Very windy and pretty chilly today. Casting was a challenge but fish were in a good mood. Brought a half dozen fish to hand (8" to 12 ") but still lost more than 50% within the first 10 seconds of hooking them. I tied size 20 patterns on a size 18 hook and caught a few but patterns on the actual size 20 hook attracted more fish more often.
I'm fishing with a 10' - 3wt Echo rod which is a bit top heavy. My arm starts to ache after 4 hours of swinging. I have lighter rods but none are as effective as this 10' rod. Maybe I need to add some weight to the bottom of the rod for better balance.
Do you mean heavier reel or simply larger arbor? I have a large arbor reel but the whole unit is lighter than the reel I now have on the Echo rod, which is smaller.
Sorry for the confusion. I have a smallish reel (cheap) that's relatively heavy, and a more expensive reel that has a large arbor but is lighter than the smallish reel. I'm thinking I have to add weight to balance out the rod.
I'm using a 3 weight line. The new Echo shadow II rods are true to the line weight designation. I started off with a five weight line and it completely overwhelmed the rod.
I looked into the "comp kit" or "fighting kit" and it seems like a good solution. it adds some weight below the reel. It's a $70.00 option...I'm thinking about it.
