Broken Rod Tip Guide

I found something was wrong with my reel and rod. When I was retrieving lure, it made squiggling noise. At first, I thought that sand came into my reel. So, I cleaned my reel. But the noise continued. I also noticed that long portion of my mono line was badly scratched and even scraped. I thought that rocky bottom damaged the line.

Well, I was an idiot. All damage and noise were caused by a broken rod tip guide. The guide is made of ceramic and can be broken by careless retrieving.

I remembered that I lent the road and reel to a friend who was a fishing beginner while we were fishing together last weekend. He might damaged the tip guide.

Broken tip at a different angle. See the sharp edge.

I checked rod maker, St. Croix's website and found that they sell tip replacement kit at $5. Probably, this mishap happens often. For now, I decide to use braid line for the rod. I hope to fix it soon.

W Kayak

I visited Wavewalk to see and test paddle its W kayak in Sharon, MA, this weekend. When I first found W kayak while random web-surfing, I was totally amazed by its stability and fishing-friendly design. I could not put up with my curiosity. So, I contacted Wavewalk and set an appointment for visit.

When I arrived at the address of Wavewalk, I was first surprised by finding out that it was an one man company operated by CEO Yoav Rosen at his garage. Yoav originally invented and designed W kayak. Secondly, I was surprised by knowing that Yoav does not fish at all because I thought that W kayak was designed by kayak anglers for kayak anglers. Yoav told me that W kayak concept came from his original invention of water walking shoes. Very interesting.

Currently, W kayak is molded by a molding company in the Midwest, and Yoav does finishing touches on delivered intermediate products at his garage. He joked, "it is the most inefficient production line in the world." At his basement, there were many boxes of unfinished W kayaks.

My first impression of W kayak was that it was bulkier than I thought. But it was not that heavy when I lifted it. Thanks to its W design, it was easy for two men to carry. Yoav and I put a demo kayak on Yoav's SUV and headed to a lake nearby for test paddle. It was a nice day for paddling, sunny, not so windy... Yoav first presented me some techniques on the kayak. Then, I test paddled it. I will put more posts on W kayak later.

Zoom Swimbait

I found Zoom's new swimbaits at a local sporting goods store. I like Zoom's soft plastic lures; they are durable. I have been wondering why Zoom has never made swimbaits. They should have made swimbaits much earlier.



It is a slim long tail swimbait. It looks like Zoom put paddle on its fluke lure. But its body design is unique. I will discuss about it later when I have a field test. I am glad to find out that Zoom finally started producing swimbaits.

Catch & Release manual

When fish are hooked, chaos strikes, too. While fighting, I often forget proper actions for catch and release. Here, I summarized catch and release manual for myself.

Step 1. Determine whether keep the fish or not: I prefer selective harvest: not a giant, nor a dwarf. When I get action, I can determine.

Step 2. Fight quickly: For this, I need to adjust my drag to the maximum limit of my rod and reel setting.

Step 3. Grip under jaw of fish while fish are still in water: I use lip grip for this.

Step 4. De-hook while fish are still in water: One hand holds lip grip, while the other hand holds pliers. Before this job, I need to put my fishing rod down opening the bail arm.

Step 5 (optional for measuring). Lift out the fish while supporting tail part: It helps reducing excessive pressure to the jaw. I need to wet my hand to hold the fish.

Step 6 (optional for measuring). Put the fish on a wet ground: Wet surface protect slime coating.

Step 7. Revive the fish in water by directing its head against current: It allows water running through gills.

Step 8. Release the fish when it starts swimming

New Record Walleye, again, 26"!

I went fishing again to the Troy dam this evening. I fished at the shore. At about 6pm, it started raining. So, I cast Yo-Zuri crystal minnow for the last time, and bam! I got a crazy bite. First, I thought it was striper. No, no, it was giant walleye. Because I was using medium power tackle, I worried a lot about tackle failure or line break. Strong current gave extra power to the fish. I carefully fought for about 10 minutes. My rod looks like a toy beside the walleye in the picture. It was dark, and I could not get a good picture.



My walleye record increases by 2" to 3" everyday! Or, probably the walleye that I originally caught grew 2" per day and then was re-captured by me. Kidding. Gripper helped me to handle the toothy creature. After measuring and taking picture, I released it right away. I tried to revive the fish to my best, but I worry about it because of intensive fight time. I should switch to heavy gear when I fish at the Tory dam. I hope it get well and successfully breed.

New Record Walleye, Yay! (Yes, I didn't forget my camera at this time)

I got a phone call from Capt. M this morning. He suggested to go fishing to the Troy dam this evening. "I am in!" of course. Water was still rough and murky. It is never super comfortable to navigate rough river on a small canoe. But we did, in the hope of big fish. The risk-taking was rewarded with my new record walleye, 24"! I renewed my record in one day. I cannot believe this. Can you see the big bright eye.

At the time of sunset, fish kept attacking our lures. M caught 6 striped bass. One was a giant, about 36". I caught three walleye and one small striped bass. I have to confess that it is hard to beat Capt. M. I used swim bait (Shadalicious) and crank bait (Yo-Zuri). We spent three hours on water and returned when it got completely dark. It was one productive trip.

Record Walleye!

I went fishing to the Troy dam. Water got calmer, but it is still murky. I cast Yo-Zuri crystal minnow and slowly retrieved it over fast current. Near the shore, I got a strong bite. It was 21" walleye, my record fish! It gave awesome fight; at first I thought I hooked striped bass. It had fat belly and, of course, giant eyes. To my vast disappointment, I left my camera at home, what a d$^&. I measured and then released it. Although no picture, this record walleye seems to remain in my memory for long time.

Striped bass fall run

I went smallmouth bass fishing at Troy dam. Because of week-long raining, water was high and murky.



But it was still navigable, sort of. One boat is cruising out from dock.


It was high tide, so I should fish on top of tiny rock. I casted Shadalicious swimbait on 1/8 oz jig. My rod setting was 6'6" medium power St. Croix rod matched with 2500 size Shimno reel spooled with 12lb mono line.


At my third cast, I got a strong bite. It gave me real good fight. I thought that fast current gave some extra power to smallmouth. Then, voila! It was striped bass! Because my rod setting was light, it was probably more exciting.


It was 22" decent size bass.



What a handsome bass! After a few pictures, I released it. From this year, New York State requires saltwater fishing license to fish anadromous species at tidal river.