JDM "Hover Strolling" Spinning Gear Options - Part 2 (Lots of Pictures)

[City17Banner]

This is a continuation of the earlier post: JDM "Hover Strolling" Spinning Gear Options - Part 1 (Lots of Pictures) please review that post prior to reading this post.

Beginning of Part 2

JDM Spinning Rod Options

Let’s start with light “hover strolling” spinning rod options since they are among the best options for presenting the diminutive soft plastics associated with this (nearly) weightless JDM finesse soft plastic technique.




Evergreen Poseidon Salty Sensation PSSS-67S Super Sensor (Top)

• Rod Length: 6’7”
• Rod Pieces: 1
• Rod Price: $505
• Rod Availability: Discontinued since 2019
• Rod Weight: 60g or 2.11oz
• Rod Power Rating: UL
• Rod Taper/Action: Extra-Fast
• Lure Weight Rating: 1/32-5/32oz
• Line Rating: 1.5-3# FC
• Fishing Impressions: At the very top of this list of light JDM spinning rod options is the Evergreen Poseidon Salty Sensation Super Sensor which represents the apex of Evergreen’s attempt to bring solid tipped high tension graphite fishing rods to the realms of all light game fishing efforts. According to Evergreen, the Super Sensor exhibits “ruthless” sensitivity due to it being the only spinning rod in the Salty Sensation model line to be a true one-piece rod. The Super Sensor possesses the ability to fish miniscule soft plastic lures weighing less than 1gr or 1/32oz and yet with that marvelous solid tip it’s fully capable of wearing out even the toughest of freshwater fish while providing exceptional clarity of what the lure is doing in the water at all times. The only pitfall of the Super Sensor during my six seasons of fishing with it is that its short rod length doesn’t lend itself to fishing situations that demand longer cast such as exceptionally clear water and when dealing with adverse weather conditions. Beyond this minor nitpick, the Super Sensor is the most sensitive of all the light “hover strolling” rods I use on a regular basis.

Evergreen Poseidon Salty Sensation PSSS-610S Limber Tip (Bottom)

• Rod Length: 6’10”
• Rod Pieces: 2 (Center-Cut)
• Rod Price: $515
• Rod Availability: Discontinued since 2019
• Rod Weight: 60g or 2.11oz
• Rod Power Rating: UL
• Rod Taper/Action: Extra-Fast
• Lure Weight Rating: 1/32-5/32oz
• Line Rating: 1.5-3# FC
• Fishing Impressions: Just a step below the Evergreen Poseidon Salty Sensation Super Sensor is the Limber Tip. While the Super Sensor focuses of extreme levels of rod blank sensitivity, the Limber Tip represents a more nuanced approach with a noticeably smoother rod taper and bends in a much gentler motion than its close sibling. Like the Super Sensor, the Limber Tip also possesses the ability to fish miniscule soft plastic lures weighing less than 1gr or 1/32oz and instead of wearing down the fish with a hard taper, the Limber Tip’s smooth taper allows it to gradually subdue fish without any of the “jerkiness” found in other extra-fast rods, it’s simply a smooth operator from cast to catch and never brings any doubt to whether the fish will be landed, it’s just a matter of when that event will occur.

Olympic Graphiteleader Corto GCRTS-6102L-HS (Far Bottom)

• Rod Length: 6’10”
• Rod Pieces: 2 (Center-Cut)
• Rod Price: $245
• Rod Availability: Discontinued since 2021
• Rod Weight: 57g or 2.01oz
• Rod Power Rating: L
• Rod Taper/Action: Extra-Fast
• Lure Weight Rating: 1/64-9/32oz
• Line Rating: 4# FC
• Fishing Impressions: In 2018, I began hearing rumors that Olympic Graphiteleader had created a light game spinning rod that equaled and perhaps even surpassed the Evergreen Super Sensor and Limber Tip spinning rods in sensitivity and functionality while costing a fraction of the fantastic Salty Sensation light game rods. I had to see if the rumors were true and so I was soon able to source two of these spinning rods, one for each bass boat of course. The primary reason I could go ahead and buy two totally unknown light game spinning rods sight unseen was easy, both of the new Corto rods combined cost less than one of the Evergreen rods by itself. After a season of head-to-head comparison, it’s clear to me that the innuendos and persistent rumors that Olympic is the OEM source of the Evergreen Salty Sensation rods are absolutely true. It’s so tight of a race that if you close your eyes and make a cast and retrieve any of the typical “hover strolling” rigs, there’s no appreciable difference between the Corto and either of the exceptional Evergreen light game rods! So, why don’t I own more than two of these rods, well it appears that Olympic prefers to make many variations of similar light game rods (there’s ten different versions of the Corto light game spinning rod alone ) and I was never able to source another of these exact model spinning rods. This is a basic and sometimes disappointing aspect of the JDM fishing tackle industry, sometimes, you find a given rod or reel you truly enjoy using but cannot find a second (or third) example of the tackle item ever again. Instead, you encounter a successive number of almost exact but not quite the same iterations and copies with minor subtleties and nuances that cannot be easily understood via Google Translation, and you just have to walk away with your tail between your legs.

Last on our tour of JDM spinning gear for "hover strolling" are the heavy “hover strolling” spinning rod options since there are various times and fishing situations where a slightly more powerful rod is of paramount value for presenting the minute soft plastics associated with this JDM finesse technique.



Megabass Kirisame F2-610XKS Prime Stinger (Top)

• Rod Length: 6’10”
• Rod Pieces: 1
• Rod Price: $430
• Rod Availability: Discontinued since 2013
• Rod Weight: 113g or 3.98oz
• Rod Power Rating: ML
• Rod Taper/Action: Extra-Fast
• Lure Weight Rating: 1/32-3/16oz
• Line Rating: 3-8# FC
• Fishing Impressions: In 2015, I came across a combination auction lot of four Megabass Kirisame spinning rods (three Prime Stingers and one Mobile Tourist Shaft) on Yahoo.jp and became interested in learning more about these unique looking rods with such interesting specifications. After a bit of research on the Megabass Japan website, I decided to acquire the auction lot of all four Kirisame spinning rods to hopefully present my favorite finesse jerkbait, the 3/16oz Evergreen Super Sledge. It turns out that the Prime Stinger is an exceptional rod for presenting both the EG Super Sledge and the LC Staysee 60SP jerkbaits. Fast forward a few years when I first started to learn and use the “hover strolling” technique and one day I forgot my Evergreen and Corto rods in the other bass boat and the lightest spinning rod I had on my smaller Ranger RT188 happened to be the Prime Stinger. I decided that while the rod was far more powerful than any of the “normal” rods I had used for “hover strolling” perhaps it would still be somewhat capable of presenting the much lighter finesse soft plastic lures. After rigging up the "hover strolling" rig, it was time to give it a try and my first cast was an abysmal failure, I had subconsciously treated the Prime Stinger like it was a light game spinning rod and not the wonderful ML finesse jerkbait rod I was so used to using. After making quite a few mental adjustments, I tried a second cast and promptly launched the rig 25ft further than I anticipated and into the overhanging branches of a poplar tree on the shoreline. A funny thing happened though, my line was freely moving on the branch and as I tried to gently tease the lure over the branch without getting hung up, a curious 10” smallmouth bass came up and hit the lure even though it was several inches out of the water. Needless to say, I was shocked, and this is where the more powerful rod blank came into play, I gently but eventually pulled the small fish out of the water and over the offending tree branch and was able to successfully land the fish. It was an accidental discovery of epic proportions for me, I now had evidence that I could successfully present and catch fish on the “hover strolling” technique without resorting to light game saltwater spinning rods. To say that I never looked back is an understatement, I now was able to “have my cake and eat it too!" The Prime Stinger remains the foundation of my “hover strolling” presentation due to its combination of sensitivity, relative light weight, and sheer unmitigated power compared to the light game saltwater rods. To paraphrase the old saying: “I’d rather have a more power rod and not need it then need it and not have it!” This doesn’t mean that I have entirely given up using the light game rods, rather like any tool, there’s a time and a place for everything under the sun. Where the light game rods excel at is in open water situations while the heavy “hover strolling” rods are fantastic in light cover situations. Let’s be frank though, a Prime Stinger is not a flipping rod by any stretch of the imagination at all. I'll reserve the Evergreen RSR for those types of fishing situations!

Megabass Kirisame F2-69XKS Mobile Tourist Shaft (Bottom)

• Rod Length: 6’9”
• Rod Pieces: 2 (Center-cut)
• Rod Price: $430
• Rod Availability: Discontinued since 2013
• Rod Weight: 110g or 3.88oz
• Rod Power Rating: ML
• Rod Taper/Action: Extra-Fast
• Lure Weight Rating: 1/32-1/8oz
• Line Rating: 2-6# FC
• Fishing Impressions: Similarities abound between the Megabass Kirisame Mobile Tourist Shaft and the slightly longer and more powerful Prime Stinger, the key difference is that the Mobile Tourist Shaft is a two-piece center-cut rod blank instead of a single one-piece rod like the Prime Stinger. I admit to only using the slightly shorter and less powerful Mobile Tourist rod as backup for my three Prime Stingers and they performed so similarly that I even casually forget that I had three Prime Stingers and one Mobile Tourist Shaft since I treated them all the same. Where I think such a rod would be ideal is for the shore angler or kayak angler where the ability to quickly breakdown and assemble the spinning rod for easy and efficient transport before and after a fishing trip would be advantageous. Let me be clear, the fact that I think that I own four Prime Stingers indicates that the Mobile Tourist Shaft performs so flawlessly that I cannot discern any true difference between the two rod models other than looking at the center-cut joint itself.

Major Craft Truzer TZS-S652H/Aji (Far Bottom)

• Rod Length: 6’5”
• Rod Pieces: 2 (Center-cut)
• Rod Price: $300
• Rod Availability: Uncertain
• Rod Weight: 101g or 3.56oz
• Rod Power Rating: ML
• Rod Taper/Action: Extra-Fast
• Lure Weight Rating: 1/32-7/16oz
• Line Rating: 2-6# FC
• Fishing Impressions: After a season of fishing the Megabass Kirisame Prime Stinger and Mobile Tourist Shaft, I knew I wanted to find a slightly shorter spinning rod that could more easily present the EG Super Sledge and LC Staysee 60SP jerkbaits and yet retained the power that I had found in these two great spinning rods. After an extensive search I was able to find the strangely powerful and capable Major Craft Truzer H/Aji. I say that this rod is strangely powerful because when you are casting light lures it behaves like any ML rod I have ever used, but when you set the hook, there’s a tremendous amount of remarkable power on standby that no ML powered rod should possess. I’ve discussed it with other H/Aji owners over at the TT Ultralight & BFS Fishing Forum and it appears that this strange power rating holds true and is not just something that affects my two version of this Major Craft light game spinning rod. I have found that while the Truzer H/Aji is a passable finesse jerkbait spinning rod, it’s true home on my bass boats is when presenting the incomparable 1/10thoz DUO Tetra Works Poco Poco 40F popper. The extra-fast tip is stiff enough to work the finesse popper while the strange power of the rod blank can and has pulled hooked fish out of timber, weeds, and I even got a 9” bluegill back from the mouth of a marauding pike once. Last year, I decided to try the Truzer H/Aji with a “hover strolling” rig and was surprised at how sensitive the rod actually was and upon further reflection, it makes sense that any light game and Aji (Japanese Horse Mackerel) rod would be sensitive since one of the primary presentations for these small saltwater fish is using small jigs with 1-2” soft plastic bodies. Needless to say, the Major Craft Truzer H/Aji has a permanent place in my bass boat and unless the new 2023 Shimano Conquest BFS reel exceeds my expectations and finally allows me to make the transition to using BFS gear for JDM finesse soft plastic techniques such as “hover strolling” I’ll be keeping all of these JDM reels and rods in circulation hoping to catch trophy smallmouth bass in the new fishing season.

Other “Hover Strolling” Thoughts and Findings

One unknown “feature” of the Fish Arrow Flash J family of lures that I was unaware of until the spring of 2021 when I started fishing out of my new 2021 Vexus AVX 1980 bass boat with Lowrance Active Target is how well the aluminum foil insert inside the lure reflects sonar returns and shows up on the Active Target screen. I found that a diminutive 1” Flash J lure showed up as well on the Active Target as other larger lures such as Jackhammers and deep diving crankbaits. Speaking of FFS, I truly struggled to fish the “hover strolling” technique until I got the new Vexus and began the steep learning curve to properly interpret the results of the new to me FFS returns I was seeing on the screen on my HDS Live 12 unit.

In many ways, I can argue that this specific JDM finesse soft plastic technique was hit and miss for me until I became proficient at using and interpreting Active Target sonar returns. The fact that all the Flash J family of lures showed up so well on FFS (OSP Mylar Minnows show up well too) was astounding to me. In the late fall of 2021, I was able to use the “hover strolling” technique as a successful secondary follow up technique for smallmouth bass that wouldn’t commit to biting deep-water suspending jerkbaits such as the Megabass Live-X Leviathans and Revenges, and the LC Staysee 60SP and Staysee 90SP lures in very cold water below 45-degrees. If I could see the fish following my hard jerkbait but did not commit to the bite, it was simple to put away the jerkbait casting rod and pick up the “hover strolling” spinning rod and average between 40-60% of conversions on these more active fish.

My fishing buddy during the 2022 fishing season in the same spring and fall cold-water fishing situations, actually adapted using the “hover strolling” technique as a search bait with the 2” Keitech Easy Shiner finesse paddle tail swimbait and absolutely destroyed the smallmouth bass on a number of occasions. In order to adopt the slightly larger and more active 2” Easy Shiner for use with "hover strolling", we eventually settled on the slightly larger #2 Fish Arrow Spine Hook and kept everything else the same and it is a winning combination that is also very const efficient and readily available in the US market.

Now we had evolved a very specific and perhaps limited JDM finesse technique into one that was both an effective “throw-back” presentation for skittish fish and an efficient search bait for more active smallmouth bass. I have high hopes for using the “hover strolling” technique in its different incarnations for fishing during the 2023 fishing season and can barely wait out the long wintertime in the North Country.

In summary, the JDM “hover strolling” finesse technique is an effective means to present lures to neutral or inactive fish that are suspended in the water column and are unwilling to bite faster moving lures or other finesse fishing techniques.

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read my post and please have a great day!

[Mr.Bass]

Nice write up. Thank you for taking the time to put this all down and in terms we can all understand. This definitely works but it is not like fishing a senko.

It is a home run when used with Forward Facing Sonar.

[Mcjenson]

Thanks, interesting to read and certainly something I think could be effective for smallies around here. Are you doing much casting, or are you getting the bait out mostly by strolling on the trolling motor?

FFS certainly helps with techniques like this, even fishing finesse swimbaits or underspins I often was more or less guessing where the depth was, its nice to verify I am in the sweet spot with livescope.

[City17Banner]

Nice write up. Thank you for taking the time to put this all down and in terms we can all understand. This definitely works but it is not like fishing a senko.

It is a home run when used with Forward Facing Sonar.

Thank you for the kind words and yes, I struggled with keeping the nomenclature useful to everyone and was quite "ruthless" in editing down from 14k words to just a bit under 6k words.

Yes, this is one technique that almost calls for using FFS, I admit to having struggled with it prior to getting the new Vexus and all the fancy (and now absolutely necessary) fishing electronics.

[City17Banner]

Thanks, interesting to read and certainly something I think could be effective for smallies around here. Are you doing much casting, or are you getting the bait out mostly by strolling on the trolling motor?

FFS certainly helps with techniques like this, even fishing finesse swimbaits or underspins I often was more or less guessing where the depth was, its nice to verify I am in the sweet spot with livescope.

Thank you for taking time to read these two posts about this fascinating but difficult to master JDM technique. I have done both and it really depends on the school or pod of smallmouth bass, some groups don't care if you stroll the lure over them, and others are very skittish, in this case, my fishing buddy and I usually Anchor Lock upwind and both stand on the rear deck of the Vexus and cast with the wind to gain a bit more distance to fish this type of fish group.

I agree, it's great to search for smallmouth bass with side scan while slowly idling with the outboard, but the FFS truly allows one to know what depth and activity levels a group of fish possesses. I often spend several minutes observing a group of smallmouth bass to gauge if they are active enough to catch with reaction baits, neutral baits, or if something like "hover strolling" is required to catch them.

The nuances of interpreting the activity level of the fish are both interesting and depressing at the same time since I now have a decent grasp of which groups of smallmouth bass are "catchable" and which ones to bypass and take a second look at later in the day by dropping a waypoint and returning at a different part of the fishing day.

At least now I don't spend three hours trying to catch a given group of smallmouth bass!

[Mcjenson]

Thank you for taking time to read these two posts about this fascinating but difficult to master JDM technique. I have done both and it really depends on the school or pod of smallmouth bass, some groups don't care if you stroll the lure over them, and others are very skittish, in this case, my fishing buddy and I usually Anchor Lock upwind and both stand on the rear deck of the Vexus and cast with the wind to gain a bit more distance to fish this type of fish group.

I agree, it's great to search for smallmouth bass with side scan while slowly idling with the outboard, but the FFS truly allows one to know what depth and activity levels a group of fish possesses. I often spend several minutes observing a group of smallmouth bass to gauge if they are active enough to catch with reaction baits, neutral baits, or if something like "hover strolling" is required to catch them.

The nuances of interpreting the activity level of the fish are both interesting and depressing at the same time since I now have a decent grasp of which groups of smallmouth bass are "catchable" and which ones to bypass and take a second look at later in the day by dropping a waypoint and returning at a different part of the fishing day.

At least now I don't spend three hours trying to catch a given group of smallmouth bass!

It's amazing how much you can learn using FFS. The biggest thing I noticed towards the end of the year was how broken up the schools got if you released immediately. More often then not the entire school would shut down quickly.

One downside to casting with the wind at your back is using FFS. Holding boat position and using FFS it's far easier to face directly into the wind. Are you using a pole mounted transducer, or just locating the fish / depth and casting at them without looking at sonar?

[City17Banner]

The only time I use my live well is when I am fishing large groups of smallmouth bass in the late fall fishing period, my fishing buddy and I typically put the first 3-5 fish we catch (these are usually the most active in a group) in the live well while we try to catch the rest of group. It's unusual to catch more than a dozen fish from most groups, but we had one massive late fall school of smallmouth bass where we managed to catch 33 fish out of this "mega-school" of 14-16" smallmouth bass using the "hover strolling" technique.

Yes, after the first season of fishing with Active Target I knew that I had to address the issue of using FFS in the wind while Achor Locked on a specific spot. Over the long North Country winter, I did a great deal of research and decided the Rite Hite was the best option for me and it's been fantastic to be able to use FFS while Anchor Locked as Chequamegon Bay is rarely ever calm enough to fish without encountering wind during any given day of smallmouth bass fishing.

[Mcjenson]

The only time I use my live well is when I am fishing large groups of smallmouth bass in the late fall fishing period, my fishing buddy and I typically put the first 3-5 fish we catch (these are usually the most active in a group) in the live well while we try to catch the rest of group. It's unusual to catch more than a dozen fish from most groups, but we had one massive late fall school of smallmouth bass where we managed to catch 33 fish out of this "mega-school" of 14-16" smallmouth bass using the "hover strolling" technique.

Yes, after the first season of fishing with Active Target I knew that I had to address the issue of using FFS in the wind while Achor Locked on a specific spot. Over the long North Country winter, I did a great deal of research and decided the Rite Hite was the best option for me and it's been fantastic to be able to use FFS while Anchor Locked as Chequamegon Bay is rarely ever calm enough to fish without encountering wind during any given day of smallmouth bass fishing.

Interesting, figured you'd have to use a turret to really be able to utilize FFS with the wind at your back. I still am holding out and prefer to position into the wind for now. Makes it tougher to cast, but I love scanning with FFS while trolling around, and would be very annoyed with an extra set up controls to deal with.

[City17Banner]

It certainly has its advantages and drawbacks, for me the minor inconveniences of having to rig up and control yet another electronic device on the Vexus is far outweighed by the ability to use both Anchor Lock and Active Target at the same time. The other advantage I didn't truly understand until I got the new Rite Hite turret on the water is that it is much smoother than the Ghost foot pedal is for refining the Active Target scan position when in use so I can be following a contour line or routing between two different waypoints with the Ghost and still look around the boat to see if there are any fish out to the sides. I used to perform this function with side scan off of the 3-in-1 transducer in the rear, but FFS has so many more advantages than side scan does for determining water depth and real time fish activity that I see them as complementary features as opposed to overlapping with each other.

There's nothing inherently wrong with casting into the wind until you try it with a 1/16oz lure into a strong headwind and stick yourself in the ear when the lure goes up and comes down unexpectedly. Thankfully, the tiny #3 Fish Arrow hook didn't embed itself past the barb and I was able to reach up and gently pull it out of my ear lobe. That's when I decided to try and find a solution for using Anchor Lock and FFS at the same time.

On a related topic, my second cousin is an Air Traffic Controller, and we were chatting over the holidays about if anyone could make an FFS that utilized a "phased sonar array" so you could see around you all the time, in real time, and not have to wait for the sonar transducer to scan a given area. I would imagine such a system would be very power hungry and demand a huge amount of raw computing resources to provide that level of detail, but such a concept would be truly useful when fishing for smallmouth bass since they move around a great deal!

[StymoDe]

I own Graphiteleader 17 Finezza Prototype 610UL solid tip, Shimano Poison Glorious 2610-S, and Shimano Soare Ci4 610 HS (hard solid tip) which is a ajing rod very similar to the 18 Corto 610 listed above

All these rods are fantastic and sensitivities are off the chart, and for a period of time I was after EG salty sensantion series as I believe they are the pinnacle of JDM light salt game rods.

but I have decided NOT to buy any solid tip ultra light (or light) game rods. simply because of the tiny thin tips of 0.7mm requires way too much care and the risk of breaking during transportation is real

Very interesting write up! I saw that spine hooks a few times but never get to know what they are used for...perhaps should give it a try late fall before the lakes freeze up, without FFS, just venture out

[City17Banner]

Thank you for the kind words!

Please do not hesitate to give the "hover strolling" technique a try with or without FFS as I was successful prior to getting the 2021 Vexus bass boat with its cornucopia of fishing electronics, I have come to realize that I'm simply a more efficient angler with all this hard-earned fishing awareness at my fingertips thanks to spending $$$ on great electronics and the bass boat too.

You own some impressive light game spinning rods, and I can assure you that the entire lineup of the EG Salty Sensation rods is awesome to use and as you say, require special awareness but I don't think they require any more care than my Daiwa Steez Racing Design casting rods do with their AGS guides for example. I own two of the EG Super Sensors, two Limber Tips, two D-Attackers, three BB Hitmen, three Light Toughs, and a pair of the 8'2" Rocky Huntsmen that I use for my light hair jigs and "micro" spy baits, primarily the DUO Tetra Works Perrako as its subtle size and action attract lots of trophy smallmouth bass in late fall.

Unfortunately, these diminutive spy baits also are favorites for nuisance pike bites, and I nearly lost my favorite limited edition colored Hot Pink/Chartreuse Back/Pearl Belly Perrako to a fairly large pike on the last fishing trip of the season, but I was fortunate enough to hook the fish in the upper snout, so I was able to retain this fantastic lure.

[Birdman2136]

Thanks for the write up CityBanner! Your attention to detail goes unmatched. I look forward to giving hover strolling a try this upcoming season.

[City17Banner]

Thanks for the write up CityBanner! Your attention to detail goes unmatched. I look forward to giving hover strolling a try this upcoming season.

Thank you for the kind words!

I'm looking forward to how you do presenting the "hover strolling" technique since you primarily fish out of a kayak for your river smallmouth bass fishing adventures so I'm curious to know how this "most finesse-y" of JDM finesse techniques works for you, especially in current related situations such as current pushes, wing dams, and eddie induced back current areas where smallmouth bass like to position themselves while waiting for food to come to them via the "current conveyor belt".

Good luck fishing and please keep me posted on how you do presenting the "hover strolling" technique in the new 2023 fishing season sir!