Fun size Conquest

In line with my original plan to hunt for wild barras and togas, this is the MH to H setup which includes a Shimano Calcutta Conquest paired with Evergreen's Temujin Crossfire Stallion. A setup with an intention of hunting lunkers with big lures and potentially include some light cover hacking.

Again, I managed to source some of the 'pimp up' parts in advanced so I can bolt everything on before the reel gets to wet some lines. The Shimano Calcutta Conquest is the new fun size variant. A welcome change for smaller hands.

Newly designed from ground up. The brake side now includes an externally adjustable SVS brake tuning knob.

Gold everywhere with little contrast. Even the knob is a new design with hollowed inner section for lightness.

Overall modernized design cues with chiseled curves.

The sum of all parts. Almost.

The brake side flips open to reveal the newly designed SVS brake enclosure.

Unlock the enclosure to reveal the spool and SVS brake cams. Fitment is top notch and rock solid even with a combination of aluminum and composite plastics. No free play whatsoever. Impressive.

Stock handle's forged aluminum with hollowed out knobs. Light. To be replaced with Studio Composite's shallow swept handle and ZPI's cork knobs. Lighter. Gives the whole package more contrast.

Insides, once again, typical Shimano. Sufficient but I'll need to lather everything with maximum protection. Micro module gear employed here.

Stock drags a combination. Top stack is carbon fiber and lower stack is of their typical fiber material. Most probably paper based fiber.

Originals on the left. Custom sized carbontex drags on the right. Slightly bigger disc for the lower stack. Top stack will be replaced with thicker disc. I will be performing a controlled test on drag characteristics changes based on different modifications. Stay tune for that.

All bearings nicely packed with marine grease and free spool bearing being replaced with RPC hybrid ceramic bearings for the added distance. Main gear's covered in Shimano's heavy grease, smooth and creamy when cranked.

Fancy bearings inside. Red bit sticks out and will be replaced when the gold nut retainer arrives.

This could be the better side for now without the sticky red bits.

Ready for some action dialing up a bit more of the old schoolness with cork knobs.

This fun sized Shimano Calcutta Conquest is a solidly built reel and the dramatic scale down is quite impressive while maintaining or even improving most of the core features of the original Conquest. I'm sure something's going to give when downsizing and I'm keeping my mind open with what this reel can do when it comes to cranking power. Can't wait to haul some monsters with this.

Freshies on lures!

Fishing in our local waters are getting tougher and tougher over time. Paid ponds are a dime a dozen but catch rates have recently been mediocre at best as the fish somehow smarten up rather quickly within 2 weekends of bashing. My friends & I have to constantly check in with the fishing communities from various channels and connections for any new news in the likes of new fish stocks arrival in paid ponds or new fish species introduction.

We heard about this paid pond which recently introduced several tonnes of Giant Snakeheads to attract some anglers who regularly seek them out in the wild. This news was already 2-3 weeks old and we're wary that it's probably all fished out. We've heard people boasting about plenty of catches and exciting top water explosions when they first went there and hasn't had recent news about the latest catch rate. I guess we'll have to fill the numbers and find out ourselves.

My friends and I reached the pond just as they were opening the session for business and there were already a small group of anglers moving into position for their battle. The group were casting from 'the spot' where it is rumoured to be best spot to get most hook ups.

We quickly huddle next to 'the spot' and started casting top water lures, frogs and spin baits. Before we could start working out the areas to pepper our lures with, the guys at 'the spot' were getting plenty of top water explosion and hook ups. Giant Snakeheads after Giant Snakeheads, we too get plenty of top water explosions near our lures but none got a proper hook set. Seems like there's a batch of ambitious Giant Snakeheads with eye sight problems as they kept missing our lures. After an hour or so of frustrated misses while the other group was getting all the action, we moved on to another area in search for some decent Giant Snakeheads without vision problems.

As we worked our way around the pond reaching the far end, I noticed some commotion near an abandoned drainage piping and I quickly a crank bait in, hoping to land myself a nice Giant Snakehead. A violent take and dash. Not a Giant Snakehead but a strong fighter nevertheless.

A Pacu takes on Realis Crank. Easily tamed with a medium heavy setup of combo of a pimped up Shimano Conquest matched with Evergreen Temujin's Crossfire "The Stallion".

Pacu must be very angry with the crank bait's disturbance.

Moving around further with no Giant Snakeheads taking any of the jerkbait minnows as the sun starts to gain intensity, I switched to bottom bouncing Geecrack's Swing Chatter jig head. Too hard to ignore by some bottom dwellers. Not the target, nothing to complain about since hook up rates aren't looking good.

Cat on a chatter!

Geecrack's Swing Chatter jig head too hard to ignore.

As we monitor the surface, plenty of Giant Snakeheads surfaces to gulp air and it's just too hard to ignore the fact that they are holding at some depth in there. After all, this visit is supposed to stir up Giant Snakeheads. So I switched back to a jerkbait minnow and repeatedly pepper the same spot. A violent take followed by several strong spurts. I'm guessing this is finally it.

A nice sized & colourful Giant Snakehead, not exactly a giant yet but puts up a nice bull fight.

Majorcraft's Jerkbait minnow repeatedly worked into the same area to stir some curiosity of this healthy Giant Snakehead.

Further casts around the area didn't get anymore strikes nor do I see that many surfacing for air. Time to search a variety of water column with a vibe instead.

A few casts into the center of the pond with some structure in place really got this Pacu agitated and struck this DUO Tide Vib Score. Perfectly matched medium heavy tackle of a pimped up Shimano Conquest and Evergreen Temujin's Crossfire "The Stallion". A mouthful!

A good hook set without complications, no chance for the Pacu to chew and damage the DUO Tide Vib Score.

As the session quickly come to a close, a last few casts didn't produce much while searching different columns of water but instead a slow retrieve near the bottom got this little cat excited. I'll happily take it with such a slow day overall.

Small cat gets the vibe on!

DUO Tide Vib Scores a small cat.

As suspected earlier, 4 of us in total only managed to land about 10 Giant Snakeheads, we're old news to the fish in this pond. We later heard from friends that the catch was worse following the next few weeks in. Fish here smartened up very quickly but we had some fun, just not exactly something to brag about. As usual, enough to settle some score when we're in between big trips.