After bagging myself a few smooth hounds of late I really wanted to catch one using my Penn Affinity rod with the light tip. This rod has changed the way I fish as it allows me to enjoy the fight of the fish in a whole new way. Using a fixed spool with 30lb braid I can feel the fish fight, pull and shake it's head not to mention the early warning bite signs. I've seen this rod buckle over for 2 or 3lb bass, codling and even some fair sized flounder.
The problem though is I would not cast with anything over 4oz with bait. So to get the bait out to where the smoothies were feeding was always going to be the problem. After much practice a clipped down "up and over" rig with a 4oz impact lead I was starting to get better distance with my casts. Not a very good caster I some how was able to see the mono on the reel after casting a few times. There was a spool of 100 yard 30lb braid added to this reel a few weeks back so I must have been getting at least 80 yards on her.
Loaded with...
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