my new bass rod

A month ago, I took possession of my new, custom-wrapped, 8' bass rod.
Stuck a little Newell S220-5 reel on it, and envisioned whacking the
calicos in the local kelp. Well, wouldn't you know it, just about that
time, the yellowtail bite turned on, and some yellowfin tuna were being
caught offshore about 30 miles out. The little bass rod got left home.

Last Sunday, the bite at the islands shut down, so the charter we took
out fished local waters instead of driving all the way down to Mexico.
Monday, I was ready. With a load of 16 whole anglers, we went local. I
tied on a custom Fish Trap. Woo, I can really hurl that thing with this
new rod! After four or five casts, I hooked up and brought in a
beautiful calico bass! The next fish I caught was a big sand bass, but I
let him go. Then, we got into a school of barracuda, and one of them bit
the end of the tail off. I figured I didn't want to feed the rest of my
plastics to the barrys, so I tied on a mackerel patterned Crocodile. I
never really fished with it, because I can't cast that lightweight chip
of metal with my heavier rods. Wow! I sent that thing flying! And then...
the bonito bite turned on! I put a few on the boat, filleted them and
cooked 'em up. FRESH bonito is quite good. We did see one school of
nicer yellowtail crashing on bait out there, and I happened to have the
croc out. Alas, the yellows ignored the crocodile. It would take forever
to land a big yellowtail on that little rod.
All in all, it was a great way to break in the new stick! I should have
taken a picture of the calico bass, but I ate him.

barbz