Sunday, July 28, 2013

Still tough

I went fishing again early in the morning today, but it was still very tough.
I could catch a small bass with a Pico Pop, and that's all.

This time, I took two cameras with me on my floating tube, one for movie and one for photo. By luck, the camera was working when I caught the fish. I could take a short movie of my fishing from the blowup of the water surface to landing. The fight was not so hard, but I hope you enjoy it.




After getting back, I ran about 37.5km on sloping roads. On the way, there is a famous reservoir and I found a greenish bloom on the water surface (presumably a bloom of blue-green alga). Less fishers than usual enjoyed fishing there. 

I drank a total of more than 2.5L water while I ran, but I got dehydrated. I lost 2kg of my body weight after I ran, and I was almost in a stupor. The exercise was not good, and I should have taken much water and salt. 

Today's tackle: ABU 5500CA, Daiko Prestige PBC-56L, Stren 14lb (Lo-Vis Green), Pico Pop, Pico Slasher, Zara Spook, Wounded Spook, Chugger Spook, etc.

BF=8/18

Friday, July 26, 2013

Tough fishing

It's been very hot since the rainy season was over.

I took a day off today (after working 10 days in a row), and went fishing early in the morning. Maybe because of the hot temperature, the fishing was very tough. I visited four ponds, but could barely catch a bluegill in the first pond and a bass in the last one. I was thinking I took pictures of them, but I could not find them. Anyway, both were not so big.

I was exhausted, but now feel better after taking a nap at home. Then, I ran 10km under the blazing sun in the afternoon.  


Today's tackle: ABU 5000 De Luxe, Fenwick HMG GFC-60 J, Stren 14lb (Hi-Vis Gold), Pico Slasher, Zara Spook, Wounded Spook, Chugger Spook, Garcia Mouse, etc.  

Today, I used a 6-ft rod. I basically like longer rods, but I use shorter ones (5 or 5.5 ft long) when I fish from my floating tube. Six feet is longer than my full arm length and I felt hard time to pass the line through the guides on the tube.
BF=7/17

Monday, July 15, 2013

Three-day weekend

It is a holiday today (Marine Day), so we have a three-day weekend. I went fishing just early in the morning for about a couple of hours. Fish were so slow, maybe because of recent too hot weather, but I could catch some fish (all were small) and enjoyed the morning air.

Almost half of this pond is covered with floating weeds, and others are not. I used prop-baits when I cast to open spots, and weedless lures on the weeds. Bass were prowling around the weeds and not around the shore, and I caught all the bass with prop baits (Pico Slasher, Wounded Spook, and Nip-I-Deddee). I also got many bites on my mouse baits (Garcia Mouse and Moss Mouse), but it seemed the bass were too small to swallow them.

One thing I didn't like today was the line. I chose a Daiwa's red line (Astron ISO #4), because I thought it was a match for my reel (ABU 5000). The line is so-so when the water temperature is low, but it gets extremely soft and easy to be crumpled under high temperature condition. It made me frustrated when I used prop baits, because the line was often tangled with the front prop of my baits. All in all, Stren is my favorite.
 
    

Today's tackle: ABU 5000 (palming), Fenwick Boron-X (custom rod, w/ Fuji wood handle), Daiwa Astron #4 (red), Pico Slasher, Wounded Spook, Nip-I-Deddee, Garcia Mouse, Moss Mouse, Bass Frog, etc. 
  BF=6/16

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Work out

In June, I ran (only) 13 times. Not different from a training method for full-marathon, I've been trying to run not so often, but much longer distance each time. I ran a full marathon distance once, 35-40km three time, 20-30km  three times, and 10-20km six times. I was basically trying to rack up the distance, not paying much attention to the pace (sometimes I did walk). I also tried to season myself to the hot temperature before a blazing summer came). The monthly total distance was 293km, not so bad in the rainy season.

In this month, I have to get more stamina and build up my leg strength. I ran 20km pace-running twice (a total of 40km) in a single day last week. I also tried a 36km pace-running yesterday. So far, so good. From now on, my set schedule will include a 50km pace-running, 7-hour running, and so on. I don't know what future will bring, but I want to try as hard as possible.

Mental strength is also very important to overcome the hot summer, so I'm now looking for good items to cool down my brain. I'm wondering how good this one is??

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Pico Slasher

It's been very windy this weekend.
I'm not so good at using prop lures, but I do know such baits often work out fine under rough conditions, so I scouted for good lures in my tackle boxes yesterday.

I had never paid much attention to this lure, Pico Slasher, but I decided to try it. The props of this bait are such unremarkable ones that I tuned them by turning back the sides and bending the ends. This way, they wheel very smoothly and make much more noise.

It was still very windy this morning, but I visited two ponds. On windy sides, I kept casting the Pico Slasher instead of other prop lures. In the first pond only the fish I caught was a very small bluegill. I got no responses from bass at all there.


In the second pond, the water surface was getting choppier, and I tied the Pico Slasher again. There I could get several bites and caught a couple of small bass. Once, a good fish rushed at my Pico Slasher when I slowly retrieved it. I set a hook and enjoyed the fight, but it went away before I caught it. I drooped my shoulders in disappointment.

Anyway, it was a good luck for me to rediscover the ability of this bait. 'Slasher' is a hideous name, but I went nuts over it. If you look for a prop bait bigger than Dying Flutter but slimmer than Wounded Spook, check it out.    


 
Today's tackle: ABU 5000 CDL (86, high-speed), BB-Boron TB-56ML, Stren 14lb (clear blue), Pico Slasher, Pico Pop, Heddon Zara Spook, Big Bud, Big Hedd, etc. 
  BF=5/15

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Another special order

A good news. Another special-ordered Pico Pop will soon be for sale in Retrom Shop. The design was proposed by Mr. Dab, and the logo on the back says 'Dab X MAEYAMA CUSTOM'. Of course, 'PICO POP' is also printed on the belly. A good collaborative work with them. Don't miss it, if you're interested in it.


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