casts_by_fly

i pretty much always have my 6’10” mh and h rods (finesse jig and head turner falcons, both are 1/4-3/4 but different power lower). Super versatile. Throw a chatterbait or pitch a jig. Most of the season those rods have those lures on. The finesse jig is also my walking bait rod in the spring (and throws lots of things well otherwise). Either one will get a jerkbait if I decide to throw one. Both will fish a spinnerbait a bit. I have been carrying my 7’3” hudson special (3/8-3/4, 5 power mh MF) most of the time. It’s my buzzbait and plopper rod. It’s also a great crankbait rod. I think with braid it will be an amazing lipless rod in the spring. This is usually one of the five. After that it depends on the lake and time of year. Spring I will throw in my 7’ mh/MF trapcaster. It’s my lipless rod and smaller crankbait rod. It also throws smaller keitechs on a jighead. Last year I threw a lot of stuff on it but didn’t love it. This year with light braid it has come alive and perfect for what I use it for. From about June on I will always have my amistad which is a 7’3” heavy/F with 50 lb braid. That’s mostly a pitching rod or frog rod that time of year. In the spring I’ll sometimes bring it with an Alabama rig tied on. Also fishes big soft swim baits or really heavy spinnerbaits. Early season I will often bring my 7’ mh/MF ‘crankbait’ rod (shimano im10 crucial). I rig it with 12-15 fluoro and fish it either with a crankbait or chatterbait. Early season I might have 2 or even 3 chatterbaits tied on at one time so in that case that rod gets one. In summer or fall if I am going to a less grassy lake with Crankbaits I might bring it. It’s probably slower than a MF action and a bit specialized. After may it rarely gets used. i have a bucoo version of the head turner that I will put 50 lb braid on and throw frogs on it if I want a dedicated frog rod. That keeps the amistad for bottom contact. i have a 7’heavy MF bucoo that is versatile that I will throw in some times. It’s a great 110 plopper rod or heavy chatterbait rod. i just picked up the 7’4” heavy cover jig rod (cara lineup) and while I need to fish it more and see what it does for me, it will probably be a permanent member of the list. It’s any kind of jig rod (1/2-1 oz jig really) but I can see a lot it can do. Every now and then I’ll bring a spinning rod. More often than not I’ll grab the cheap rod that is two piece and it goes in the rear well of the boat and not take up a space.

I tend to carry 5 rods. I have a 4 rod horizontal holder plus the one in my hand. Which ones depend on time of year and lake I’m at. Earlier in the year I have my lighter crankbait/lipless rod and leave the heavy pitching stick at home. YMMV.

hit or miss. I didn’t. Lots don’t. Some do.

The state stocks trout in fall, winter, and spring. Fall is bigger streams, winter is lakes, spring is a bit of both. Tons of nj stocked locations are put and take with the fish gone by the summer due to fishing, birds, and heat. That said, there are lots of cold lakes and streams that hold them over in the summer. i used to love trout fishing. I used to fly fish a lot and worked in a couple shops. My grandma had a bait shop while I was growing up and until she died where the bulk of the business was two weeks before and 4 weeks after opening day. In the UK, there wasn’t much trout fishing that was affordable, let alone free, so I didn’t really do it. When we moved back here I picked it up again a little because the shore based bass fishing is negligible. In 2020 the state did a catch and release early season opening due to Covid and I put a hurting on some trout that week. On 4 part days of fishing over two weeks I put 150 on the bank including a one hour period where I caught 47 fish. It was fun, but it was too easy and I got bored of it. then I bought the kayak and I haven’t bothered with trout since. Trout season is prespawn bass so bass wins. Fall trout is archery, so archery wins. Winter trout is cold and you can’t beat Mother Nature. So for the once or twice a year that I would do it I don’t think it’s worth buying the stamp. yes, but they really love the 8-9” stocked fish that are more common. Trout have soft bodies and fins.

this is where I'm at too. We probably don't have as heavy of a slop as a lot of you guys are fishing, but if I'm not 80% or so on frog bites there is something wrong. I don't stop working the frog on a bite until I feel the weight of the fish after it has turned. Then i lay into them hard with 50 lb braid and a very heavy rod. I rarely have a hook that isn't set in either the roof or corner of the mouth. I don't find too many fish that come up to slap at it that don't eat it and the ones that do will usually hit it again if they just missed the first time so long as you don't rear back and pull it away. I used to be a "set the hook as fast as possible" but you have a lot of misses in that case. Toads are another story. I posted about my trials and tribulations on toads. I think I have it figured out now though (didn't have enough horse in the rods I was throwing them on). Now if I could just get a good frog bite day this year that would be nice...

Gocha. I've only fished splitrock once (april this year while the water was still 49 degrees) so I'm not an expert there. I did however go the entire length of the lake and timber is few and far between. I know people catch good fish out of there, but the steep banks and lack of wood (what I prefer to fish) combined with the kayak access and my 150+ lb rig mean I fish other places. I've not had a problem with straight braid. I love it for lipless and that's the rod I throw other cranks on mostly so that's what stays. Then again, I'm looking at switching a few things around so I might swap that rod back to 12 lb red label and throw lipless on braid on another rod. The braid is awesome for feeling the crankbait work and feeling that tiny piece of grass that is fouling the hook. If you're worried about spooking fish, throw on a piece of 14 lb fluoro. older DTs had that reputation, but newer ones seem to be better. I've not broken a bill or bait on rocks on my standard DT series. I broke a DT fat but that was slapping it on the water (pretty hard) to clear weeds. That one's on me. I like the DT series in general as I think they are a good all around crankbait. Not the widest wobble and no rattle, so for clear water and pressured water (both of which are the norm here) I think they are a good choice for nearly near round cranks. It also simplifies things. Having a basic set of bluegill, craw, shad/alewife in 4-5 sizes covers the spectrum here pretty well. I supplement with DT fat and OG6 for more and less action respectively. The DT6 bluegill is my go to crankbait from June on. I'll bump to a 10 or 14 depending on the water. When are you planning to go? I could maybe be convinced if you want company.

The falcon head turner is a good choice for bigger spooks and dawgs. I have fished it with the 1/2 oz sexy dawg, but that's not quite enough to load it up on a cast like I prefer. The bigger dog works great. 6'10", 6 power, heavy, fast. Its probably faster actioned than a lot of people prefer for treble hook baits, but I find it just right for walking baits. I fish the 5 power version for the 1/2 oz dawg. 17 and 12/14 lb mono respectively.

thanks! I won't tell anyone else, don't worry. I'll throw a bag onto my next order.

You must be going out of state. I don't know of a highland NJ reservoir with blowdowns (but would love to hear about it if there is one!). Monksville has standing timber, but not a ton of it is laid down. Same for Merrill. Either way, you're talking my preferred crankbait language. That's DT4 through DT10 territory. I mostly fish mine on 30 lb 832 braid straight to the lure but I also have a fluoro setup for them as well with either 10 or 12 lb red label depending which one I've been using lately. Both are pretty equivalent from the lure's perspective. If you're around more cover with it, I'd go to 12 for just a bit more abrasion resistance. The other thing to consider if you're around quite a bit of brush is upsizing everything. I'll throw 15 lb fluoro or even 17 mono with a DT10 and plan for it to only hit 6-8' deep or so. The difference in bait size isn't significant between a 4/6/10 for the most part and this time of year bait is bigger anyway. Then you can have the benefit of heavier line in the cover. I normally figure a foot of depth per 2 lb of line strength there abouts.

Maybe a separate topic, but tell me more about the flapn shad. I've never seen that one. It looks like a fluke with a flapping tail. How much commotion does it make on the water with a straight retrieve?

Yeah, this is where I'd start. You've grabbed their attention but something turned them off. For plastics (like your zako) I would say to tip whatever you were fishing with a chartreuse tip. For hardbaits in that clear of water, throw some flash onto it or take some flash off of it (chrome sexy shad vs regular sexy shad for example). Also sudden erratic speeding up and stopping can also trigger them. Gotta try that too.

yeah, me too. This thread has me thinking about some 12-14” bass coming home with me. Just need to pick a lake.

The challenge in what you’re looking for is that most lithiums have only been out for 1-3 years so there is no track record, especially for the cheaper ones. If you decide to go cheaper, check the tear down videos. There are some that are obviously cheaper and why.

don’t let the aluminum zillion put you off. It’s a sweet reel and for that price it’s going to be thought to beat. The Met at roughly the same price would be a contender (I don’t have one yet) but digitaka is out of stock right now.

in the UK NV setups were a lot cheaper. I just checked and for a basic headset here you’re talking $1800 or so. In the UK I think you could get a basic one for a couple hundred bucks. I’ll have to check with my UK buddies and see what it possible. For $200-400 I’d consider one. It would be useful for this but also walking into my stands early and late.

nope. I have factory airbags so +/- 2” body travel but it self levels. Even dropped down it doesn’t touch.

all of the above. I start by fishing fast. Having started with the original lloyd talent rat (which is lighter than current frogs and has way less action), the default action was a high rod tip and popping it as you reel so that the frog moves about 4-6” per hop and the front of it kinda plops down on the water as it lands. I tend to do that over scum and thicker grass. If it’s sparse or more open then it’s walking style. Some frogs walk left and right. One I have (live target maybe?) pops up in the water with a twitch like a breaststroke. Either way it is tip down twitching. If I’m shore bound then my first cast is about 4” from shore so long as I can bring it back to me without coming up on land. I’ll then do a full sweep in 1-3’ increments per cast to the other shore. If there is grass all the way around I’ll fish all of it. Ponds with matted grass hold fish everywhere there are mats.

thats not a half bad idea. My eyes are pretty good at night but an IR assist would be awesome for really tucking it tight into cover.

got it. Once you add sales tax on the Amazon US price it comes out to….$220 for me. Wish they had a met for that.

persistent chemicals accumulate in fatty and organic tissues/compounds. So bottom feeders or prey eaters it doesn’t matter. If you think of the food pyramid, every fish on the top had to eat all of the ones on the bottom. All of the bottom pyramid fish have accumulated the chemicals. Now the top of pyramid fish are accumulating the bottom pyramid fish. The more you eat, the more you accumulate. same here. I seem to eye hook about one per year, always from the inside out with a bigger hook.

can you share the link you’re seeing? The best I’m seeing is 31,800 which is $220 hence why I was going to order a met or bantam.

i don’t think so. I bought my zillion 2 months ago at 128 exchange rate. I paid $225. The exchange rate right now is 144 and digitaka is still showing $225. I think they have bumped up the domestic jpn price to account for fx movement. I was going to order a Met today but they don’t have any. Same with bantams.

Throw parallel to shore to keep it in the shallower zone longer. Also consider that bass will come up a long ways to smack a topwater that has angered them. Figure at least the water clarity depth, maybe more. And I fish a buzzbait when its dead still too. Reel it as slow as will keep it on the surface for that low blop sound.

No. The OP asked about the 200 'range'. That says $200 give or take a little.

So I bought the Harbor freight extender. Lifting is definitely easier since you're lifting straight and not twisting. However, the vertical adjustment isn't high enough to reach the boat as an extender. It doesn't touch the boat (or anything laid flat even) at full height and even at full height it is pretty wobbly. I keep it on the lowest setting since I'm just using it as a lifting point. So for anyone in a Ram pickup with a factory hitch, just know that the height won't go high enough.