Big clunky rod

by Jimi Fly
(MO)

Been fishing my local pond in Sedalia Mo for winter trout (stocked) I brought my Iwana since I thought I might hook a lunker by accident. I have been fishing my little Kiyotaki for better than a year now and I love the non cork handle. Tied on a weighted Wollie bugger so I could get deep and started casting. I hate to say it but I missed a ton of fish because I'm not used to cork handles anymore. When I finally realized I was getting takes which were very hard to feel I started picking up some nice fish all over 14 inches 8 total in 2 hours. It was fun fishing the old clunky Iwana but I'm dead set on picking up a longer rod without a cork grip. When I first started fishing tenkara I thought the cork grips were the cats meow but I have to say non cork grips trump cork hands down. I'm even thinking about shaving off the grip on my Iwana till I can afford a nice Airstage or similar rod. In a nutshell Boo Cork Horray non cork grips, still fun fishing though. The photo is one I caught last year on the same Iwana rod, don't worry I kept this one as it was the end of the catch a release season otherwise I would never handle a fish like this.

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” - Benjamin Franklin

"Be sure in casting, that your fly fall first into the water, for if the line fall first, it scares or frightens the fish..." -
Col. Robert Venables 1662

As age slows my pace, I will become more like the heron.