Nice and easy

Well, it all appears to work.  I just have to keep things nice and easy.  I managed to connect with two LMBs within 30 minutes.  So not too shabby for very bright blue bird skies and low 90s with winds at 15+ mph. 

When the first one hit, it was clearly an ambush attack.  The bait had just bounced around a standing cattail reed and then stopped hard.  I thought the bait had connected with the reed and the hook might have embedded into it.  I gave the line a little twang to confirm that I had tensioned on the reed when the line moved out towards deeper water.  As I hauled back I could feel the lower drag setting peel out when loading on the fish.  The other thing I noticed was that while I was cranking on the handle the spool was not turning at all.  Ok at this lower level of drag there is limited aggressiveness available.  That is ok as I could clearly see this fish was hooked nicely in the corner of the mouth with the hook in the pocket.  So just take it easy and enjoy the moment.  It turned out to be a few moments as this one was not in a hurry to comply.  It was a healthy almost 13 inch LMB that had been eating well.  It did have a very nice location.  Interesting enough it was in less than 12 inches of water. 

The second LMB came about 30 yards down the shore.  Again with the lack of visible structure available to the fish, I resorted to placing the bait as close to the weed ring as possible for the maximum amount of time.  So keeping the retrieve parallel was the key.   There was no interest in the retrieve until the bait closed within 2 meters.  At just over a meter the bait was again stopped and moved out laterally to deeper water.   This was not a gentle take more like a smash and dash.   Once again the lower drag setting kicked in so while I could attempt to seat the hook the tension the fish was exerting was far greater than my input so just enjoy the ride.  This one made very concerted efforts to really work out the drag on my reel.  The several short runs pulled out quite a bit of line.  Sort of like the bone fish runs on the TV programs only limited in scope.   I would say equal in thrill and enjoyment factor.

Now here is the interesting part.  I thought the casting quality would improve by using the lighter line.  Not so much.  My max distance appears to have been reached.  The amount of casting effort is reduced greatly .   So while it is easier to cast using the lighter line, I'm not getting any noticeably farther.   I will say having the more supple line is nice.   Still had some minor spool over runs but that was reasonably corrected by adjusting the magnetic brake to a higher level.  Of course casting in the wind is always great fun...

So the first experience with the lighter line on the bait caster is positive.   We shall see how the next session goes.