Out of the shadow of Excalibur

This week, I was reminded that you do not need super expensive tackle to enjoy fishing and to catch fish. 
 
My favorite fishing outfit is a Shimano Expride 7’ light power rod paired with Shimano 1000 frame Stella spinning reel. Top of the line but costly tackle. It even has a name: “Excalibur.” On Saturday, I decided to leave Excalibur at home and try my luck with a $100 outfit, a Shimano Sellus 7’ medium power rod paired with a Shimano 2500 frame Sedona spinning reel.  
 
My plan was to target redfish around docks. This style of fishing requires a lot of casting. I moved from dock to dock casting a Z-Man MinnowZ on a quarter ounce jig to every dock piling. To my surprise, the $100 outfit was easy to cast and sensitive enough that I could feel the lure bounce along the bottom. 
 
It took hitting several docks before finding one with a resident school of reds. When pulling redfish out from under a dock, the upsized tackle made the fight less dicey. The more I fished with it, the more I liked it. The only real drawback was the weight. After making literally hundreds of casts, my arm was a bit tired.  
 
On the ride back to the dock, I stopped at a submerged oyster bar that has been holding a lot of trout. The trout were there, but they were short striking the MinnowZ lure. So, I switched to a Finesse TRD on a 1/6-ounce jig. Once again, the $100 outfit surprised me. It handled the lighter and smaller finesse lure quite well. The trout liked the TRD and I managed to release several nice ones.  
 
On the ride back to the dock, I got to thinking about Excalibur. Perhaps it was time to return it to the Lady of the Lake? I decided no. But I am going to build a round table. 
 
Contact Captain Greg Peralta at captgregp@gmail.com or call (843) 224-0099.

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Daniel Island, SC 29492 

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