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Hogs_n_Logs

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  1. Should be completely fine. I've always felt that the advantage of slow action rods for crankbaits is overstated. In fact in my experience a "fast" action rod that has a good tip(ie a good jerkbait rod) will often be able to fish a larger variety of cranks than standard crankbait rods, the backbone allows it to not get overpowered retrieving oversized or deep divers but it can still fish light cranks effectively due to the whippy tip.
  2. Fish get conditioned to lures but remember they have no cognitive ability, its pure unconscious instinct. BUT instinct is often more powerful than cognition particularly when it comes to recognizing danger(be it fish or human). Think about the sensory inputs a bass was/is receiving that led to it getting potentially conditioned to a lure in the first place. With that said its just as likely to be a change in that body of water. Especially if you are in a place that gets a proper winter or lots of water level fluctuation. Fish populations, location and behavior can change dramatically from season to season.
  3. I have the 704R model. They are very nice , but have sometimes goofy specifications as they are designed to be "all-around" type rods for the Japanese market (ie guys that want a rod that can do both LMB as well as saltwater stuff like Japanese seabass or rockfish etc) Excellent value as well, great blanks and top hardware, looks and feels like a 300-500USD rod, very cleary levels higher than the Zodias and Expride(which I also own/love). A tad heavy. I think the Megabass Levante is slightly better for the money, but those beat everyone in that category, although one thing I like about the scorpions is they use larger guide eyes. Judging by just the pictures of the Daiwa Kage, I'm fairly certain the Shimano is miles ahead in terms of fit/finish but they appear to be competing in different price brackets(not accounting for exchange rate) so not a fair comparison.
  4. Was gonna say, these look remarkably similar to Shimanos scorpion line.
  5. Apparently wakasagi populations past 10 years or so have boomed as bigger bait species like gills populations declined particularly on lake biwa(word is thats coming back around though) which is why these style lures have been hot in Japan. The only way I've ever seen people fish them is deadsticking on completely slack line and letting it sit sometimes for ungodly lengths of time. When this bite is on its what 90% of the people on the water seem to be doing, although I think its mostly during the wakasagi spawn. I bought a few of OSP's wakasagi lures for this use on the recommendation of a friend but my immediate thought was "these are going to be absolutely useless for me in the states" lol.
  6. Instead of visibility, like BassKat mentioned the lines hydrodynamic drag in relation to the fishes lateral line senses, IMO is THE most overlooked factor in lure fishing particularly with species like trout. I think its the primary factor in why casting upstream/upwind/up current catches more fish rather than the way fish are facing to feed etc, and why trout fisherman swear by light lines even when targeting huge steelhead and browns. I briefly spoke with a shimano pro staffer that specializes in Japanese sea bass fishing(very similar tendencies to steelhead) and he said the no1 factor that separates good and bad fisherman particularly in rivers or heavy current is their ability to minimize line drag through the water while still being able to be in the strike zone and impart action on the lure. Or more specifically, minimizing the angled vertical length of line in the water that is cutting through the water column in a horizontal direction. Bass seem to be less sensitive to this than some other predator species, but it is still a factor that if you start to pay attention to it will make a ton of things make sense. For instance, with crankbaits, you notice when you get the retrieve "just right" on that particular lure the reeling resistance is minimal but still good wobble, its because you found the right combination of rod tip angle and retrieve speed were the vertical length of line in the water has minimal horizontal drag. Non-hardbaits this is less of a factor, but consider why slack lining a senko is the most begginer friendly fish catching method, were as some people can't get bit on a jig were as others can fill the livewell everytime with them. In relation to how this factors with mono vs flouro and line thickness: depending on the lures weight and resistance, less stretch potentially makes minimizing vertical line drag easier due to more direct input to the lure. Flouro = minimal stretch until reaching its breaking point; Mono = immediate and consistent stretch all the way to its breaking point. Diameter of line most important factor in determining a lines breaking point regardless of brand/model. Thicker line less stretch given a certain resistance, but larger surface area = more potential drag. As for knots, using any good knot that has a doubled connection through the eye eliminates most problems with flouro knot strength.
  7. Learning this a while ago left me to wonder about FC's viability as a method of shock absorption particularly as a leader line. I've always preferred FC to mono because while I do like some stretch in the system, every mono I've tried is just too stretchy, which in hindsight is like you mention simply because mono starts stretching almost immediately. Experimenting with braid to leader setups on heavier swimbait baitcasting setups as well as trying medium/big game saltwater fishing with spinning tackle for the first time I had some incidents that made me lose a lot of confidence in FC in terms of use as a shock leader, with the stiffer rods and heavier tackle being less forgiving on the line. It'd be interesting to see some kind of test that has flouros stretch characteristics graphed. When you pull flouro lightly with your hands, it does feel like it has some stretch and rebound(springiness), were as say when you're trying to break off a snag you can feel it being pulled like taffy before it breaks(unlike mono which can leave you flying backwards from the sudden tension release haha). Is that initial springiness you feel when pulling FC by hand have shock absorption value, or is it nonetheless heavily compromising the line? I've heard FC explained as a type of glass rather than plastic, so I assume the structure of it might be damaged even with this minimal stretch. @FryDog62 do you have any thoughts on this from your testing? I guess what I'm trying to get at is: if the invisibility/handling characteristics of flouro is preferred, is it perhaps better to discount shock absorption/stretch entirely and essentially treat it as zero-stretch when it comes to choosing line diameter/strength, rod choice and drag settings.
  8. Jokes aside this guy probably meant to type 12500yen and typed 125000. I dont think even the biggest OSP/Namiki fanboy in Japan would buy it for 12500yen though hence why hes trying his luck on the international market haha
  9. There are a ton of these style of bait in Japan with all the big brands having their own variant. Its a surface bait, almost always deadsticked on the surface using ultra light line with surface chop/wind/current doing most of the work action wise. Imitates a dying smelt. Did it once, extremely boring fishing style. But deadly certain times of year on lakes/reservoirs in Japan that hold wakasagi(a kind of tiny smelt), its sometimes the only thing they'll hit. A guide told me hes seen fish come up from 20+feet down in stained water to hit these on livescope. However its a extremely location/condition specific lure and is likely has very limited use cases in the States for bass. Might be killer for some other species or if your BOW has massive amounts of tiny 2 inch schooling baitfish.
  10. Stuff in the 150-180mm range will catch bass of any size in almost any part of the country. I think the problem most people have with not catching fish on these is fishing these lures is relatively difficult and has a learning curve. First they can be hard to cast precisely. Typically you are not fishing these in open water, you have to cast a cumbersome heavy jointed very un-aerodynamic bait fairly accurately around some kind of structure. Second working them is a learning process and depends heavily from bait to bait. Your first time with these you will have a hard time maintaining an action that catches fish. Also, many people try to "feed" the bass the bait if they get a follower, in most cases this is the no1 way to turn a bass off of the bite. Third, a thing that makes these baits so fun/good is you can really play with the action once you get good. Modulating speed, climbing/sinking, and cadence depending on whats going on is what really gets the best results out of these. Tuning the lures to your preference once you figure it out is also key. All of the above sometimes results in very inefficient fishing for fish of any kind for beginners. They are a ton of fun to fish and fished properly I dont think anything has the fish drawing power and if you get decent at working them you can elicit bite reactions from the fish before your eyes. In some ways its almost like fly fishing.
  11. Maybe a bit off topic but its the opposite with a couple twists. The original Hybrid Hunter was designed by a Taiwanese lure maker("Strike Pro") in the mid 2000s. It got a reputation as a secret weapon by various local sticks on some big tourney lakes down south. The lure company started going under, and one of those sticks who also happened to be a lure tester for SK(Todd Castledine) tipped SK off, SK bought the design(maybe tooling too?) and the rest is history. The 6th sense model actually got quite a bit of flak when it came out for being a HH copy. The bill design has been around for decades but never quite implemented like with the SK. Like you said killer bait. I love the full size and my main fishing buddy always has the Jr tied on.
  12. Jighead + plastic like others have said have been a staple for any predator species for decades. I think the "new" label comes from bass fishing up until recently being so cover orientated, and open water fishing being dominated by bottom techniques or hardbaits. Up until 10 years ago or so the common knowledge was bass are always stuck to structure or on the bottom, much prefer slow moving presentations etc. Nowadays its becoming more common knowledge that bass are simply just a very versatile predatory fish, and can feed like a tuna or a catfish depending on its environment and seasonal conditions. As for the "new" style plastics and jigheads, ya old style plastics that have been around for years will catch fish. But the new style ones make it much easier to efficiently fish this way, as is the case with most "trendy" lures that fans of old lures love to hate on. Stuff like the sakamata shad are much more stable and hold horizontal position better than old style grubs or flukes on a jighead. The fish will hit a old powergrub or a fancy hover bait if its presented correctly, the new style plastics just make it much easier to present for longer each retrieve.
  13. Excalibur Fat Free shad isnt particularly incredible but it was my first crankbait fish. Still have it, havent used it in years though. I feel like bass stuff got it fairly good in that not too much good stuff gets the axe and the stuff that does theres usually something better that was developed. In contrast legendary salmon lures/colors seem to be dwindling every year, most likely due to buyouts of the companies paired with the relatively small regional areas were theyre used=less volume than bass lures=less incentive for big fishing to produce.
  14. Primary thing thats really crystallized this year for me is 9 times out of 10 trying to "feed" the bass a lure is the best way to turn off a strike.
  15. T-rig big creature bait is my go-to for pads, but unlike most I go light(1/4 oz) and instead of trying to punch, I cast past were I want to fish then drag the bait into a gap till it falls, then "hang" my line on a pad and work it, rinse repeat. Theyll also hit when you drag it across the top, they usually miss but in that case you just let the bait fall and they almost always hammer it again. A jig with a big trailer works good for this too, but were I fish a t-rig catches less of the pad adjacent vegetation. I typically use a big creature bait that has alot of visual and water displacement impact, if you get their attention they will typically eat it. Were I fish pads, the bottom usually isnt good, the fish seem to feed up or lateral, so with punching heavy weight T-rigs I feel like you have to pinpoint crash it down really close to the fish to get the reaction strike or nothing, were as with the method above you can draw them in keeping the bait in the strike zone or when dragging across the top. My absolute favorite lure for this is the Nories Big escape twin, but they are hard to find and pricey in the states, honestly any plastic with a large profile will get the job done. Almost every year my biggest, healthiest fish are out of pads.
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