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May 26, 2024 6:09 am
Finally got out on the water on Saturday with my wife and older daughter. I was expecting to spend most of my time untangling and unsnagging, which turned out to be true, but I also managed to make a few casts. If anything, it forced me to be more disciplined and organized than I normally would. “Only” 3 combos and 3 baits on the deck:
- EG Black Raven RS, TD-Ito w/ BE spool w/ 15# Tatsu, throwing 3/8 oz Hunts jig w/ 3” do-live craw trailer
- X7 Super Elseil, Steez SV limited 6.3 w/ 10# Tatsu, throwing Woodream balsa flat side crank
- Steez “the one” spinning rod, Exist 22 w/ 8# mono, throwing 3” spark shad with 1/8 oz okashira screwhead
Beautiful sunny day, mid 70s, water temp was high 60s to mid 70s. Net new we “fished” for about 2.5 hours, boated 5 fish, all of different species (crappie, yellow perch, sunfish, smallie, largie), and lost 2 fish.
The highlight of the outing was my 6-yo daughter asking me if we were going back out fishing “tomorrow”, lol. Don’t I wish…
My most memorable catch was on the Hunts jig, pitching at an isolated rock. The “tick” and jump of the line when a largie inhales the jig never gets old… Wow!
The EG Raven RS is such a fun little rod. Super agile and slick. I wasn’t blown away by the sensitivity but I need to spend more time with it. I also wasn’t blown away by the Steez spinning rod. i also need to spend more time with it. Wow on everything else. That Exist 22 is something else, as it should be. The X7 Elseil always impresses me.
I need more time with both the Steez spinning and the Raven. I think I spent too much time reading reviews and my expectations were blown way out of proportion… but the Raven will definitely make it out next time and I’ll do a side-by-side with the Oltre and the NRX. What a fun rod!
The EG rods take me back to the golden years of Megabass… They have a mystique, are expensive, hard to get and you don’t really know what you have in your hands until you try it out on the water.
Was super fun and looking forward to the next trip!
May 27, 2024 9:51 pm
Brother!!!…..what an amazing outing. Absolutely priceless…got your your oldest hooked. Great reason to get out in the water more often.
Love the breakdown on the tackle as well and I couldn’t agree more…reviews are something I try not to pay much attention to, unless it’s coming from a fellow enthusiast. I feel (and this is just my opinion) people, more often than not, tend to try and convince themselves that the 6-800.00 they just spent on a rod makes it amazing. It’s tough to be honest with yourself when you “want” it to be great and you just spent a big chunk on whatever piece of gear it may be. When it it doesn’t perform the way you hoped it would, it can be disappointing to say the least, but if I’m in this situation, I will often spend more time with it, and find its sweet spot. After that, I will compare it to other rods/reels/baits in the same class within my lineup and decide if it outperforms any of the others. If it does…it may be time to rotate that unlucky contestant out of the stable.
I will say this… As much as I love the newer Evergreen offerings on certain levels, the T 1100 blanks have left me appreciating the older Kaleido models even more. The T1100 blanks don’t quite have the rebound/power/crispness that the TKICs do in my opinion. That’s not to say that I don’t very much enjoy the black Raven RS, or the rapid gunner, or the grand cobra RS…I just reach for the older, comparable offerings a bit more.
That said, I’ve had a lot of fun, throwing a lighter Gika rig on the black Raven RS. don’t give up on it…hopefully it stays in active rotation.
The Steez spinning rod on the other hand… I can understand as I have not been as impressed as I hoped to be with the 73h Real Control for bottom contact. It’s left me feeling a little bit underwhelmed, But on paper really made my nuts tingle… They can’t all be amazing, though.
dragon1 reacted
May 30, 2024 1:41 am
Absolutely agree and we both know there are lots of other things that can/will noticeably affect performance. Please do that comparison as soon as you can and let us know your thoughts. Definitely need more “data“ like this….🤙🏼🫡
saoulons reacted
