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On a family vacation in New Hampshire. Headed out in the yak on dawn patrol this morning before the family got up. Fishing a TK for the first time, lip out tail up (mode A?). Also first time for the new setup I pieced together from members here, Triza Dragoon @mbleming and Tatula 300. The Triza and 300 are phenomenal (even if the 300 May be overkill for the TK). I bombed the TK out along a deep weed edge. A couple quick handle turns and then two rod twitched and this gal smashes the TK clear out of the water. Safe to say, I nearly soiled myself. The rod and reel performed flawlessly even though I was a basket case. She made a run into the weeds before I landed her in the net with a face full of salad and Tk. I fished for a couple more hours, playing with the different modes but no other fish wanted to play. She’s not a monster but it was an absolute blast.

I didn't know I was being followed until it took a swipe, u can see it in the video. I almost set the hook but in that split second I realized it wasn't a bite. Patience and a few handle turns later she committed. GOPR0002_1691732542421_1.mp4 20230810_191704.mp4

Having fished pretty much every JDM jointed crawler made over the past 7 or eight years (and most USDM ones too), I finally splashed the cash on a the $400 KRR Cometa Wing, a handmade wooden 2 segment jointed bait weighing in at 2.8 oz and 6.5 inches in length. The time from placing the preorder to the bait showing up on my doorstep was about 4 months. The Cometa ran pretty well out of the box and had about a 85% startup/wing engagement without having to pop it. Wing cadence/speed was high even on ultra slow retrieve. Interestingly, the only way to slow the cadence was to do a burn retrieve. No hardware or segment/segment noise, only sounds were the wings engaging the surface in the typical crawler bloop bloop sound, so I would say this bait is on the medium (typical) side loudness wise. As I fish exclusively at night, I am very dependent on the feedback I receive through my preferred topwater setup: Evergreen Kaleido Super Stallion GT2RS, Daiwa Zillion HD, 1520 SH, and Hitena Silky 63lb braid. The description of how the Cometa feels/gives feedback on the retrieve is something akin to soft butter. Extremely smooth, even utilizing braid. This is a big difference to other baits in its price bracket like the Vansbaits or Kawasemi, or even other much less expensive wood baits like the DS Customs Speed Crawler or Fish Arrow Wing Dachs where I can feel every tiny vibration, movement of the wings, joints, and hardware amplified. It was an interesting feeling. It wasn't a dead feeling, nor refined, just very buttery. Typically I can feel if a bait ticks a weed, or a fish is pushing up behind a bait,. With the KRR, it was muted to the point I had difficulty feeling that I had ticked a submerged weed and had it caught on the hooks. Typically with even the slightest weed on a hook, the wing cadence will change, speeding up or the pitch will change. On the Cometa, there was no change. Surface disturbance was about on par for the size of this bait. The hookup ratio was 3 for 3 in blowups to landed fish. However, the bait went out of tune in the first fish, which was a cookie cutter 4-5lber size, not even a crazy fight which should not have caused it to get out of tune so easily. It took me a good amount of time to get it back in tune, and I never could get it tuned back to running perfectly despite my best efforts (and many, many years experience fishing and tuning all sorts of crawlers). By fish 3, the soft plastic tail had been lost. A spare tail is included in the package, so that will be replaced. The finish on the Cometa held up well, only a minor bit of hook pitting and bite marks. Wings and hardware closely resemble Raid Deka Dodge wings/hardware, but they are pre bent forward, which explains the fast wing cadence. My overall impressions of this bait are that it is beautifully built and finished, the hardware is somewhat fragile, and it is finicky to retune. Would I buy another one? Probably not. I have other better performing baits in that price range: the Kawasemi is a magical bait, and the Vansbait Magnum Lake does everything the KRR does, except better and more reliably with a slightly larger profile. KRR Cometa Wing Length: 6.5 inches Weight: 2.8 oz Strengths: Top notch build quality, excellent hook up ratio, when running right has a great sound Weaknesses: Hardware is fragile, and is finicky to retune. Soft plastic tail is easily lost. Out of the box: 9.5 Twitch: 6 Ease of Startup: 8 Slow Retrieve (Creep): 6 Medium Retrieve (Crawl): 9 Fast Retrieve (Skitter): 6 Noise: Medium (from wings: 100%) Wing cadence: Fast Durability: 6 Ease of tuning: 6 (Stay tuned, as I will have an in-depth crawler breakdown and reviews of over 30 different JDM jointed crawlers coming soon on jdmfishing.com. My other article, on the DRT Klash 9, can also be found on jdmfishing.com, in the Big Bait Otaku section.)

Hoog trout has been my go to lately. Nice wide glide. Hiro's are good too.

She’s a beauty of a smallie. Solid catch for sure.

Hiroshima trout

Nice catch!

nice!

Few TN creek smallies that fell for the Flag.

Coosa is my home river. Amazing place to fish, especially if you’re a moving water type guy although there is good fishing in the lakes like Weiss, Neely Henry, Martin, Jordan, etc. I love to float the upper headwater areas . It’s a different type of fishing and if someone has fished lakes their whole life they won’t catch a thing. Largemouth are nearly nonexistent in those areas except the oddball you can find in the slackwater feeder creeks where they meet the main river. Anyone ever tells you that spot fishing is for light line and small jigs has never fished the Coosa or Lewis Smith. Those guys will snap your 10lb bullshi* line just to be a d***.

A pike or a grass pickerel would a nice challenge to paint. I’ve actually painted a wake version of this bait a bass. Not the best looking bass lol. I’ll try to find some pictures of it

You're not going to currently find a travel rod that can fish a TK to a Deps 250 well. Trust me, I've been looking for that rod for about 3 years now.

The bite window was huge today but sadly the fish weren’t but i did manage to boat 12 bass on crawlers with these 2 mediums being the best of the day. If NJ’s water quality was a lil better I might be able to do better in August LOL IMG_5642.mov

Probably won't get too far being in CA but a 4lb 1oz this morning on the Yunique Scout. Fun fish!

These are pretty awesome I’ve been using these lately.

cast out, let it sit, give it a couple good twitches, let it sit for a minute or so, then start my standard slow retrieve. I usually throw a twitch/reel pop in there as well. ill pause it and twitch it around structure, rocks, laydowns, etc., working it out of structure or over grass. I've also had good luck slow retrieving and then cranking it fast a few turns, then a pause. my favorite is cranking it thru pads/weeds, as long as you can get it land in open water they come thru weeds pretty good