Luke saw me eyeing it and I asked him, “What’s this, not a bugger?”
He just replied with a snort, “It’s not desperation, but I can’t believe how good
the catching has been with that thing.”
As for rods, the stick of choice is undoubtedly the 8 wt. Luke prefers the Sage
Bass II smallmouth because of its quick, accurate delivery. I’ve been playing
with the Echo Base 8 wt. and the new Echo ION 8 wt. which has proven a real
gem. With the Airflo Streamer Max and a Rio smallmouth floating line with
Echo’s ION or Base rod and Ion reel, you can welcome the punishment of any
bass AND their inhospitable living conditions.
A rod with a lot of backbone is a must when you are jerking streamers through
structure and pulling poppers over lily pads and weeds. Then when you hook
that five pounder, and she’s making a run for a tree stump, you want to be
able to put on the breaks and bring her to the boat. The Echo Base outfit is so
affordable I’m thinking another one w