The other day I arrived at an extensive, weedy, lagoon intending to fish Texas rigged TRDs (about 5.5 g) from a kayak but ended up forgetting the TRDs. What do do? Luckily I keep multiple rods and reels in my vehicle.
Despite this being the wrong situation (too weedy), I decided to use an Aldebaran BFX XG with an Avail spool lined with 3# (.14 mm) Rikimaru high-vis mono on a Kuying Teton TTC-602UL 1-4 g rod. Started with a 1 g jighead and slim 2" .7 g paddletail soft plastic but it sank too quick for these shallow waters. Switched to a traditional Trout Magnet but at .9 g rigged, it wasn't fun to cast. The secret sauce was found by matching a .5 g jighead with a "baby shad" style soft plastic. Coming in at a total of 1.49 g. The extra 1/2 gram allowed it to cast just fine with my setup and the plump body of the baby shad stayed off the bottom with just a slow twitching retrieve. Basically it achieved what I would usually use a Trout Magnet for.
Most of my time was spent finding pumpkinseeds on beds and they were eager to bite. Picked up a few crappie, pickerel, rock bass and yellow perch as well. The most excitement came when a nice largemouth took the lure as it hit the water and immediately ran into the milfoil and ultimately under some wood. Was able to keep tension on him while maneuvering the kayak into a position from which I could get him out.
I'm impressed by the Rikimaru mono. It comes in clear, fluorescent yellow (my choice) and wine red, is available on Amazon and a 600 yard spool was only $6.99. Most importantly, at .14 mm light lures cast well on it. Not a single fish broke me off but 2 or 3 pickerel did bite me off.
So forgetting gear forced me to adapt and ultimately get more proficient at fishing the bottom end of the BFS spectrum. I call that a win.
BFS Trout Magnet Goal Achieved (almost)
Re: BFS Trout Magnet Goal Achieved (almost)
I'm going to use the same bait but with 1/16 trout magnets after work
- Hobie-Wan Kenobi
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Re: BFS Trout Magnet Goal Achieved (almost)
I love chasing panfish with small jigs on BFS gear. There is something so polarizing about the fact of using baitcasting gear to catch them
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Re: BFS Trout Magnet Goal Achieved (almost)
Despite having never fished baitcasters until getting in BFS, I far prefer handling a baitcaster to a spinning reel. Now if only I could fish ester line on BFS. Not!Hobie-Wan Kenobi wrote: ↑Fri May 21, 2021 5:50 pmI love chasing panfish with small jigs on BFS gear. There is something so polarizing about the fact of using baitcasting gear to catch them