casts_by_fly

you REALLY like blade minnows for spinnerbaits trailers. I have a pack of green pumpkin and use them, but find they add quite a bit of weight compared to a boot tail or split tail. I think I need to try them in white/light on my more preferred spinnerbait colors to give them a proper workout.

https://kbass.com one option.

i love and hate Hopatcong at the same time. It’s not my favorite bass fishery. I know there are fish there and I get into them occasionally, but what works there doesn’t fit my wheelhouse of preferred fishing. And with as many tournaments that are there, those fish see a lot of pressure. But I LOVE the multi species nature of the lake. On one day there last year I had large and smallmouth, perch, pickerel, hybrid stripper, white perch, pickerel, and walleye. All throwing a combination of top waters and crank baits. Having multiple walleye slam a 110 plopper before the sun comes up is a lot of fun. You really never know what you’re going to catch. The pleasure boats suck and being in a kayak is a little limiting at times. If it wasn’t so close I wouldn’t fish it as much. thanks, rick

a stake out pole is a great choice for flipping in a kayak. I’ve considered one or a micro power pole. Most of the places I fish though an 8’ anchor wouldn’t touch bottom so I rely on the motor and play the wind. I’ve also considered a stakeout pole to use like a push pole in places when I get shallow but I’m not carrying that plus the paddle so I’ll stick to the paddle. the pdl106 should be just fine for what you want to do.

Which kayak? Stability and height above the water are your friend for pitching. I’m in an autopilot but the whole sportsman series is super stable and would work. A hobie PA would also. If you can stand, you can pitch. The main challenge then will be wind blowing you into the cover you’re fishing. If you’ve got a big area of pads or grass then you can let the wind blow you in and get stuck. Then pitch what you can reach and move again. If you want to pitch a long bank where you have to keep moving, I’d suggest learning how to paddle standing up like a paddle board. You lose time standing up and sitting down. cranking is also possible. If you’re cranking offshore then you’ll need an anchor. Wind will blow you all over and you’ll lose position. Also bigger cranks and other high resistance lures will pull your boat along as you reel in. That’s great for fishing down a bank and I do that all the time but not great if you want to be casting to a spot repeatedly.

I lived in the UK for 12 years, only coming back to the US just over 2 years ago. Carp/bream/tench are the most fished for as they are in every pond and lake in the country. There are two main methods for freshwater pond fishing. 1- how much weight can I bag as quickly as possible and 2) what’s the biggest of a species I can catch. Style 1 is based in competitive match fishing. You sit in one spot (a peg or a swim) and have a fixed amount of time to catch fish. Doesn’t matter if you catch 50 lb of 1lb fish or 10x 5lbers. Top weight total wins. Here is where you try to catch whatever the pond has the most of and where the 1-4 lb carp win. You feed the swim with chum until you have bunches of fish and then catch as many as possible. Here is where looooooong poles (30’ or more) reach you to the far bank and put your bait exactly where you want it in 10 seconds of shipping the pole out. This is MLF style. Style two would be called specimen hunting. This is specialist territory. Carp rods are 10’+ affairs with 20 lb line and multi component rigs and weights. Guys camp out for days at a time with the hope of catching one of the named fish that is known in the lake. This isn’t competition usually, but more passion to find the biggest there is. It isn’t limited to carp but they are the most popular and known. Both feature carp heavily but not exclusively. Bream (not bluegill like, but a different species), tench, roach, and some others feature depending on the water. In running water there are a few more. Some places have perch, Zander and pike but that’s getting more specialized. I don’t think they are stocked anywhere. I didn’t get into it heavily but since I had a couple lakes nearby I would do a little. Carp on bread on the surface in summer on ML spinning gear is fun. Mostly 1-3 lb fish but you get the occasional 10 lb. greyling and trout are a ton of fun if you like moving water. I fished both fly and centerpin for them. Access is tougher and more expensive. Nothing like the plethora of free streams here in the US. That said, a nice October day with good flow and clean water is so much fun for chalkstream greyling. i think there are two ponds in the UK that list largemouth as being present. I never searched them out so can’t verify. thanks rick

I went Humminbird helix on my autopilot. I have the G3 MSI 7”. I’d like a touch screen and I’d like a bigger screen, but a solix 9 isn’t in budget. I played with my dads 7” lowrance (Ti I think) and the imaging was better on the helix. I love mine and haven’t had a single issue in a year.

I built a fair few fly rods with recoil guides when they first came out. Still have a Dan Craft 9’ 5wt with them and it’s one of the most responsive rods I’ve ever cast. I’ve not done a casting/spinning rod with them, but it would be a hard choice between them and titanium SiC tiny guides if I wanted a super light high performance rod. rick

not around here. what this guy says. After fishing just the edges and tops last year I picked up a big kids rod to drop 3/4-1 1/2 oz down through it. It gets thick here, especially the pads.

I’m in about the same place you are. I live in Chester so have Hopatcong, Musconetcong, Budd, and Cranberry inside of 20 minutes from me. Mountain, Oxford furnace, spruce, and round valley are 30 minutes. I put a lot of time on Budd, Hopatcong, and Mountain last year but also got to the rest (except spruce). I made it up to monksville once and love the look of the place. Same with Merrill creek, except I like to be on the water before daylight so the gate restrictions aren’t my favorite. I’m planning to get onto Spruce, splitrock, and waywayanda at a minimum, maybe down to Carnegie or Assunpink at some point. where are you based? rick

Hook sharpener and trailer hook if you can get away with it. About all you can do.

I’m doing the same this year and did the exact same search. I’m partial to falcon rods and went for an expert amistad. I’ll tell how it is on Tuesday when it gets here.

Thanks gents! Now just need some soft water here.

Hi all, long time lurker so thought I should just sign up. I started bass fishing over 30 years ago with my dad including some club tournaments when I was 10-12 years old or so. We stopped tournaments but fished most weekends April through September for a long time. I moved out of the country for 12 years and didn’t have bass fishing so the past two years or so being back have been getting back into it and relearning what I forgot. Last year I picked up a motorized kayak which opened a lot of waters up and I did a lot of exploring and a bit of catching. This year should be a better one yet as I’m branching out and weeding out some lakes that were just okay and adding a few more into the mix. I’ve learned a good bit here and can’t wait to give a little back where I can. thanks, rick