Suntech FMX Keiryu Stiff 45 review #3

by Herb S.
(Southwest Michigan)

Boat fishing is one major reason I bought this rod and I finally got to fish on a lake today in my buddy's 17' boat with him, his brother and my cousin. They were fishing with spinning and spin-cast outfits with slip bobbers.

My FMX Keiryu Stiff 45 rod was rigged for tight-lining with 11' of 8 # Spiderwire EZ Clear Fluorocarbon & about 2.5' of 5X Power Pro tippet with one BB split shot and a #8 gold Aberdeen hook.

We all used wax worms; Gulp maggots didn't work. The other 3 guys occasionally caught a very few small bluegills. They are all good fishermen, but...

It was impossible to not catch fish with the FMX! Besides felt bites I discovered that the very sensitive tip would often dip, too, adding another method to detect the nibbles of lots and lots of bluegills: several 9" and 8" and many in the 7" range with some smaller ones.

The "technique", if you want to call it that, was to raise and lower the rod slowly to find which depth the fish were at. It was easy to guesstimate the depth of the bait in conjunction with the depth of the fish on the fish finder which showed them rapidly moving in and out at different levels. After each 'gill was unhooked it was fast and easy to get back in the water and that made for fish after fish being caught and released. By the way, all were lip hooked.

What a day! What a rod! I LOVE it! To be fair, it was no contest between spinning and fixed line. Actually my friends and I NEVER compete; it's a rule we have. But to change depths rapidly is difficult with slip bobbers, and even slower with fixed bobbers. The only advantages of spinning are casting for distance or going very deep. Otherwise, keiryu is much more fun...and deadly!

I never did get around testing another experiment I have in mind; stay tuned...

Happy fishing,
Herb

“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.