TriStateBassin106

I'm in Bergen but I fish a lot of the lakes/rivers/ponds in Passiac and Sussex I've only been to Hopatcong once and I enjoy fishing Monskville Both Greenwood lakes, Pompton lake and Green turtle pond in West Milford/Ringwood. I also fish Culver's lake in Sussex county but it's private so only when I can visit friends up there. You'll like Waywayanda, it's a good clean lake I used to go for the stocked salmon in there on the ice.

Always glad to see more guys on here from New Jersey! May I ask what region of our state do you fish? I live in North Jersey and fish both North and Central Jersey but mainly focus on the northern counties (Bergen, Passiac, Sussex and Morris) Welcome to the forums!

Here's a bias from personal experience. I think braid sucks on baitcasters.

A white spinnerbait with a gold willow or indiana blade can be killer on overcast days in stained water. I think white is so productive because it looks like a generic baitfish profile that can be anything. I think bass bite it out of interest more than anything. But then I remember bass are also opportunistic predators.

Here in New Jersey we have been frozen in since December and the temps barely break 35. I've noticed slowly after new years the days are getting a bit longer and I find myself looking at my fishing gear more and more. But right now we're probably at the bottom of the hole. I always think the end of January/early February the worst of it. There's light at the end of the tunnel though, spring is coming.

I appreciate the details about the differences between the hook sizes. But I've also seen flipping hooks with those thicker compact hook sizes like you would see on traditional casting jigs I'll PM you when I can for the article!

It sorta answers it. It's just that many flipping and casting heads look identical.

Is there a big difference between the two? This question has always bothered me, both are labeled for different purposes but basically look the same. I've used both styles for the same purpose and haven't noticed a real difference. Is it all just bait marketing? I'm not a huge jig expert so I haven't really dived deep into the specifics

I also heard PB&J works well with purple or junebug trailers, I'll have to give it a try

Where can I find those skirts/trailer?

The crawfish in our area are the Rusty Crawfish I believe. Here is a pic of one I got on video during the summertime on my lake. They have like a blueish red hue to them

What's everyone's favorite early spring (early March - April) jig/jig trailer colors? Do you guys use traditional colors during this time like black n blues and green pumpkins or do you try to go for colors like spring craw/PB&J or Redish colors?

For me Line starts moving or you feel a heavy load immediately after you close the spool. Those bites are peak "on the fall".

My favorite retrieves for texas rigs/jigs are slow lift and drop (cast out let your bait hit the bottom, slowly raise your rod tip which causes the bait to drag along the bottom pause it for like 5 or 10 seconds then real in slack-repeat the previous steps. This retrieve I like best on hard/rocky bottoms or mud bottoms that I know don't have grass/muck. For those bottoms I just mentioned I prefer a slow hopping style. It comes through the stuff and junk better. I feel like 90% of my texas rig bites come on the initial fall though.

I haven't tried any of the zman weedless bladed jigs yet. A new pond I started fishing last fall has clumps of submerged hydrilla that's scattered around but can be pretty thick in some spots. So far I've thrown a normal chatterbait on the edges of that and had some sucess but there's a few spots where I think the weedguard on it will help. I think they're pretty cool to try out. But swimjigs will always be my bread n butter for directly in the grass

UPDATE: I found the correct model of the st croix rod! Thanks everyone for the help!

7'1 MHF is out of stock on their website? Does bass pro or cabelas carry that newer model in the 7'1?

This is my first st croix rod so I had no idea which one was new. I always thought Tackle Warehouse carried the newer models Thanks for clearing that up.

Yeah it sucks because my black friday one was 90 bucks. Which is a steal for that brand of rods. Newer models. St croix logo is blue on the handle.

Anyone know where I can find the medium heavy FAST action version of this rod? I bought the 7'2 medium heavy action for sale on black friday on Tackle Warehouse but they didn't mention it was a medium heavy moderate action.. kinda disappointed I have to return it back but it's too soft for my needs. I have it paired with a 8:1:1 Daiwa Tatula for bottom contact baits.

Horrible news to hear about Aaron.. enjoyed watching his catches on the tournament trail a few years ago. I Feel awful for his family during this time. He will be missed deeply.

What color soft plastics would you recommend for pitching around that stuff? The water is about a 2ft clear on a sunny day, I usually use black or junebug but like I said the water has been getting clearer.

I usually fan cast that stuff since I'm from the bank, I pitch the holes that I can see but eventually cast it out. pics I took was off a fishing pier that is along the shoreline, when I throw a texas rig out there I throw it unpegged and on a 1/4oz and just work it back, I thought I would be snagged up but it comes through it pretty well it almost feels like there's no vegetation, if I use a 1/0z would I have to peg it or leave it unpegged?

I have to change the topic name for 2021, but my choice this year would either be the texas rig or spinnerbait, spinnerbaits especially in the later half of the season up to now.

Based on experience I don't believe in any of this. *Watermelon doesn't work in stained to dirty water *Spinnerbaits don't work on days with no wind *Wind blown bank is always the best *Match the hatch with crawfish species *Bass stop biting in the winter *Buzzbaits don't work on glass water *KVD stock hooks lose fish *Walmart doesn't have a good fishing section