JediAmoeba

Eastern Pa doesn't have a lot of huge lakes - 5700 acres is wallenpaupack and the one closest to me is Beltzville at a whopping 950 acres. The majority are much smaller.

I switch it up, trust me. There are people in our club throwing dropshots and ned rigs all day not catching a keeper. I just think the amount of fish compared to the pressure has them all backed off and wary. In a 1400 acre lake everyone hits every spot 5 times over. FFS has killed special honey holes IMO. Yes, we have those way points. So do the 50 other anglers that hit that same spot. At a recent tournament on a pretty legendary Fishery I had 50 boats within 200 yards everywhere I fished for the day. I have been fishing for my whole life pretty regularly- things have changed IMO. Yes - I can go fish the Delaware River for some smallies but they are generally smaller fish and none of our tournaments are on the river. Pa waters have really become private in Eastern pa - within 50 miles I have about 8 bodies of water I can fish which will all be crowded. And the state doesn't give a d**n about bass fishing. The main lake I fish is a "big bass" lake so the minimum size is 15" but honestly I have caught many more over 15 than I have under. So I really question the tactic. And when a team consisting of a good angler and one of the top Pros in the country can't catch a 4 bag limit, I really question it...

Same here - pretty much all private mismanaged waters. The PA Fish Commission only cares about their Trout season. They don't do anything for bass.

I fish in a club and it's been a long time since I had more than a 3 bass day. Been a very very long time since I had more than a 10 bass day(2 years). The last 5, 8-hour tournaments I fished, I have caught a combined 2 bass. 40 hours for 2 bass. I fish as a coangler in mostly 20 HP restricted boats. Due to the smaller boats we go with a 3 fish limit and last year in 11 tries I caught a limit twice. Overall, I caught 12 bass tournament fishing in our club last year. I used to catch a lot more fish and they were easier to catch it seems to me. I consider myself a decent fisherman but not great. The thing that gets me is we have some absolute sticks in our club and at many of the tournaments most people aren't getting limits. Recently we had 32 people fishing in a tournament and out of those fishermen only 1 person had more than 1 fish. 32 anglers that all catch fish consistently and have been fishing most of their lives...and we can't catch more than 1. This is consistently the case - many of our guys utilize FFS and and have great equipment but we get thrashed on Saturdays. It seems like fishing on the East coast is getting harder and harder - fishing pressure is relentless and great fishing days are few and far between. I have a few places I can go to catch a bunch of smaller bass and Pickerel but you know you aren't going to catch any hogs. I know some states help bass anglers but in Pa they could care less. They are more concerned about stocker Trout and Striped Bass in the reservoirs - 2 things that don't proliferate which makes no sense.

Spring fishing, to me, is over once the spawn hits. Post spawn is summer fishing. I am currently in a late spawn to post spawn pattern. I love spring fishing - nothing is better.

I use a 7'4" l Dobyns Sierra BFS rod - I don't prefer spinning gear and this thing fits the bill nicely! Paired with my tuned up Alphas reel I can cast a mile... https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Dobyns_Sierra_Ultra_Finesse_Casting_Rods/descpage-SSUF.html

Yes. Hinkle also has others, including a Trout.

I use 8/0 beast hooks on mine

I only paid 275 or something for my hinkle and honestly it isn't one of my favorite gliders.

The custom swimbait market is a fickle *****. It's amazing what they go for... but I fish them and usually don't pay over retail. This one was a custom one with a paint job I paid nearly $100 for...

Tatula 150 or a Cabelas Daiwa Arachnid(basically the same thing). I use the Arachnid and it's a workhorse...

My rigging station is the back of the van or the kitchen table.

Try the freestyles. I am not a fan of soft plastics that have a hook on the bottom. I also would have mended it. You can get a lot.of fish out of a magdraft unless the tail is gone...

Failures: Wobblehead. Jika Rig. Those weedless soft walking baits. The Walking worm.Christ on a stick was it bad for the amount of effort that went into getting it... Some electronic frog thing that took batteries. Some stickbait that emitted an ultrasonic frequency. Johnsons weedless spoons with a pig on the back for top water. I caught a few but there are better options. Mini Swim Whizz. There are many others that I purged from memory. Hopefully. Rage is my jam...

I recently lost an irreplaceable $300 custom glider to a Muskie. It sucks really bad but I wouldn't change anything...

I have always done well with T-rigs with an added carolina clacker.

They aren't really glide baits - more like a twitch bait, fished jerkbait style on lighter line(10 or 12lb test)

I fish in the Poconos, also known as land of the Pickerel. I lose a lot of baits to them - just the nature of the business. I have found if I change out my gear to guard against them, I decrease my bites significantly.

I fish both - for 50# braid silent flip is better. Silent Flip was maid specifically to be silent in heavy cover and pads - it does the job very well

I have 5 swimbait setups - 3 are 6.x.x and 2 are 7.x.x. I usually use the 6.x.x

I haven't had it fail in the last year I have been using it. It has excellent knot strength.

I remove all the split rings and use snaps.

Nothing smoother than Silent Flip by Cortland. https://www.cortlandline.com/collections/silent-flip?tw_source=google&tw_adid=617210317856&tw_campaign=18089545610&gclid=CjwKCAjwscGjBhAXEiwAswQqNGjBIIfKi78D6NJbXT637xE_WAulNgJJYuXPaw7NOHWRN_8prk6flRoCSeYQAvD_BwE

Berkley Fusion Weedless wacky are my jam. I have tried all the others and they have cost me fish

When you have a stack of 20 rods in the back of your van nothing makes me happier than being able to pull a rod out without hitting guides or getting caught in the line