casts_by_fly

For me, I’ve not had a good frog bite up here since we’ve been here. Ploppers hit fast and got quiet. I’ve never been a popper fan, though I think there is probably something in it here. In all the cases above, I think pressure plays a role. There are a lot of guys fishing on a lot of smaller waters. In the summer I see every guy throwing a frog up onto the bank in the shallow weeds. If they aren’t throwing that they are throwing a senko into the holes. For me, a walking bait or a buzz bait are my primary topwaters. I let the level of grass determine which one I start with. If there is too much for a buzz bait I’ll throw a toad which is like a weedless buzzbait. In certain circumstances I’ll throw a topwater spoon of some type (usually the same place I’d throw a toad). Either way, I let the cover determine the bait, not the season. For me, a topwater is a moving bait. If the fish are actively eating AND looking up willing to break the surface, then a topwater is the answer. And I’ll take that answer as much as I can get it. I’ll always have one tied on and I’ll always start with one in the morning. When the water hits about 50 or so I will have one on.

On a baitcaster? Crank it down and winch her out. And I choose the line and rod combo that works for that style and the cover I’m fishing. Pitching a half ounce on a hefty rod with 20 lb big game? Crank it down. Throwing walking baits through the treetops on 14-16# supernatural? Crank it down. Since I mostly fish mono I’m not worried about excess drag or give in the system. On 6 lb leader in open water with a minnow I’ll leave a spinning rod drag open a little. With 10 # leader throwing a Neko near cover I’m pretty locked down to pull them out.

what I think is happening is that the jack can’t crank down far enough to accommodate the slope of the driveway. I think that’s the jack type where it cranks up into itself so as you crank it down it eventually hits the cap of the jack. I think the answer is a different style of jack.

Afraid not. I love the shimano knobs so would never consider swapping them. That said, I’m pretty sure all shimano knobs are the same.

Same thing. JDM just means the Japanese market sold version.

Just get the 23 met jdm from your preferred Japanese site.

The year before last i started with 6” magdrafts and similar to good effect. So for last season I set up a rod, added the 8” magdrafts, grabbed a few hard swimbaits here in the flea market. And then barely threw them. So much other ‘new’ going on for me last year that I relegated them to the occasional day on deck- “I think this is a good idea in this specific scenario” but didn’t put the time in to learn them. This year I’ll do a better job of that.

Pitching to bedded fish I’m with Mike L. The other thing I’ll throw into the mix is a 3” Ned. They are small enough that when a fish picks it up it is hard for them to grab just a claw or tail. They basically have to get the hook in their mouth. If I’m fishing where i know there are fish on beds but I’m not targeting beds, it’s a vibrating jig, a spinnerbait, or a 6” Magdraft depending on the cover. If we’re talking smallmouth then just go with Ned, 3” paddle tail, and a walking bait on top.

Some pictures of Mara (grey) and Roxy on the shoots down south in the UK.

@Swamp Girl - bird hunting can be a ton of fun, especially if you have dogs. The US style of walked up hunting where you are basically out for a walk with your dog and letting your dog find them is fantastic. Depending on the terrain, you can be out for a nice leisurely walk along the edges while the dog does all the work. Watching a dog bounce through a grass field that’s taller than its head and all you see is the dog porpoising through it is fun. Watching a good dog work a patch, catch a scent and really hone in on the bird is great. For me, the dogs make the bird hunting. I grew up hunting small game every weekend from the start of October until the Saturday after thanksgiving and then for the month and a half after Christmas when late season came in. We’d hunt rabbits, grouse, and the few pheasants that were around, mostly without dogs and if there was a dog it was a beagle. When i graduated college i got a lab (my wife grew up with labs) and I’m on bird dogs 4, 5, and 6 right now (2 each over the years- black lab, wirehaired vizsla, Slovak roughaired pointer). Alas, the only bird hunting around here is either stocked birds on state lands which get hammered with people or clubs/hunting preserves. So these three mongrels in the house now are untrained at this point. The British style of driven hunting is even more of a social event. You start the morning with coffee/tea and a snack in the hunting hut or lodge (depending on the level of place you’re in). You’re ferried out to the first drive (in a land rover, horse box, horse drawn carriage, or walk) where the shooters (the guns) are placed in their spots (pegs). The beaters then start pushing the birds toward you. On a good shoot, you’ll often have a woodlot of birds up on a hill and the shooters down lower. You only shoot at the sporting birds (none too close or too low). After the beaters have cleared the end of that woods and the birds have stopped flying, the pickers and their dogs go retrieve them. On some shoots they pick birds while you’re still shooting. On some shoots you have your own dog at your peg. After they are all picked, you casually mosey over to the next set of pegs while the beaters get in place and you repeat. After 2-3 drives you have elevensies- coffee/tea/cakes. Do a drive or two and have lunch. On a casual shoot lunch is in the field and you brought it yourself (I was partial to a slab of terrine and some crackers). Usually there was a glass of port involved. A nice big slice of cake. Then go for the afternoon. On the fancy shoots there might be dinner after. On the casual shoots you meet at the pub for a pint after (muddy boots and dogs welcome).

6-8. But a lot of time for line that thin I'm also just tying the basic improved clinch. It depends on the relative diameters of the line and the hook wire. A small wire like on a ned rig or a trout sized egg hook (around a #10 octopus hook) then I just tie an improved clinch. If the hook eye wire is a little heavier like a #2 hook on a jighead minnow then I'll go to the trilene knot with 6 wraps usually.

for a 1/4-5/8 rated rod (a medium) you're talking about squarebills, divers up to a 10' range or so, and lipless crankbaits. You're not looking for a high capacity bomb them out there reel for all of that. Any bass reel you're happy with will do just fine for that application. You don't need a 5.x: ratio for those applications and I'd argue you want somthing a little quicker for some of those. Personally, I'd throw a 6 or 7 ratio reel for those applications (and do). Especially if you want this to be a versatile reel for other things too. My norm for almost every reel is a 7:1 type around 34" a turn. I go faster for bottom contact or topwaters. I have some 6: ratio reels and I'm putting one as a dedicated spinnerbait rod this year. If you are going to buy a zillion, buy it from Japan from one of the reputable JDM sites and get it for around $250.

I've eaten plenty of bass. They are fine. If you're going to eat them, eat the ones under 15" or even better in that 12-13" bracket. That said, if I'm looking for fresh fish, I'll keep some crappie, perch, or big bluegills first. @Jigfishn10 - Pretty sure he's not knocking it.

I don’t know how you northern guys deal with it. Knowing that the snow that just fell in November is still going to be there in March when the sun finally comes back out. We are a month in to basically all sub freezing temps and have another 2 weeks minimum to go, maybe more. There is 18” inches of snow that is starting to crust on top, but not enough for the dogs to walk on or me to clean up dog poop on. And there is no relief in sight. Nothing I can do about it. Keep the driveway and walking way clean. Hope for a warm up to come that isn’t in the 10 day forecast. And that’s only ~2 months of this. You guys have 2-3x that. I don’t think I could do it.

Well, I’ll do a better review once I have it in hand and I’m on the water but I decided on the M+ Poison Adrena solid tip. I already have the PA UL/M which is great for the 1/8 oz 3-4” minnows. The M expride sounds like a 3/16 ideal range. I figured the M+ would give me just a little more breadth and less overlap. Most of the time it will have a 3/16” and 4” but I want to be able to go up to a 3/8 and 5”-6” bait and I don’t think the straight M solid tip would do it as well. Should be here next week.

Buffalo was #4 in total yards per game and #4 in points per game for the season. These are unadjusted numbers, but the point is- the offense wasn't the problem. Sure they could use some more receivers, but they did fine with they had. Their defense was #7 in yards and #12 in scoring against. That needs some improvement, but you can win with that. Turnover differential they were basically flat as a total team. Special teams was average. Where they were sorely lacking was pass rush, depth and situational football. Their back end defense was good when healthy but they lost too many people. They didn't have the up front pass rush to help out that back end. That's all down to depth of the roster.

spencer- I'm also in the tennessee seat camp for rods where you have a balance question and want some flexiblity on the reel position. Centerpin rods for sure are one of those for me. If I recall correctly, a lot of earlier float rods (spin and centerpin) used a 3-5" rear butt and a half wells fly rod grip in the front. I have an older browning that was set up that way. I didn't like that confirguration because a half wells pushes your hand too far forward to touch the reel, even with a pinkie on a 5" centerpin reel.

That's what the guy on chat said. If it doesn't apply at checkout then you'll get refunded the difference. Only Minn Kota and HBird are excluded in this sale so it truly is site wide.

well, it's fixed and works but so far the two rods (two difference brands) that I've been holding back on aren't part of the sale it seems. There isn't a list of exclusions posted anywhere so when their chat is up online I'm going to ask for it. If the rods are included I'll make the order but if not I'm going to wait.

It’s fixed now.

this is the longest expanse of cold weather we have had in Jersey since I've been here. Aside from 2 days that hit 40 degrees in Jan, we will basically be at or below freezing for all of Jan and the forecast through mid Feb so far. All of the lakes have been iced up except one and I bet it is iced up by now (or 34 degrees). Either way, there is zero chance of a january bass for me this year and Feb isn't looking good (last year I caught bass on Feb 28th). I was hopeful for a mild winter and to be able to fish through it now that I have the boat, but that isn't this year. I didn't make a prediction in this thread but I'm going to say march 15th for general ice out for the bulk of my lakes. That's a little later than normal but this single digits crap is going to be packing on the ice inches.

because you'll freeze your own lugnuts off?

It says “Lew’s” right on it so I’m going with factory. I imagine the model number is under the reel foot holder if you unscrew it a bit.

@TheSwearingAngler - same.

@Checkerfred - I have a little time, am cooped up in the house, and don't want to do the work I have so I'll take a stab for you. Separate the techniques and the plastics. You can rig most of those plastics on most of those techniques. There will be some natural pairings, but you can throw just about anything on just about anything. Within the techniques, think about the cover you're in and how much water you're trying to cover. A carolina rig is design for covering water. You fish it by casting it out and dragging it back to you, sometimes at a fairly quick rate, but almost always at a constant rate. Because of the amount of weight you're fishing most of the time, you can cast them a mile to search for fish. In contrast, a wacky rig (with a senko for example) is the opposite. You're tossing it at a specific 'thing' and letting it settle/sit. Give it a twitch and let it sit again. The others will fall between those. Read about the different techniques and watch a video of someone fishing that technique. A dropshot is generally a spot based technique where you leave the weight in place and shake the rod, though you can drag one. A Neko is similar to a wacky rig, except you have a nose weight which means you can hop it along the bottom like a bottom feeding fish. It also sinks a little faster. You can cover more water that way if you want or make casts faster (I will toss it as a spot, let it hit the bottom, a couple twitches, and reel it in). A ned rig can by fished steady or stopped- you can swim one steady with pops and stops or you can dead stick it and drag bottom. Quite versatile in that regard but a ned is typically going to be a smaller/lighter/more finesse operation. A texas rig is probably the most versatile of the bunch. You can cast it at a spot like pitching into cover or punching. You can bomb cast it like a carolina rig and work it back over a point or hard patch along the bottom. You rig it lighter and swim a bait. It is also the most weedless of the bunch. You can rig it weightless or with 2 oz of weight (for punching). If you're only going to learn one technique of the list, start here. For the baits, think about what the fish are eating and what type of cover you're going through. Baits like a trick worm, senko/stickworm, a curltail worm, craws, and beavers (you didn't list them but I will) can all be fished on texas rigs, carolina rigs, neko rigs, etc. They all give a little different look on any given rig. A stick worm or trick worm is going to have minimal action/motion of its own and sometimes that's what the bass want. A curltail worm or a craw worm is going to have a lot more action as the tail/craws undulate through the water. Sometimes the fish want that. I'll use the time of year and water conditions to give me my starting point, but then listen to the fish. If you know the fish are focusing on crayfish then a craw or beaver is a good starting point. If shad or bluegill are on the menu then one of the more baitfishy plastics might be the answer. I noted that there are some natural combinations. Dropshots normally will have a plastic that has minimal motion from appendages but have a thin tail that flickers with minimal motion like a straight robo worm or one of the other dropshot specific worms. A ned rig (mini jighead) is most commonly used with a 2-4" basic plastic (often floating) or similar. Swimbaits are normally fished on a jighead (weedless or not). Why choose a wacky or Neko rig over a Texas rig? There is a lot of overlap in when you'd use one or another. As noted above, you can cover more water with a Texas rig over a wacky rig so if you're doing more searching then a texas rig might be better. If the fish are tight to cover and in a negative feeding mood (like after a big cold front) then a wacky rig that you let sit on the bottom a bit might be enough to get them to eat. When does a Ned rig really shine? Lighter cover, depths less than 10', fish that are looking for smaller profiles. It's not the best to be throwing into heavier grass/vegetation. You can rig them weedless and the nedlock type weighted hooks are good for that, but neds work best on lighter line (6 lb and lighter) and light line doesn't mesh with heavier cover. Since Carolina rigs and drop shots can also be weedless, what situations make one better than the other? A carolina rig is a searching rig. Bomb casts, keep it moving, etc. The rig with the length of leader lets the bait pop up off the bottom and glide back down. Great with a fluke, a wide beaver, or a lizzard that has a wide profile and will flutter down. A drop shot is better as a small spot lure where you can cast it onto a spot and shake it in place. You can drag a dropshot also but if you're going to be dragging there is probably a better option. Are there general guidelines tied to season, water temperature, or spawn phases that help narrow these choices down? See my comment above in the baits section. Colder weather fish are often going to want less action, will be tighter to cover and less aggressive. All generalizations, but that will be true more often than not. Fish that have gone negative whether from a cold front or fishing pressure will want a little less action/energy in a bait. All of that will push you towards one bait or presentation over another. If it is June in the north and the bluegills are spawning, the bass are going to be a bit more agressive and will eat baits with more motion like beavers and curl tails, though they will also eat sticks, tricks, and neds also. The spawn (bass on beds portion) is a whole 'nother animal and the bait itself will often be less critical than where you put it in the bed and how that fish is feeling today. If you're talking about sight fishing, a white craw or ned will let YOU see the bait on the bed and find the spot that the fish is defending the most. If the cover permits it, a small bait with a long open hook will maximize hookups (bass will often grab the tail of a long bait).