Drift Fishing
- Thread starter Rob Allen
- Start date
Rob Allen
Life of the Party
I tried slinkies a bit but I found the paracord dulled the tick tick tick of the lead to much for me.. now that I think about it. I really enjoy that tick tick tick. Like I am exploring the bottom, learning about it, building a mental picture of it
Paige
Wishing I was fishing the Sauk
I never cared for the Para chord either, or the hassle of making them.
I did the hollow core to tag at times but did surgical tubing most of the time.
I use heat shrink tubing. It works incredibly well.
Growing up I poured countless pencil sinkers in my grandfathers shop. Lead exposure? A hole punch and a short leader was it. I moved on to surgical tubing when I was able to buy it. For summer time in low clear water I learned to use blood knots and hollow core lead. You loose lead but fewer hooks.
I started out drift fishing as well, caught a few fish running a spinning reel and braid before I eventually moved to the level wind. Once I got things dialed in my favorite setup was a 9'+ 8-12 lb rod with a Shimano Curado and 30 lb braid. I'd then run about 10 feet of 12-15 UG off the end of the braid via a double uni knot to give the terminal gear a bit of stretch. Leader was 24" or so of 10lb UG.
I tried a variety of terminal set ups including pencil lead and slinkies. Found pretty quickly that I much preferred slinkies and I liked them to be fixed, not sliding. I started running the slinky as a fixed inline setup with locking swivels off each end. I never liked the mess of bait and usually used a corky and some yarn pulled through a piece of tubing that made a little lure looking thing (learned from a buddy).
By the time I got good at it I caught the fly fishing bug and never really went back to gear fishing. But if I really wanted to catch a fish these days, that's the setup I'd use. It was way more effective than fly fishing!
The grab on a swung fly beats any grab I've had on gear by a mile though...
I tried a variety of terminal set ups including pencil lead and slinkies. Found pretty quickly that I much preferred slinkies and I liked them to be fixed, not sliding. I started running the slinky as a fixed inline setup with locking swivels off each end. I never liked the mess of bait and usually used a corky and some yarn pulled through a piece of tubing that made a little lure looking thing (learned from a buddy).
By the time I got good at it I caught the fly fishing bug and never really went back to gear fishing. But if I really wanted to catch a fish these days, that's the setup I'd use. It was way more effective than fly fishing!
The grab on a swung fly beats any grab I've had on gear by a mile though...
That G-1306-T was my 1st serious drift fishing stick, it's retired now & hangs graciously over the door of my man-cave.
c/22
You’d be surp
You’d be surprised what a Loomis IM6 1141S and 1141C can do when drift fishing, lol.
SF
You’d be surprised what a Loomis IM6 1141S and 1141C can do when drift fishing, lol.
SF
Had a GL3 1141S for a hot minute. Be the last stick I'd want to drift fish with.
Ok
SF
Stoner, if your of a mind too then relate a tale of drift fishing with your IM6 1141.
I'm pretty down on my GL3 as to me it was a wet noodle waste of graphite. For side drifting out of a sled I guess would be ok, but it would take a hot 10 lb fish to know anything was on it.
I sent mine back to that shop in OR and had them send me the IMX 1082s. My goodness whole different story there
It might not be the right tool for every application, but if you like using light weight it can be a lot of fun.
Please excuse the net and fish out of water, old photo. Three fish in five casts using drift fishing with the 1141 in fairly low water.
I never felt under gunned with either the S or C.
I enjoyed the S more, by a far margin.
Having used GL3 fly rods, I think yours would have done the same in similar situations.
SF
Impressive light line fish!
I understand the basic theory of the Gary Loomis 1141 design, especially the ability to tire fish quickly with that soft buggy whip parabolic action & its role in protecting a light leader. My 1990 era GL3 for me just didn't have the action I was looking for, I questioned the sensitivity to feel a light bite on it, or even to consistently feel the tap of my hollow core. Perhaps I would have liked the IMX version better.
You enjoyed fishing the spinning version more over the baitcaster? Care to elaborate?
I understand the basic theory of the Gary Loomis 1141 design, especially the ability to tire fish quickly with that soft buggy whip parabolic action & its role in protecting a light leader. My 1990 era GL3 for me just didn't have the action I was looking for, I questioned the sensitivity to feel a light bite on it, or even to consistently feel the tap of my hollow core. Perhaps I would have liked the IMX version better.
You enjoyed fishing the spinning version more over the baitcaster? Care to elaborate?
Just much easier to cast light weight with a spinning reel then the bait caster in my opinion.
Might be different with the newer generation of bait casters.
SF
Rob Allen
Life of the Party
Soft tips aren't sensitive.. or course neither are heavy tips. The tip of a drift rod is everything.
It needs to be lightish but it also needs to have fast recovery. Light and stiff, exactly the kind of tip that likes to break. The rest of the rod should be stiff enough to move line on the Hook set but with some give for casting.
The best drift rod I ever used was from a very small company owned by one of my Co workers ar Burkheimer and was designed with Kerry's Help. My brother in law stole it and likely pawned it for drug money.
It needs to be lightish but it also needs to have fast recovery. Light and stiff, exactly the kind of tip that likes to break. The rest of the rod should be stiff enough to move line on the Hook set but with some give for casting.
The best drift rod I ever used was from a very small company owned by one of my Co workers ar Burkheimer and was designed with Kerry's Help. My brother in law stole it and likely pawned it for drug money.
Those were my home waters. I grew up a few blocks from the Puyallup fishing the Tidewater off North Levee Road during the 70s and 80s. So did my Dad starting in the 50s.
When it came to weights on drift set ups we originally used surgical tubing with solid core lead. Then when we discovered the Leadmaster plier we switched to hollow core lead and left the tag ends long on the swivel and would attach the lead there. The amount of drift gear we lost went way down.
Rob Allen
Life of the Party
Have you tried shot in shrink tube? Best of both worlds.
