casts_by_fly

I've got both the shot caller and the regular swim jig from Mike (plus the mini swim jig). The shot caller and regular swim jig are basically the same jig, aside from the head design. They are a normal weight hook/brushguard. The eye on the shot caller is enclosed a lot more. They fish basically the same for me. Both come through woodier brush, things like willows, pads like any other swim jig. I have a lot of thick grass (milfoil and pondweed) and I find that the regular swim jig comes through them a little better. A like a pointier nose compared to the shot caller for thicker grass. The mini swim jig has the pointy nose I prefer for grass and is very similar to the strike king tour grade swim jig. I use them interchangeably. Both are lighter wire/weedguard style swim jig, so I don't throw them into heavier wood as much (not that we have much of that here). For colors, the world is your oyster. Our water is very clear up here and bluegill are the primary forage in a lot of places so I gravitate towards green pumpkin variations. If the water is stained I'll go to black and blue or white. I normally have a 3.8 SIF keitech on the back but will go to a 4.3 later in the season when the bluegills are bigger. I also fish a rage menace vertically for a short but tall option. Most any trailer that gives a bit of kick will work. The keitech has a nice body roll at slow speeds and on the fall. Rage plastics are more durable for me.

Not much, that's my point. No need for a spinnerbait specific reel unless you're throwing really tiny ones or really big ones. They you might want to consider something specific. If I was throwing an ounce plus with big blades all day then I might consider a little lower gear ratio or an HD reel, but only if that was something I was doing all the time. I wouldn't buy a specific reel to do it for an occasional thing.

As you've found, there are a couple sizes of minn kota props. The smallest is the 3 1/4" motor body which is what I think you have (and what I have on my autopilot). That is what all of the 12V motors have except for the 55#. Then there are 3 5/8", 4", and 4 1/2". If you want a weedless wedge prop on the 3 1/4", the MKP-6 is the right prop. I have one for my autopilot and it gets put on in May and doesn't come off until October. Since my trolling motor is my primary propulsion it gets to be a pain clearing weeds as you go. I can't just pull up the motor part way to clear it and drop it back in like a bow mount. The wedge plus a ninja blade sorts me out pretty well. The WW mkp-6 is $22 or thereabouts from most retailers. Well worth it to have as your primary or a spare.

A 1/2 oz spinnerbait isn't particularly taxing on you or the reel so throw it on any reel you want.

That's going to be a lot of pain for local residents in particular. Coming up 95 you can choose east or west if you're going up to NYC area. East is the NJ turnpike which isn't I95 there I don't think but turns back into it. The west choice is around the PA side of the river and swings you around Philly and Trenton. Trucks and long distance travelers will do the NJTP route and not be impacted, but people on the PA side are going to get hurt. The local lanes through those areas are going to be congested as anything for a while. And the NJTP traffic is going to get worse (to be fair it isn't that bad down there). We will be going down that route in 6 weeks when we head to OBX so we'll see if things have settled into a pattern then.

My expert head turner has a JDM met on it (6.3 oz reel) total weight is just over 10 ounces. The rod is 4.1-4.2. My Finesse jig has an Abu MGX (4.something ounce reel) and comes in around 8-8.5 oz total (I can't remember specifics). Both rods have pretty light (physical weight) tips to them and at 6'10" there is no extra length for swing weight. Both balance great with reels from the MGX at 4.3 or so up to a Revo SX at nearly 8 oz.

I have both the finesse jig and the head turner in the current expert series. Both are great. Which one for you depends on the weight of lure. For me, 3/8 goes on the finesse jig and 1/2 goes head turner.

Work was light this week so I got out for my annual plastics only outing wednesday evening and again this morning to see how my favorite lake was doing. Nothing special either trip, just a couple fish here and there. Today was tougher than I thought it should be. The bass were on the beds a month ago and the bluegills are on beds now. There are a bunch of weedlines with 10' of gravel between them and shore which makes for good times when the bluegills are back in there (like they are now). The bass will sit on the edges for any gills that stray from their beds. Everything was lining up for a good bite. It was not to be though. I think the 48 degree air overnight dropped the temp in the shallows and pushed the bass on the deeper side of the weeds. I tried in vain with a buzzbait for a solid 2 hours in the dark/lowlight/dawn and only managed to pull up 3 fish (two of which were pickerel), none of which managed to actually catch a hook. When it got light enough, i thought "what would Catt do" and picked up the texas rig. All three caught were on the deeper weed edges (two on a palmetto bug on the first pass, one on a rage craw working back through it).

I wish there was more green pumpkin variation. Its so hard finding just the right shade and accents to match all of the lakes around here. Definitely need more GP variations on the market...

looking good! I've just about got all of my grass grown back in. The side yard (pictures above) looks great and is getting weekly cuts now. I'm keeping it around 2-2.5" and liking that length. The pool grass is doing well with the manual reel mower this summer. I was thinking about doing some leveling today to start the process. I bet it needs a couple yards of soil/sand to do it all and it has to be wheel barrowed from the driveway (about 40 yards) so that's going to be fun... The rest of the grass that was torn up from machines and dogs during construction is all green now aside from one part that doesn't get sunlight. Its got a dense shade mix and its growing, it just takes a little longer.

I just got home. I did a morning session down this way and caught 3, plus had a few more bust and miss a buzzbait. The lake was only 67 degrees and I still found some bass on beds (a solid ~4 lb female and ~2 lb male). I'm sure the smoke isn't doing anything to them (though the lowered light might have helped some), but between the low temps, low pressure, and lack of rain the past month they are all a bit out of sorts right now I think. They are where they normally are, they just aren't doing what they normally do. Some rain this coming week and then some heat should sort them right out.

Not surprising in one bit. There is a guide on the Delaware from the NJ side that is putting clients on multiple 40+ a year. I think they have cracked the 50 mark too, but I'm not sure. I don't see that standing for too many years at this rate.

Here’s one example with side and down together. This is a moderate thickness weedbed and where it drops into the main lake on a ledge. here is an example of rocks Its tougher to see the weeds picture a little (its a zoom from a bigger picture) but its typically fuzzier and has lines running away from the boat. Rocks tend to have more shadows and highlights behind them because in a rock field there is often another rock just behind the first.

Funny enough, I ordered a pack of them already. I have a pack of gamakatsu keel weighted hooks here without a screwlock but they are the superline hooks and a pretty heavy wire. I saw the owner light hooks and thought I'd throw a pack in for keitechs on lighter rods. thanks rick

Thanks Team. The D-shads were on the maybe list, but I've added them in. @TOXIC I'll have a look for that post. I know you're a fan and have seen some of your other posts on them. The flappin shad was already in the cart, but to treat like a buzzbait or swimming worm and not a soft jerkbait. I'll try it both ways. thanks, rick

we're clearing up a bit today. Outside has a hint of smoke in the air, but its clean enough that you can be out and not worry. The sun is back to a normal color now. We'll see if more blows down through the day with this wind, but tomorrow morning is looking like a day on the water.

Three great scotches there and if you could only drink those three for the rest of your life you wouldn't be hurting. Balvenie does a caribbean cask also that is delicious. It has just a bit of peat to it, maybe a little more than the glenlivet. give it a try if you see it.

Hi All, I'm looking for a faster sinking soft jerkbait that I can texas rig weedless and fish like an underwater spook. I'm trying to do it without a weighted hook. I like to fish them fairly fast and 1-2' under the water. I have a couple random soft jerkbaits in my box but none are quite doing it for me. I also don't know what half of them are since most are found snagged and some are 15 years old. I can tell you a 4 1/2" baby sluggo doesn't sink fast enough, though with a 1/8 oz keel weighted hook it does (but loses action on the fall). I might consider nail weights in the body if its a solid body. I have some that are the standard split tail bait (they are old) but the hook slot in the body is so deep that you can't get much of anything into the body without splitting it. I've got a BBB Jerk minnow and the zoom super fluke (and magnum fluke) in my cart right now to try based on reading here. Any other faster sinkers I can try? thanks, rick

I'll throw another in the mix. Not because it was the highest priced or the most hyped up, but it was one that was super interesting to me and it fell so flat awful when I tried it. Southern Tier Pumking whisky. We drink a good bit of pumking beer and while it varies year to year its pretty good every year. We like the coffee and nitro variants. I love whiskey and even the sweet syrupy kind (in their own way). This was beyond bad. Very sweet but such an artificial pumpkin flavor and no whiskey flavor. Three separate guys in our friends group bought it independent of each other and two each brought bottles to a guys night. We couldn't drink it or even find something to mix it with. I think I poured mine down the drain in the end.

agreed. Last year we had about an inch over 3 months (J/J/A). By the end of that time, the big lake around here was down 25' because it has to maintain a minimum flow for the river below. Even the natural lakes were down 2' which is rare. Usually they just stop flowing out. That happened and then they started evaporating. It really screws with things. We're forecast about an inch of rain over the next week over 4 days. If we actually get it, that will be a good soaker and help a bunch, but we need that once a week or so.

Any particular reason he wanted to fish that lake?

That's a good start. Deal is south and warms up 2-4 weeks ahead of us up here north of I78. I'd expect it to be pretty weedy. I don't know the lake first hand but from reading about it it looks like a fairly urban SJ fishery and has had some salt intrusion over the years. Google maps confirms the urban part. fair few boat docks. Google satellite shows the water pretty dirty. Navionics shows much of the lake at a flat 5' deep with a couple pockets a little deeper and the shoreline shallower. For me, this is combat fishing and junk fishing. With two rods I'd have a chatterbait and a jig tied on. Try to cover some water and see if you can find active fish in the morning. A fluke or paddle tail could replace the chatterbait once the sun pops up or if its too grassy. A jig, texas rig or something else weedless you can pitch into docks and brushpiles (texas rigged senko if you must). Also knowing me I'd probably throw a buzzbait for the first hour or two and see if topwater is happening. If it is, then stick to it and swap into a frog when the sun comes up or if it gets thick.

I'd also have a decent sized pencil popper tied on for those just in case situations too. Interested to hear how it goes. I've also never fished a flutter spoon. But plenty of GL smallies get caught on big spoons trolled for walleye and salmon.

A bow is putting a LOT more energy into an arrow than a fisherman into a cast. And as you say, consistency in archery is key. Arrows could all be spine up, down, left, right and as long as they are the same it makes less difference (in a well tuned bow). If anyone was interested, you could use the common cents system to measure the difference by locking in the rod butt and measuring it spine up, spine down, and spine to the side. In my practical experience there is minimal difference in rod action doing it that way. Sometimes you'll feel it in the rod's feel while casting if there is a pronounced spine. With fly rods with a longer power application stroke you might feel a little bit of a twisting motion if the spine is off by 90 degrees and you have a smooth/straight stroke. For that reason I always put the guides on the inside bend of the spine for a smoother line pickup off the water. And if you want to get really technical, depending on which side of the spine you'd build on it could make the action faster or slower. If you put the guides on the inside bend, then the tip would flex a little touch more for a given bend. On the outside bend it would be slightly less. In the first case that would lead to a sharper tip angle and a faster measured action. The opposite would be true for the other case. But we're talking about minute differences that make no difference to an angler. Its difference without distinction.

well I maybe spoke too soon. Its gotten super hazy and smoky here. There are no clouds in the sky and yet you can look at the sun through the smoke and not squint. Very orange sunset colored skies here at 11 AM. edit 12 AM- just went outside to plug the boat in and its similar to standing 20' downwind of a burnpile fire where you've been burning lots of paper. I was going to do a few things outside today between meetings, but its pretty rough and getting worse.