First Fish of the Year

Not much, but I'm happy. Except for the fact that I scratched my brand new JDM reel in the process of unhooking the fish.

Rod: Jackall Poison Heritage HC-610MR "Master Stroke"
Reel: Shimano Scorpion XT1000
Lure: Jackall Dum Dum Hog 4"

"Bain" Rig

We call it the Texas Rig.

Here's mine with a few mods to it. I hand tie a skirt with thread as tight as possible and thread it onto a hook. It's a pain to get it past the barb because it's tied so tightly. Flares out nice, and catches a lot of fish! I'll probably add a worm rattler in it too.

My Top Lures of 2010

Introducing my top 5 lures of 2010.

These are the top 5 lures I chose for 2010. They were the most producing lures for me in 2010 and in no particular order I present to you my top 5:

1. Jackall Sasuteki Craw 5"
Last year I had so much success after being introduced to the Jackall Sasuteki Craw 4". I've been using different types of craw baits and once I switched to the Sasuteki Craw, I was getting good results; 5 lb, 6 lb, 7lb bass. But for 2010, I decided to upgrade to the 5". I use this lure mainly near tulles and grass or when I want to fish slow. There are many ways I rig this; pictured here is with Zappu's P.D. Chopper, but my favorite is to rig it with a skirt I hand tie to the hook and peg a bullet weight to it. It allows it to be completely weedless and by hand-tying the skirt, it flares out much more.

2. Jackall MC/60 SR
2010 began the year where I fell in love with Hard Baits, and as you can see, 3 of my top 5 are hardbaits (if you consider a spinnerbait a hard bait). There was a full week in October where the crankbait bite was wide open . Five minutes casting this lure resulted in my largest fish of 2010; a beautiful 5lb 1oz fish. I would throw this lure mostly parallel to the shore and it would trigger many strikes.

3. Jackall Bling 55
Continuing that amazing crankbait week in October, I would comb the area with this amazing flatside crank bait made by Jackall. The tight wobbling action surely helped me catch fish when the bite was getting tough, and the internal magneting system enabled me to cast this at VERY long distances. A great addition to this lure is the size of the hooks. The back hook is slightly larger than the middle hook, which helped in short strikes.

4. Jackall Super Eruption Spinnerbait
I got the most vicious strike with this lure for 2010. Fishing about 7:30 at night I made a long cast, and as I was slow rolling this spinnerbait, I had the hardest hit ever that I experienced since bass fishing 2 years ago. This made me fall in love with spinnerbaits and my collection has now grown. I loved burning this near schools of shad and slow rolling it over submerged grass.

5. Jackall Flick Shake 4.8
Lastly, I cannot forget the flick shake worm, which was my best producer of 2009. When the bite got tough, just tie one of these on wacky rigged with a 1/32oz Zappu Inch Wacky Hook. If you upgrade to a 5.8 size worm, I recommend the 1/16oz Zappu Inch Wacky Hook. The hook you use can drastically change your hook up ratio and I found that the Zappu hooks are the best.

Well there you go! These are my best lures of 2010. At the end of 2011, I wonder what lures will be in my top 5.

What 2010 Brought. My Year in Review

Well what can I say about this year? The year 2010 has been something else. For starters, the year seemed to have done by rather fast. I have been fishing for roughly 2 years now and have fallen in love with this sport. I find it quite entertaining seeing how much I have progressed both in a technical aspect and tackle aspect in this relatively short time period I have been bass fishing.

It’s a funny how I started fishing anyways. It began with a project my girlfriend had to do for class; she needed to take photos of people in the park. At that time, I just started trying out trout fishing with a friend of mine I knew from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I would frequent this particular park but that night I saw a bass angler nail a huge bass, and another one was pulled out of the small city pond almost immediately by another angler. That guy who caught the first bass became somewhat of a fishing mentor to me as I soon found myself buying bass gear and fishing the park often. I kept up on this hobby despite the fact it took me nearly 4 months to finally catch a fish at this city pond known to the locals as being the hardest pond to catch a bass.

A year later, my rod collection had grown considerably, now consisting of high end JDM bass rods and high end fishing reels. It didn’t stop there; lures were now costing me roughly $15 a piece. The year 2010 brought to my attention that you absolutely get what you pay for and that these high end lures are priced as such because it really does make a difference.

2010 also brought in a new style of fishing for me. Nearly all of 2009, I finesse fished approximately 90% of the time. This year, I probably drop-shotted about 5 days total. Results of this? Much less fish hooked, but I made up for quality fish by nearly Texas-Rigging the majority of the time. This was also the year I fell in love with “Hard Baits”. I never really liked hard baits such as cranks, vibration baits, and spinnerbaits, but I caught great fish off these lures and some were the most vicious strikes I have ever felt in my few yrs of bass fishing. I also got my largest fish of the year off a shallow crankbait; a beautiful 5lb 1oz bass.

Unfortunately this year has seen a decrease in amount of bass pulled out of the pond. Numerous people were keeping bass; some even over 6 lbs. Don’t get me wrong; I believe it’s their right to keep bass, but it’s also their responsibility to help keep and maintain a population of bass, especially at small city ponds like the types I love fishing at. By November of last year, I had caught at least six fish over 5 lbs; this year… only one.

This year, I have lost friends too. It seems like people want to fish with a particular person because it’s “cool” to fish with that person. I did not let that bother me much though as I didn’t feel the need to go to their secret ponds for guaranteed catches. I was completely at home at the “hardest pond to catch bass”. I found it funny though as once that person moved away, I got phone calls asking if I wanted to fish. I consider myself an urban angler and although these private lakes are tempting with 10+ bass days, I was fine at my park where it was a good day if you caught one. This pond is where my fishing friends are at anyways.

Lastly, and probably the best part of the year is the friends I have made by fishing. When I started this blog, I never meant for anybody to find it, yet alone read what I have to say. I had probably 2 followers at the beginning of the year, and little to no updates. Now I’m currently at 22 followers and according to the stats of my blog, it has been visited over 400 different people. Social networking had a great role in my blog being known to others. Many of these people I talk to here, I have yet to meet in person; the guys at Bass Brigade especially Lloyd Gomez, Chris Jackson of Fins-n-Grins, Tyler Brinks, Sinjin Kim, and even the guys on Twitter like @Tairyo28 and @HataTakuma of Jackall, and @DDBethke of Optimum Baits to name a few.

2011 is just a day away, I’ll be renewing my fishing license soon. I wish you all a great New Year! Keep casting and keep fishing! Thanks for visiting.

Jackall's Knockin' Jaw

Jackall's new vibration lure from Japan is their Knockin Jaw. This lure is a metal vibration lure that differs than your standard rattle trap. The lure is called "Knockin' Jaw" due to its large jaw shape that allows it to bounce off rocks and stumps much better and the two hook design lessens it becoming snagged on such obstacles.

This is a silent vibration lure that has three options of retrieve. If you clip the lure (clip comes attached) on the front most hole, closest to the jaw, it is meant for a Fast Retrieve style. Clipping it on the middle hole gives it a more standard retrieve, fast or slow, lifting and letting it fall. The last hole, towards the back is meant for slow retrieving, good for shallow water and enticing finicky bass to bite.

Just got it in, and I want to try it at the city ponds but the rain has been pouring down for nearly a week. I can't wait!

Had a few hrs to kill

Not a single bite...

Confessions of an Urban Angler

Confession #2

For you strangers wanting to talk to me, please don't stand to my immediate left or right; if I get a bite, I want to have a solid hook set, and if you're in my way I won't be able to achieve the hook set I want.

Fresh New Apparel from Bass Brigade

You're a bass fisherman right? Well why not show the world what you love to do, and that is "Rippin' Lips". The guys at Bass Brigade make "premium quality goods designed for the die hard bass angler."

These guys have done it right; styling gear worthy of wearing even when you're NOT fishing. But why would you not be fishing? Visit their site! Buy a shirt, or two or three, and show the world what you love to do.

Visit Bass Brigade at www.BassBrigade.com

Video for you guys to enjoy while you make up your mind which shirt you want to order. Takuma Hata catching some nice bass after the Ayu spawn.

Confessions of an Urban Angler

Confession #1

When someone comes up to me and ask if there's any fish in the lake, I may answer respectfully yes there are, but in my head I'm thinking "You must be an idiot for asking me if there are fish when obviously me and a few others are fishing."

Koppers Live Target Hollow Belly Frog

Looks real nice! Can't wait to throw it around

Bass-a-Thon

Is today... I'm leaving the house NOW! Updates soon

Haven't fished much

Been VERY busy with school and other things, so I haven't been able to fish as much as I would like.

Congrats to the guys at Jackall for their performance as Basser Allstar Classic 2010 in Japan. They have four in the top 10!You guys did great! Thank you Tac Naruo for the updates

2nd Place: Naoto Kawaguchi
4th Place: Seiji Kato
7th Place: Noriaki Narita
10th Place: Kazuto Yamaki

Adapt to a different style.

It's time to throw away your style of fishing en route for a new one. I myself am a plastic guy, I love fishing slow, using plastic craws, hog style baits, and finesse style wacky rigging. But when the fish are biting other things, it's time to adapt to a different style.

Although I own a handful of hard baits, I normally don't fish them as much as I should. I probably should though! The past outings I've been sticking to shallow cranks, mainly flatside cranks such as the Jackall Bling 55, and the Jackall MC/60 SR. Turns out it was a good choice as even my friend was able to catch one on a crank the other day. This is by far my biggest fish of the year, and my biggest fish on a hard bait. I think I'll be cranking a bit more often!

My gear for today..

A few Jackall Poison Heritage Rods paired with Shimano Reels, with my new Jackall Tournament Cap (must be a lucky cap).

5lb 1oz Crankbait fish

Rod: Jackall Poison Heritage HC-610SR "Master Stroke"
Reel: Shimano Core 100Mg
Lure: Jackall MC/60 SR "Table Rock Shad"

Another Shot of my fish

Jackall MC/60 SR "Table Rock Shad"

Jackall Bling 55

Nothing Special...

>Rod: Jackall Poison Heritage VCM-CAST68
Reel: Shimano Curado 200E5
Lure: Jackall Bling 55

New Lures

Jackall Pine Shrimp 4.5"

Four casts later...

3lbs 8oz

Rod: Jackall Poison Heritage HC-68MH "Hyper Approach
Reel: Shimano Core 50Mg
Lure: Jackall Pine Shrimp 4.5"