JDM fishing tackle – Page 3

Our Most Used Gear of 2023…

It’s that time of year again when we go over our most used gear from the previous year.

First up will be the wading boots…

We both used the Simms Flyweight Access Boot. It was the second season for my pair and they are showing some wear but otherwise are holding up fine. Lightweight with plenty of grip.

Our choice of jigheads changed this year. We found the Daiwa Gekkabijin’s to work very well. Runner up was the Duo Tetra Works Sniphead Large.

Our favorite snap this year ended up being the IMA Tariki snap in Size #0 and #1.

For the second year in a row…we still prefer the EuroTackle 2-inch and 3-inch B-vibes in Green Pumpkin or Black.

New for 2023 was adding a Yeti GoBox 15 to the loadout. We were looking for something that could hold all of our extra jigheads, snaps, plastic baits and spools of line. It lived in the vehicle for most of the season. It was nice to reach the car after an outing and reload what we needed.

For me, my most used reel was the Daiwa Airity. I absolutely loved using it and can’t recommend it enough. My wife used her Stella almost exclusively and loved it. She has recently received an Airity so we will see what 2024 brings.

My most used spinning rod ended up being the Tenryu Rayz Spectra RZS51LL again. Great rod for our type of fishing and target species.

Her two favorite setups. The Stella C2000S with her Tenryu Rayz Spectra RZS61LL and her Shimano Soare XR S58UL-S rod with a Soare XR 2000 reel.

I did spend quite a bit of time in 2023 fishing with baitcasters and really enjoyed throwing hard baits with them.

Daiwa Silver Creek Stream Custom 8.5 on a Tenryu Rayz Spectra RZS51LL-BC followed by a Shimano Scorpion BFS on a MajorCraft Finetail FSG-B462UL glass rod.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t throw in a pic of some nets we used for 2023. We purchased these off of Etsy from a Ukrainian master craftsman who goes by ZenNets. Excellent nets!

I am sure that there are things I’m leaving out, but these were the main items that stuck out in 2023. We explored several new areas, enjoyed beautiful scenery, had a lot of laughs and a few disappointments. But all-in-all, we had a great year of fishing and continued to learn a lot. Here’s to 2024 being a great year as well…CHEERS!

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone is doing well and Thank You to my readers for a great year.

Things have been very hectic for both of us with many contributing factors…work, family and life. We have been able to squeeze in a few short excursions here and there so we are still fishing.

We did pick up a few new rods this year. In particular was the 2021 Shimano Soare XR series in 5ft 4in and 6ft Super Ultralight and the 5ft 8in Ultralight. These rods are fantastic and extremely sensitive. The 54SUL paired with the Shimano Soare XR 500SPG reel excels for trout in our local stocked ponds. The 58UL paired with a 2000 size reel works really well in small streams.

The Soare XR handle has been the most ergonomic and aesthetic handle we’ve come across so far.

Believe it or not, I have been using this little reel…The Shimano Soare XR 500SPG a lot lately. It is a beast of a little reel! Gear ratio of 4.7:1 with 3kg or drag and weighs 135grams.

We haven’t sat down and planned trips for 2024 yet, but once winter fully sets in I am sure we will start that process. We are definitely not sure what kind of year 2024 will be but I think we can all guess what it might look like.

I do know that Daiwa will be releasing a new Daiwa Certate in the 2000 size sometime in the first quarter of 2024 and I am interested to say the least. Time will tell though.

I will close now, and again, I wish to give a heartfelt shout-out to everyone who visited this blog and hope you all have a happy holiday season no matter where you are. Cheers!

Outings…At Last!

We finally managed to get out and fish a bit yesterday morning. Temperatures are cooler early in the morning and we arrived at one of the nearby lakes shortly after sunrise.

The wind kicked up just as the sun rose over the hills so we had some issues casting our light lures. We managed to pull out 7 bass and the one perch. We were expecting a package so opted to head home early to be there for its arrival. Long story short…it never arrived so we wasted our time. Had we known, we would’ve stayed and fished all afternoon.

Fast forward to the next morning and we were once again waiting for the package to arrive and it finally did at 0905.

This is classed as an Ajing rod and is listed as a saltwater super ultralight rod. It is a bit stiffer than ultra light rods that are made in the States.

Paired with the Shimano Soare XR 500SPG reel.

The bending curve on this rod is fantastic, as is the sensitivity.

We were at another local lake by 0930 with the purpose of putting this rod through its paces. We had a narrow window of opportunity as storms are expected early this afternoon.

Much to our surprise, they had cleared all of the brush from around the lakeshore so we had a few more chances to cast from the bank.

Think this was the smallest bass I have ever caught.

This is going to be a tangle of poison ivy soon.

We managed to catch 5 bass before the rain started. I am impressed with the new rod and can see it being almost perfect for the trout ponds. It would definitely be fun to use on the rivers for smallmouth.

It looks like it will finally start cooling down after tonight which is a great relief. We want to fish the river at least one more time before trout season starts. It will all depend on how much rain we get tonight and what the temperatures are going to do. Stay tuned for more and thanks for reading.

12 Aug 2023-Nothing New Really…

On the fishing side of things, the only new thing has been the purchase of two nets from ZenNets out of Ukraine. The gentleman is a master craftsman working under austere war-torn conditions. We didn’t need more nets but he was having a half-off sale so we snagged two more.

As far as actual fishing goes, the answer is NO. I am still working tons of overtime which means 16 hour days. Also, the heat as been atrocious these past few weeks. For those who don’t know…we tend not to fish for our beloved native smallmouth (Velox) in these conditions due to increased mortality rates due to extreme stress. And I will also add that come Saturday, I’m pretty exhausted and tend to sleep a lot. I am not sure how accurate my Samsung Smart Watch is in regards to its sleep tracking software…but it showed I managed to get 4 hours and 57 minutes of DEEP/REM sleep from Monday thru to Friday. Im not gonna lie…I am tired.

On the weather front…the heat indexes have been well over 100F and approaching 120F day after day. It IS August in Oklahoma after all. The hard part for us is that we usually don’t have to contend with a lot of humidity from July to September. This year has been different in the fact that is has rained/stormed just enough to keep the humidity high enough to be miserable (60%+)

Our youngest leaves for college next week and we’ve been buying everything required to furnish a dorm room. Seems odd to me that the University provides a long list of necessary items knowing full well that they are cramming two young adults into a 12ft x 15ft dorm room. I feel horrible for my wife because she has been the one running around and purchasing everything. I’m at work from 0500-2300 and can provide ZERO help unless it’s via a phone call. Parents are truly the unsung heroes in the world! The things we do for our children that go unnoticed is astounding.

I will close here as there hasn’t really been anything exciting going on and I haven’t had a chance to really go fishing…anything further would sound like whining, lol. Thanks for reading!

I’ve Decided to Try a Vest…

I am constantly trying to streamline my gear to become more efficient. I prefer to carry what I think I need for a day on the river and not much else.

For reference: I do own a Patagonia Convertible Fly Fishing vest already. And for honesty’s sake, I’m too lazy to pull all of the stuff out to reconfigure it for a different purpose. Once I get something dialed in the way I like it then I tend to leave it alone. So for that reason, I bought something different.

The LittlePresents Strap Vest Neo V-23. This is a Japanese company that designs various items that are fishing related. I’m not into the tactical look but this had what I was looking for without being over the top.

I will still continue to use the Yeti Panga 28 backpack, but I wanted something a little more “user” friendly. Having my essentials up front and accessible will increase efficiency which will allow me to fish more. I will no longer have to stop and take off my backpack and dig into it to find what I need.

Both front pockets are spacious and hold plenty of lure boxes and terminal tackle boxes.

There is a single large zippered pocket on the back to hold raingear, licenses and various other things. Even my coffee brewing kit.

My criteria was for a “thin” vest as opposed to one with a gazillion pockets everywhere that stick out too far forward. I didn’t want my casting to be impeded so I got a vest that could hold only the essentials. I also wanted it be lighter and cooler than a regular fly fishing vest (I know they make mesh vests) because summer is here and temperatures are climbing. I also wanted a vest that still had the potential to be modified by me if I deem it necessary.

Two things I still need to sort out are: a spare rod holder and a water bottle holder. I can always toss a water bottle in the back pocket but I’d like something easier to get to.

I love fishing…but I also love tinkering with fishing gear and tackle! Hopefully this will work out and I plan to test it soon so stay tuned for that. Thanks for reading.

Old School…

The other day when the wife and I were fishing a river that we frequent often…we heard something and looked upstream to see two kayakers approaching.

Usually we have the river to ourselves for the whole day but this day was different. The first thing the older gentleman in the lead kayak said was, “this river sure is crowded!” I thought the comment was rather odd and I could tell the guy was genuinely upset that we were fishing the same river as them.

I will digress a bit here to explain to the reader that I myself am not a people person. I prefer to get as far away from other humans as I can. I like to fish or hunt completely surrounded by the sounds of nature. And I don’t take kindly to incursions from the outside world/other humans. Also, I am tired of cleaning up after other humans no matter where I go. Now back to the story…

I could’ve gotten upset myself at THEIR intrusion since obviously we were on the river well before them. Instead I let the old man vent for a bit and genuinely agreed with most of his complaints/observations. For reference, this particular area became available to the public in 2019. However, most of the people who accessed it kept it pretty quiet because they knew what would happen once word got out. It wasn’t until recently that the Fish and Game Commission decided to advertise it on TV as well as holding fishing clinics here. None of the “regulars” were happy to say the least.

Anyway, the 4 of us sat on the river and talked. We had honest conversations regarding this river and our respect and concern for it. These two gentlemen were from Arkansas and had purchased land on the river just so they could have access. Once they realized that my wife and I were just like them in the fact that we deeply cared for the well being of this river, they relaxed a bit. They were amazed that we fished up and down the river on foot…deeming it too strenuous so they opted to fish out of kayaks. Respect was earned and given both ways as the conversation continued. We could’ve parted as enemies but instead parted ways as fisher-friends.

Give and take goes a long way. I’d rather fish in harmony with others when possible. And I really don’t have a problem with others trying to protect their waters as long as they allow access to people who feel the same way. I don’t pick up trash for awards or recognition but because I CARE. In retrospect it was kind of funny…as we talked and shared stories about some of the rivers we fished, we ended sharing new locations and access points with each other. I shared my knowledge of BFS and JDM tackle and showed them the gear we were using as we clearly had different concepts of what constituted “ultralight” fishing gear. If both parties of a conversation are not learning something…is it really a conversation?

Things to ponder on…

Outing 24 June 2023…

It was a beautiful start to the morning. After a 2 hour drive just talking and drinking coffee, we hit the river running. The temperature was hanging right around 70F and the skies were grey and cloudy. We could hear some thunder way off in the distance but we opted to fish anyway.

MajorCraft Fiberglass rod with a 2017 Shimano Scorpion BFS reel.

She opted to try her Teucer fiberglass rod as well.

She used her Daiwa Silver Creek Stream Custom 8.5L reel.

I was a bit surprised when she told me she wanted to try using a baitcast setup on the river. She has practiced with me many times before so I knew she could do it. She was worried about bird nests and I told her it was going to happen and was inevitable…so don’t worry about it.

First fish on a baitcast setup for her. YEAH!!!!

We had a really good morning session on the river. We managed to catch 73 with about half of them being decent. I hadn’t spent a full day behind a baitcaster on the river before and thoroughly enjoyed it. Watching the smallmouth rocket up from the bottom to smash the lure was a sight to see.

Her efforts were ended early due to a weed! There was a piece of Johnson grass at her side and when she cast, she hit it which resulted in a reel spool full of mayhem. And try as I might, I couldn’t pick it out. I offered her my setup but she was quite content to fish on with her spinning outfit. I was and am, very proud of her. I think she sees that there is some value in that method in regards to how and where we fish.

It wasn’t long before the wind picked up, the skies grew ominous and the sound of thunder got louder. We decided to call it a day and started heading back upstream to the car. And of course we weren’t fast enough and we both were absolutely soaked by the time we made it back. Zip? He could’ve cared less and was having the time of his life!

It was definitely good to be back on our home waters. We are not looking forward to the heat that we know is coming, but there’s nothing to be done about it. Stay tuned for the next one!

Bait Finesse System Tackle…

BFS or Bait Finesse System styles of fishing were developed in Japan to help catch highly pressured fish…Largemouth Bass in particular. It soon morphed over into the Trout world in regards to both Area and Stream fishing. This method uses specially made rods and reels to cast lures down to sub-1 gram weights. Using 2# test line on a BFS baitcaster has become pretty commonplace for those who use this type of gear.

I was intrigued by the method but having never really spent any time using a baitcaster, I was pretty intimidated. There was a definite learning curve for me to become somewhat comfortable using this gear. My Dad tried to get me into it back in the 80’s but for some reason I couldn’t use a right-hand wind reel very well. Fast forward to the past few years, and in Japan you will find every reel made today comes in a left-hand reel version.

For me…this style comes into its own when you pair a BFS reel with a fiberglass rod. It is a lot of fun. The accuracy is better, the speed is better and it really shines when you have limited casting space.

Practice, practice, practice! I did just that…casting my baitcasters in as many different scenarios as possible. Standing in the driveway, standing in a boat, standing waist deep in a lake or stream. They all require some subtle nuances that are different enough to affect casting. Adjust the braking system and spool tension until you get to where you are comfortable casting. And it will change with different weights.

And I’ll be honest…2.5 grams is the lightest I have felt comfortable casting so far. I have had my fair share of bird’s nests to date and some have required cutting line off and re-spooling. But keep in mind that I came to baitcaster’s rather late in life ( around 50yrs ) so I am still learning to master this technique. For me, throwing minnow type lures with a baitcaster seems to be the best method and that was why I got into BFS.

Outing…June 15-21, 2023

We couldn’t get a full 2 weeks off of work due to the wife’s work situation. We tried to shoot for a long weekend instead.

We headed back to the Cossatot River for a quick camp and fish outing. Our planned itinerary was to camp and fish the Cossatot, the Ouachita and the Kings Rivers. Needless to say, the week was a blur and we put 975 miles on the vehicle.

We got lucky in the fact that the Ed Banks #2 Campsite was available, so we grabbed it. There are zero amenities here other than a place to pitch a tent. The fishing was tough due to the thunderstorms that were rolling through on a continous basis.

This picture was taken just moments before a severe thunderstorm hit. A torrential downpour, heavy lightning and rapidly rising water forced us to cut the day short.

The river level fluctuated on a daily basis. The mornings started off cool, especially with the dampness. We never built a fire but had a small “heater” that fit on top of a single burner backpacking stove.

We caught several decent smallmouth, but only one good one. With the weather we had and the river conditions, we were happy with what we did manage to catch. Quite a few of the smallmouth were decent sized and put up a great fight in the current so we had few complaints. Snakes were abundant on this trip however. I think we quit bothering to count after 10 were spotted in close proximity.

Sometimes you have to share a good fishing spot!

Saturday and Sunday night we rented a cabin and were very glad we did. It stormed quite hard that night with heavy rain, lightning, thunder and wind.

Monday and Tuesday we spent in a cabin on the Kings River up by Eureka Springs Arkansas. This river was on our list but didn’t pan out. I think we caught 7 or 8 fish the 2 days we were there. We rented a canoe and fished a 5 mile section of the river to limited success. Supposedly it was a “Trophy Smallmouth Section” but we never saw anything decent size except carp. Not to mention, every deep hole had someone swimming or throwing rocks. We were NOT impressed and to keep from throwing shade I will say no more about our stay. I’m not sure we even took pictures.

For me…the dead giveaway was when I asked the outfitter what strain of smallmouth this section of the river held, and their reply was “the Northern strain” which I thought was odd. I should have known better and cut my losses.

Anyway…we are cleaning and stowing our gear and getting laundry done so I will close now and get back to the task at hand. Thank you for reading!

Issue Resolved! 2022 Shimano Stella C2000SHG…

Awhile back a did a post about the issues I was having with line twist on my new 2022 Shimano Stella C2000SHG. It was kind of embarrassing really, since the new Stella had super-slow oscillation and a “twist buster” polymer fin on the rotor. Not to mention this is THE top of the line Shimano reel and is a favorite worldwide. Needless to say, I was getting major line twist. Meanwhile, my wife who has a 2022 Shimano Stella C2000S was happily fishing along without a single issue.

To make a long story short…she was using a 6ft 1in rod while I was using a 5ft rod. Once I delved into rod construction and the proper placement of line guides according to the formulas…it became evident. My rod was too short for the reel I was using and the first guide was placed too close to the actual reel which resulted in the line coils being smashed against the guides while casting. Normally, with proper line guide placement, the line flows through the guides relatively easily.

It is hard to get a picture of this concept so please bear with me. In essence, you install the reel onto the rod and rig the line through the guides. Then bring the line all the way back to the reel without tensioning the rod. If the line does not touch the first 2-3 line guides…you have a good match. If it rubs on the first 2-3 line guides, you will probably have issues.

I’m sure there are exceptions to every rule…but this actually made sense to me from an engineering standpoint. And switching to a 6ft 1in or 6ft 3in rod resolved the Stella line issues. I try hard not to delve into the minutiae of things very often…but when I buy a high-end reel and have issues…I want to know why and fix the problem.

And I learned something during this process, which is one of the main factors I love about fishing…learning something new! And we spent several hours trying our favorite rod and reel combos to see if they were properly matched or not…it was quite the eye opener.

Thank you for reading and I hope that made sense…

Outing 6MAY2023…Back to the River.

After a long work week, we decided to hit the river this morning. We had a few days of rain earlier in the week but it didn’t affect the river level. Also, the temperature took a dramatic uptick and was forecast to be in the mid-90’sF this weekend. All systems go!

I’m not going to lie…I was worried because after almost 2 hours of fishing, I was sitting at ZERO and had lost 3 lures already. Meanwhile, she was up to 3 fish and way up the river ahead of me. She wasn’t waiting on anyone!!!

She caught the biggest of the trip. As usual…

It took us quite awhile to figure out a pattern. It ended up being the troughs. They wanted an upstream cast to the head of a trough. And all of the troughs that produced were below rapids or choke points. Even changing to a different jighead made a big difference as well. I ended up redeeming myself with a personal total of 12 whereas she ended the day with 8. But it doesn’t really matter…her bigger fish apparently counts for an extra 25 points or something. Well played.

All in all, it was a great day. We both “needed” the outing and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Woke up late, took our time, and still managed a relaxing day on the river. Catching fish is always a bonus and “keeping score” is nothing more than an inside joke between the 2 of us.

We definitely want to go back to the river as soon as we can. Thank you for reading and maybe we’ll see you on the next one.

Outing 23 April 2023…

We took some time today to hit a local lake since the wind was supposed to be pretty mild today. The day started off at 36F so we had a leisurely start and enjoyed our coffee until the temperature hit 45F.

We opted to take our ultralight gear because we decided to target perch/panfish. In all honesty…we fished yesterday morning too with our ultralight gear and caught 6 fish…but the wind was so high we bailed out and headed home and we didn’t take pictures.

We had a good outing until we walked up to something that made our blood boil. We found 2 Largemouth bass intact and thrown up into the edge of the woods while another one had been hacked to pieces while still alive. To top it off, the dumbassses left their machete imbedded in a log.

We cleaned up the crime scene since getting a game warden out there was practically impossible. Neither one of us had anything nice to say about the perpetrator(s). And of course, per our usual routine, we picked up quite a bit of trash and headed home.

It gets really frustrating when our fellow “fishermen” are complete pigs and leave trash and beer cans all over the place expecting someone else to clean up after them. Not to mention that last weekend there was a party on the boatramp and they burned pallets. Once the fire was out there were nails and screws everywhere. Brain-dead is the only thing I could call them.

Anyway, we’ll keep fishing and cleaning up trash no matter where we go. Thanks for reading and we’ll catch you on the next one.