NJBasstard

I'm in NJ just 5 minutes over the Walt Whitman bridge. Water temps mostly in the 47-52 degree range and nearing 55 on the nicer days. My fishing has been split between the creeks/canals off the Delaware River and a couple lakes (DOD/Union) for the last month. My best bites have been way up in the creek channels in 2-3 feet of water. The further up the creeks I go the more fresh vegetation I'm seeing. That's where they've been. I've had quite a few 10+ fish days recently all on spinnerbaits and jigs. Not sure about your body of water but that's what working here.

I have one on 100% of the time I'm on the water. I'm also on a kayak and use my PFD to store my phone, scale, pliers, fish sticks, braid scissors, lighter, super glue and other odds and ends. I actually like having it on and would feel naked without it. Unfortunately it's rare I see others actually wear there's.

I think there's a minimum post requirement to post in that section and your profile shows you only have 8 post.

Went out for about 3 hours yesterday morning. Water temp was in the 42-44 range. Got on a school of crappie and shortly after found the Bass. They weren't very active but I got a few to commit. Here's my first for 2024.

It's still $22.50 for me in NJ. Another $10 with trout stamp. Renewing online adds a $0.96 transaction fee, $0.64 convenience fee and a additional $2 if you'd like a physical copy mailed. Our license expire on 12/31.

Senko. Tossed it for a total of 5 minutes one day back in spring.

I know what I said in my post yesterday, but that was before knowing I didn't have a full day's worth of work today 😅 Got out for what is officially my last day of fishing for 23'. Decided on a body of water I haven't been on since 2014/2015 and managed to put a pattern together. Vision 110 and S Waver doing all the work again..

Bite was on this morning here in NJ with water temp around 47f. Got a few on a glide with this 5lb10oz being the biggest, and possibly the last good one I'll get for 2023.

I got this rod over the summer and paired it with a Tatula 200. I have only used it for treble hook swimbaits but I think it would do okay with something like a 6" Magdraft Freestyle. I pretty much agree with everything @Bass Rutten said and wouldn't go over 3oz.

Picked this up used a couple weeks ago. Came with the drive insert, Malone cart and a couple other things. I've made some changes myself already and stole the graph off of my Bonafide for the time being (not sure what I'm doing with the SS107 yet). My first pedal drive and loving it so far.

I personally haven't eaten from here but I'm told they're edible. The one pictured went home with my buddy who took the pic.

Fished a new area further up the canal than I've ever fished before. Got 9 bass between 15"-17" and 2 snakehead with the biggest at 26". All caught on a jig.

Megabass Popmax

I've fished since I was old enough to hold a rod but I didn't start specifically targeting bass until around 2008. I was really only throwing Texas rigged plastics until I found this site in 2011 and started absorbing as much information as I could. Even after 15 years chasing these fish I still have days where I get on the water and feel like a rookie. Their are times during the year where I'm able to fish 3 days a week and I get so dialed I feel confident . Then I get humbled real fast once I'm busy again and am lucky to get out 3 times a month. So I guess for me it depends on how often I get to spend time on the water.

Got tired of half my combos being leaned against the wall so I put together another rod rack a few nights ago

Probably won't get to try it til early next week but this Chad Shad finally showed up on my doorstep ?

We had a storm roll through the other night so the water here was all turned up. The morning started out calm and overcast but I knew 18-20mph winds were expected by 10am. Its the only day I'll get out this week so I decided to fish a couple mile stretch of some creek where I'd be mostly protected. I usually do well here and get 20+ fish within those couple miles but I made it to the end with more missed fish than I can count and only 3 dink bass and a pickerel in the boat. Once I got to the mouth of the creek I could see how choppy the lake was, but thankfully the wind was pushing me back toward my vehicle on the other side of the lake. While drifting back I noticed bait fish breaking the surface so I dropped anchor and tossed a S-Waver 168 I had tied on. In 10 minutes I got 3 more to bite all this size. Nothing big but when the bites tough I'll take what I can get.

New box and finally got my hands on a Spro Rat 50

Some stuff I ordered came in.. Daiwa 7'3" Swimbait rod, Tatula 200, Ima Glide and Baitsanity Anidote

I mostly fish 3/8oz & 1/2oz, but like Pat said above there are days that adjusting the fall rate by going over 1/2oz or down to 1/4oz is key to triggering bites. For colors I only have black & blue, green pumpkin and PB&J.

Thankyou for the advice! What ratio would you recommend for both Glides and swimbaits? I see the IPT difference is about 4" between the 6 and 7 ratio.

Thanks for the replies. I have never handled the frame on the Tatula 150 or 200 models but I see the 200 mentioned a lot here and other places. It looks like the brakes aren't the same between the 150 and 200 but not sure of any other differences beside line capacity..

Came home to a rod tube at my door from ALF. Thought to myself, "I didn't order anything?", than noticed a nice texts from a close friend telling me to enjoy my gift arriving today. WOW!!! Anyways I've been intrigued by this rod since it's release but nobody local carries them and they're always on backorder when I looked online. If I'd known it was coming I would have been shopping around for a reel. It's the 7'3" SLX MH Swimbait rod rated 1-4oz. I wanted this rod for glides and swimbaits (all treble baits) in the 2oz-3oz range when I'm on the kayak, where I'm dealing with overhangs and mostly doing short to mid range target casting. First, does anybody have experience with this rod? Online reviews seam non-existent. Second, what size reel would pair well with it? I basically only use Shimano and Daiwa but I'm open to all suggestions. Not sure if a 200 size would be okay and handle that weight range. I'd rather keep this a budget setup so keep that in mind as well. Maybe $150 for the reel.. I only mounted the reel in the pic to play around with it.

I still use my Curado 50E and Scorpion XT 1000. The Curado I use for squarebills. I also have Curado 70 and SLX MGL, but the 50E/XT and Core/Alde frame is still my favorite of the smaller Shimanos.

I dont know of any chatterbait with that style keeper but I do have some swim jigs that do. I always just fold the tail end of the plastic so that it clears the hook point while I thread it on. Kind of tricky with the thicker plastics like a paddletail. Getting them on isn't bad. I use a lighter to apply some heat to the screw lock before threading it on. Goes in easy and stays put. Removing them is a bit of a chore at times.