Selfishies Salt Fix

Time for some shameless salty pond fix and sel-fishies collected over the past few months.

Charger red drum tamed using the new Shimano Conquest paired with a heavy MS-X rod.

IMA Melty Nymph chomped hard, light hops off the bottom.

A small Barramundi easily lifted out of the water using my trusty ML MS-X matched with a shallow spool pimped up Shimano Metanium.

Poor aim by the Barramundi, IMA Koume 40 sinks under the jaws for a secure hook up while the rear opens up a little bit.

Another small Barramundi fooled.

This time the aim was spot on. IMA Koume does the job with a steady retrieve.

Barramundi's getting smaller by each catch. Time to switch ponds.

The smallest IMA Survivor does a very convincing job being a fleeing bait fish.

Pond and lure switch resulted in this small but brutish GT being a willing taker.

The IMA Bta is an amazingly versatile lure for shallow retrieves. It will even trigger a bite when sinking slowly.

Another lure and pond switch, no hesitation from this bigger Barramundi.

Bigger lure bigger fish perhaps? Jackall's TN is a must have in my lure box for search and destroy missions.

Meanwhile over at the brownies pond, it takes a while to tame this smallish grouper.

IMA Bta Moge secures the hook up while twitching around the bottom.

Some days, the GTs are willing popper takers. A few anxious moments ensued especially with an ML setup.

Feed's Bell8 messed with this GT and this is the result.

Back to catching small Barramundi, with a small lure.

IMA Sukari looked too tasty for this Barra.

Back to the regular brownies, this was a fat fella, notice the belly bulge?

IMA Sobat dugged the bottom and looked like a tummy filler for this fella.

A decent size brownie fell for soft plastics hopping about.

Jackall Dragon Bug does the damage. It's important to have heavy gauge wired hooks to deal with brownie brutes like these.

Red drum was hungry and took a while to tame with an ML rod.

ZipBait's Rigge Dimly looked dim, Red Drum was wrong.

Another hard charger Red Drum with several anxious moments.

Zipbaits Rigge Dimly fooled another Red Drum.

When the Red Drums stop biting, switching ponds and lure resulted in this decent grouper.

With large mouths, there's no escape for the APIA Punchline sinking pencil.

The soft plastic tallying up some brownies too.

Jackall's Cover Craw found this grouper with poor aim.

Back to small lures, small Barramundi. Medium to fast retrieval stirred this little fella up.

Small Barra courtesy of this tiny twitchy DUO Spearhead Ryuki.

Just to prove the point, small lure, small Barra.

Another small Barramundi fell for the erratic DUO Spearhead Ryuki.

Another similarly sized Barramundi?

DUO's Spearhead Ryuki proved too hard to resist when twitched.

The Barramundi seems to be getting smaller now.

Good aim, DUO Spearhead Ryuki in the gob.

Small lure, biggish Red Drum. Slow retrieval is key for finicky fish in this pond.

Solid hook up by Zipbaits Rigge Raphael.

A bigger specimen this time while using the same lure and technique of slow retreival.

Zipbaits Rigge Raphael found its way in to the mouth of this Red Drum.

Back to the grouper pond, managed to coax this small but fat fella out using a lift and fall vibe.

Jackall's TN Vibe wins the stare down contest.

There were still a few MJs around and this one well for a tiny vibe on the drop.

IMA Koume triggered a bite from this injured and yet feisty MJ.

That's all for this round of shameless salty pond sel-fishies.

Metanium's jerky drag

The Shimano Metanium's been a trusty casting machine for me as it is very light, small and casts like a dream when properly tuned. The only thing that bothers me is the stock drag. It's jerky right from the beginning when new all throughout even with a variety of drag grease changes.

Next tests would be to replace the stock drag disc with carbon drags in the hopes that will eliminate the jerky drag takes.

Jerky drag soon to be replaced with custom cut carbon drag.

Carbon sheets in a variety of thickness. Thickness changes may affect the performance of the drag or even damage the reel when used incorrectly.

Custom cut to measure. A variety of dimensions to be tested with an aim to get a smooth drag take.

Oversized custom cut carbon drag vs stock drag disc. Some tests needed to decide what dimension works best.

Initial pull test reveals a slightly smoother drag force and should somewhat eliminate some of the jerkiness.

I'll check back in with some observation and findings when I've got some opportunity to put this reel through its paces.