einscodek

That is a real nice skinny knot .. low profile.. and I will give it a shot but I'm feelin its not going to be strong enough. Its grip is based on the grip of the braid over a slick fluorocarbon line add in water and instinctively I'm not feelin good about this.. Plus you cut the fluoro at the end and each small slip of the fluoro under the braid loops makes the knot loose and likely to slip over the fluoro.. but will give it a shot.. maybe add in a variation.

Nice catch.. Must be close to 20 inches or a bit over. Glad yer breakin out of your rut slowly

I prefer 832 over Slick 8 but they're both pretty good.. My setup with Slick 8 shows frays and my 832 setup much less so..

Yes Double Uniknot ..

Just got back from a trip with my pal.. Meet my partner.. Tall good-lookin' dude .. gets all the b'ass We like 'hookin' up with overweight gals who are hard-to-get Strong too but also has an ultra-sensitive side He says he's heavy but for his size he's very very light Got a good handle on himself too.. Phenix M1 Swimbait Heavy Yea thats a Daiwa spincast on it! We R Rebels!

Fluoro line knots gave me fits as well and I tried palomar, clinch knots.. all unraveled losing me lures as well. I've a forceful whippy cast and the knots used to unravel first. The floaters Ill just go and fetch but the sinkers.. well money lost man. Search youtube for Shaw Grigsby and flurorocarbon knot.. his demonstrated knot saved me much angst and I've never broken off at the fluoro knot ever since.. I think at least for me Shaw Grigsby is correct.. his "forget the name" knot is the best on fluoro .. youtube.com/watch?v=3I905PXIYww

I assume your line was breakin on the fluoro and not unraveling at the knot.. On my main setup, I use 25# Seaguar Tatsu as a leader for 50# braid and still get breakoffs once in a long while near the edge of the fluoro knot.. I suspect its the area which stretches when making the fluoro knots tight. BTW I too have one of my setups on 20# braid and everytime I get bit big and they dive for the weeds I get nervous..

5" Big Hammer is 1/2 oz. those others listed at 5" may not be as thick as a 5" Hammer so could be 3/8 - 1/2 oz I'd say..

I think yer rubbin off on me.. I was skunked this morning.. And on my last trip I was nearly skunked as well but pulled out a skinny 19" bass using a topwater close to 11am and decided to leave on a high.. Gotta think positively.. Ah but its still nice to be with nature for a few hours anyway..

There are already alot of good soft frogs out there .. Spro, Koppers, etc Havent had a strike on it yet.. only 1 trip so far. I find myself falling back on my Koppers. Seems like I may use it more for open-water situations and my Koppers in the weeds.. Anyone out there have lots of confidence in this frog and use it more than the Spro/Koppers?

One pond may be warming faster than the other

Sounds like heavy fishing pressure .. maybe the anglers not releasing enough of the lunkers. End up with a lakeful of small guys.. and only a few really tough to catch big wiseguys

So far the best bang for buck rods I've seen listed here so far IMO are: daiwa aird berkeley lightning rod ..both IM6 and around $40.. great choices for an effective and fun cheap setup

I used to live in this area and remember Blue Marsh as on/off. Ontelaunee is better imo but no boats allowed..

I dont go down to Monmouth and usually if I'm that close to the shore, I'm going saltwater.. but some guys I know who fish reservoirs in the Freehold area been catching fish down there

Some of those lakes and reservoir listed are good but they are big and without a boat, you'd really need to know where to go along the shore and when..

NJ is a pretty big place. Places I fish along the 78 corridor includes local rivers, ponds, reservoirs, up to Round Valley & Spruce Run.. been a terrific 2013. Caught 3 largemouths > 20" this fishing season the largest 4.5 lbs 22 in.. which was a big long fish but to me is kind of light Caught probably 10+ largemouths in the 14-19" range and about the same from 9" - 13" range. Fishin was better in the spring but I'm still catching 1-2 quality fish per trip and only been skunked once and that was after a heavy rain. I really think NJ soon will surpass that 10lb largemouth record.. lots of the reservoirs and lakes are stocking with trout.. that means largemouths are being well fed. Where are you fishing and perhaps something happened to your particular body of water.. pollution, lower water levels? I know when you switch to a new fishin hole sometimes it takes a while to get to know how things work there. So yer new fishing holes may just need a lil more scouting. I know this year the spawn was a bit delayed or at least elongated. A 18" female I caught had eggs oozing out of her while I was handling her and this was in late-July.

"Big baits catch big bass" Sure seems to make sense .. but much of my experience doesnt exactly support it real well ie.. Catching several 9"-11" bass on a 6" lure.. how they expected to eat that thing I'll never know.. but who cares. Most of a 9" is its head and tail fin.. its not a real big body there. Meanwhile I've caught my PB and several of the largest ones approaching that on a smaller 3.5" bait. There gets to a point though when a bigger bait will simply spook the medium and smaller fish away and you'll be left with whether or not a larger fish wants to eat what you dished if its even around. So in essence you may be excluding smaller fish with jumbo lures so of course a bigger bait will only usually catch bigger fish. However, the bigger fish will also take a smaller lure too. I think bass eat whatever is put in front of them and the bigger bass will just chomp on large and small depending on various factors like time of day, weather, water temperature, season,.. and its personality and how it feels at the moment. Now I throw big bait.. but its cause I love tossing big bait and watching its huge action either topwater or subsurface.. but when I just need to land something and see a pretty fish large or small, I toss my smaller stuff just to scratch that itch cause I know they'll get it done more often than not and haul in a large, medium, or small.

Yea between the PPro and Sufix 832 braids I use from 10-50lb, I've yet to see any eyelet wear on any of my Fuji guides..

I got a TW giftcard when they were offering one for father's day I believe.. either that or easter? Either way this year cause I spent that on some nice lures I liked.

Calais is a $650+ reel .. not everyone has that kind of money to spend on that kind of reel. What kind of distances are you guys achieving with those top of the line baitcasters on average? Please indicate the rod you are using as well and lure type/lure weight on average if you can.. thanks.

JFrancho is right.. imo the Red Cajun isnt too bad and is worth 30 hours of fishing especially for a young'in

I am slowly moving in that direction as well. Used to carry 4 rods with me Now I am making due with a M and a H having cut out the lighter baits and if I cut out the ultra heavy baits, I could theoretically go all day with the M fishing anything from worms, spinnerbaits, cranks, topwater, jigs. Would it be better to have a rod fit perfectly the lure.. sure. Could I still fish the majority of them lures on my M.. hell yea.

Your Zebco 33 with baitalert clicks when anti-reverse is off. I suggest keeping anti-reverse on so the drag system kicks on. Esp for a reel with weak drag, let the rod in combination with the drag fight the fish til its ready to quit. Theres no reason you cant catch most anything in freshwater on that Zeb33. it just may not last as long and the drag isn't the greatest. Enjoy it while it lasts. Zeb33's clearances and aperatures and unpolished parts mean 50lb braid is gonna cause you issues. Its low capacity also means you wont be able to spool much 50# on it esp before the line angles start resisting the cast to the point the line will stop.. esp wet braid full of muck. If you are looking for a high end spincast that could handle braid .. Daiwa Goldcast has good drag, oscillating spool, and a quality tungsten carbide pickup that can easily handle braid. Its not for everyone.. or else go up to spinning or baitcast. If you stay spincast I suggest high-end.

I'd go ultralight on a spinning setup or an ultralight spincast.. problem with ultralight spincast is that I dont like the quality of the spincast reels in that segment. I'm only going to use Daiwa Goldcast if I use a spincaster.. unless they make a better spincaster than the GC.