JediAmoeba

I use an 8' MH Tatula Elite with a zillion 5.5 crazy cranker. With a long rod I can't remember the last time I lost a fish and you can launch up to 10xd's a looooong ways.

@WRB for sure. Although I wouldn't want to fish IN his shoes - he can keep em on and I will just fish next to him and learn about big baits and jigs. The two techniques I fish most of the time.

I will agree to disagree - when it comes to big baits I don't have a place for regular bullshads and I certainly don't think the biggest fish are hitting multi-jointed baits swam fast in the middle of the water column. Big fish don't waste their energy on futile goals. They try and pin their food against structure - the bottom, the shore, the surface or hard cover. Their most opportune meal is wounded, dying or lethargic large baits.

12# Fluoro and if you want to hit bottom that is 12' throw a lure that will go 16'. You want that thing to slam into the bottom - the fish usually hit when you pause it after hitting bottom.

Fishing for young Florida strain - this guy is in Ohio. Big baits should very seldom be fished fast in the north. Unless you like skunking and bragging about throwing big baits. Mike Bucca also rode in an electrofishing boat and hung his baits from the mouths of shocked fish and took pictures to promote them...

You can, but why would you want to?

Yellow Magic and PopMax are the best 2. The Rico is overpriced and doesn't have anything special IMO.

I can't get a feel for these. I have tried it many times and just don't get it. I would rather fish a jig.

I often fish a carolina in the summer and do well. The only time I ever fish a Texas anymore is when flipping creature baits. Both produce but I don't use them in areas where they would be interchangeable.

Imagine how many fish you could have caught if you used the time counting and documenting all those baits to fish instead. I have a lot of baits but I started giving all my oddities away. I don't need 12 different creature baits.

Just get a big open 3600 or 3700 size and throw them in there. I always have and throw large swimbaits and they don't take anything special. Most of the swimbait guys overthink it.

I really feel old Loomis and Fenwick pistol grips should be part of this conversation

2 of us? 4-5 hours. By myself? 2 hours.

The Daiwa tackle barn is huge...

If you fish big swimbaits like Huddlestons - the stuff is necessary

Across the country, with the spawn, I don't know if we have hit optimal timing for either of those baits. I would give it a few months for people to give them a shot.

Awesome- Arrowhead lake is fine for fishing. One thing about most of the Pocono lakes is they are mostly shallow with tannic water and horribly managed. The best majority are private. The public Fisheries are highly pressured so can be tough - Beltzville has some great fish but don't expect to slam them there as it's a highland reservoir that gets pounded. In the Poconos you catch a lot of 1-2 lb LM and a lot of 14-18" Pickerel- just the nature of the area and 0 management for bass. Bradys lake is decent for catching some numbers but I haven't seen any real monsters come out of there. On a kayak you have many options but they are all similar fishing experiences IMO.

Where at in the Poconos? I am in Albrightsville, not far from the pocono raceway

I run braid to leader almost 100% of the time. In 4 years I have had 1 knot fail at the line to line knot. The rest of the time it has broken at the lure. I always tie a blood knot on the water and a fg knot if I am at home. I usually have 10-15' leaders so they are bumping through my guides. Cinch your knot with a lot of water on it and it won't fail.

If your bait is 3 1/8 oz you want a rod that is 2-8 oz. Honestly Dobyns weight range is on the light side and you don't want to max it out anyway.

Use a fatter worm!

The longest casting line IMO is Gliss. I know the knot strength can be suspect but that stuff flies...

What size Tatula? I use a Tatula SV for skipping and pitching. A lot of the shallow spools from the auction site have fixed inductors and don't skip really well. For shallow spools you can get a Ray's Studio or an SDS and they are pretty good - keep in mind they are also pretty fragile and aren't the best for flipping or somewhere that you will put excessive force on the spool from a hookset or line pressure.

Rig it with a screw lock- 2/0. If you rig the hook so it lays in that bottom channel it will swim straight. When you stop the bait, it will kick out to the side and that's when they really hammer it

Is this just some random characters?