32nd-ounce class. Such tiny jigs, equipped with miniature curly tailed plastic worms, are among the most deadly of lures for panfish like crappie and bluegill. They also work well for some of the exotic species you find in other parts of the world.
Four-pound line also works just fine for lightweight trout fishing. You can troll with it. If you choose, you can use it to throw a floating bubble and a fly. I've had opportunity to spend a couple of days fishing with General Chuck Yeager, the famed test pilot. Here's another guy who has fished all over the place. One of his favorite angling adventures is hiking into the high Sierras for golden trout. He often catches them with flies. On a fly rod? No way! He uses a lightweight spinning outfit and one of those bubbles I mentioned.
Yeager told me he has done the same thing on some of the top trout waters of Montana as well as in New Zealand and other parts of the world. "I can get way out there where the fish are with my spinning outfit," he says. "Often conditions wouldn't permit me to do that with any other kind of outfit."
I've had the good fortune to make two fishing trips into the Amazon. Both times I wound up using my spinning outfit as much as anything I brought along. The piranha down there in that beautiful but treacherous jungle country grabbed the same lures I like to use hereabout for crappie and bluegill. My main problem was I often didn't get them in the boat because their razor-edged teeth sliced my monofilament like sharp scissors.
If you’re interested in specifics, the spinning rod I pack most often is a G.Loomis SJR700. This one-piece spinning rod weighs only 3.64 ounces. It is 5 feet, 10 inches and is rated for four to eight pound line. I use it in combination with a Shimano open-faced spinning reel.
Too light for most freshwater fishing, you say? Well, I've caught largemouth bass to 7- pounds on that wonderful little stick. Admittedly, the fish dictate what happens for awhile if you hook a good one in heavy cover on that lightweight rod and that’s exactly what happened with that 7-pounder. But I’m always surprised at the power that rod has packed into its slender length. As for the Shimano reel, in my book they’re tops.
I recall trips I made for sea run cutthroat on Washington State’s lower Cowlitz River. I went out with one of the most knowledgeable cutthroat anglers from that part of Southwest Washington. The technique we used was throwing small spinners up under the willows along the shoreline. The outfit I used on that occasion was an open-faced reel and that same G. Loomis SJR700.
I caught my share of cutthroat with it on the Cowlitz. I also had similar success on those New Zealand adventures as well as elsewhere. In New Zealand I used that rod with 4 or 6-pound line on my open-faced spinning reel. It was a perfect outfit for getting the distance required with the lightweight lures we used. The rod was also perfectly matched to the size of the fish involved.
I’ve used line heavier than 10-pounds on a spinning outfit, but I usually do so reluctantly. The lighter the line, the more enjoyment you'll get out of spinning tackle. If you do find yourself in a situation where you must use heavier line tests, by all means check out some of the small diameter braided lines now available. Some of them work quite well on an open-faced reel.
A note of caution is in order where these braided lines are concerned. Spool one of the new braids with a diameter of only 6-pounds or so on an open faced reel and the breaking strength might be as much as 20 pounds. A lightweight spinning rod isn’t rated for that kind of line strength. Try setting the hook as hard as you do with a lighter monofilament line and you risk rod breakage. Use common sense at hook setting time. If you don’t you may screw up the angling adventure of a lifetime through your own carelessness.
Few fishermen have spent more time with a level wind reel in their hands than I have. I've managed to make a living demonstrating and talking about them around the United States for a long, long time. And all that demonstration time is in addition to countless fishing trips. Nobody loves a level wind reel and a casting rod more than I do.
Even so, if I'm ever stuck with taking just the one outfit I mentioned in the beginning, I’ll pick my spinning outfit every time. If your angling adventures take you into the same parts of the world mine have taken me you’ll be wise to consider doing the same.