RobbyZ5001

Welcome! Dude your right in my backyard... I am from 30 minutes from Allentown. I live right next to Beltzville, 20 minutes from Mauch Chunk, and have a cabin in the Poconos next to Promised Land Lake. When I am going home and plan on fishing I will try to let you know. I enjoy fishing with new people.

Exactly what Jack is saying is true, and many of the reasons why I enjoy tournament fishing. My situation is a little different because I fish as a non boater. It is rough sometimes, because you are depending on the boater to find the fish and relying on his experience. This can be a good or bad thing depending. I am getting to the point knowledge wise that I think I want to do my own thing. This requires money and lots of it. You need a boat that will work fine in the situations you fish whether it is on Erie or on a local 1000 acre reservoir. You will need to pay for the proper insurance to fish the tournaments, cash to pay entry, and gas to get you there and back as well as for the boat. If you are a competitive person and have the drive to succeed you will enjoy it. It is a work in progress and the fish will wear you down sometimes, but that's part of the fun. Tournament fishing for me sort of changed all aspects of fishing. When I am fishing for bass I am in that zone where I am always thinking unlike before where I just went and had a good time. Tournament fishing is stressful the majority of the time. You will have years where you have totally different thoughts running through your head.. for instance one year I thought about how seasons affect fish placement, and one year I thought about how lure depth control affects catch rates. Every year I have some groundbreaking discovery in my head that improves my fishing. I look forward to every year and every lesson I get on the water. As for what tournaments to fish you can get as crazy as you want. You can fish local pot or lunker tournaments or you can fish the stren series and bass opens. Find a level you can compete at and are comfortable and once you dominate it move up. I personally enjoy the 5 fish limit tourneys over the lunker tourney's, but I will not pass up fishing any of the above. Jack as well as a lot of other guys have been at it awhile... It is a great ride and I look forward to it every year. Have as much fun as you can.. if it is not enjoyable or you don't like where your fishing career is headed make a decision and go with it. I know this is a lot of info/insights from my 3-4 years of tourney fishing. Sorry if it is hard to read I put a lot of thoughts that came from inside my scrambled brain in this message. Between school and job interviews I am a mess lately.

Does anyone have any experience with these? http://www.***.com/Manns_Depth_Plus_Series_Crankbaits/descpage-MDP.html

Has anyone used them? http://www.***.com/BasStar_Dredger_Crankbait/descpage-BSDC.html#pImage

I am tempted to give the shimano cumara reaction rods a try. I broke two of the original cumara rods. I like the 7 ft med for shallow/medium crank and the 7'11 M for deep cranks and maybe lipless.

I was using my 6'6 avid and I think it was about to break in half. I did manage to catch some fish in 15 ft on it though...deep cranking is really neat.

When I first joined the board a few years ago I took RW's advice and bought the Avid 6'6MF. That has been my treble hook rod and I love it. I use it for cranks, jerkbaits, and topwaters. I am looking to get a little more technique specific. I am looking for advice on a rod or rods for shallow, medium, and deep cranks, lipless cranks, and jerkbaits. If I can get less rods to do all the tasks the better, but I am leaning toward buying a few different rods. One of the big problems with the 6'6 is I cannot get the casting distance I want. I know KVD uses a rod he calls the launcher, and it it like a 7'6 (or more) beast of a rod. I want to be able to cover distance better with lipped cranks. Lipless I have no problem, because it is easy to launch with any rod, and jerkbaits I never find myself casting over 25-30 yards.

I suggest 12lb flouro or 10lb flouro, but 10lb mono will work fine also. Are you fishing for money? I may get some flack for this comment, but it's fine. If your fishing for money go buy different line, but if for fun it won't hurt as bad if you lose a fish. Just check your line often.

Do you run it the same when on the lake and in the trash can?

Mine is trashed.... Georgetown and Kansas.. great

I just hooked myself in the face today... two hooks IN THE FACE. My buddy tore them both out... the line trick is for women.

I just want to beat the LSU Dancing Tigers

It doesn't feel that way.

Matt just one more comment on something you stated already. Thats a 20 mile swim to get home for the spawn. Seems to me, that big girls are territorial and will spawn in the same areas if conditions don't change. Nope, these girls weren't caught in a tournament, but did make long boat rides and sure remembered where home was. I could be wrong, but traveling that distance prior to spawn I believe would cause stress to the female and probably will have less of an upcoming age class. If there is a negative effect this would be less genetically "right" fish in the population the following year. These are more of common sense assumptions, but just something to think about. Of course there are sooo many larger problems going on these small issues would never raise an eyebrow.

I am fairly sure that there is documentation showing that females spawn close to the same area yearly. There is also documentation of how far smallmouth and largemouth bass travel on average post release. Smallmouth travel much further, I wish I could remember the numbers. I think Smallmouths traveled on average around 7km and largemouth around 5km. The study I am referring to was done in an Alabama lake.

I feel for you man... when it rains it pours! Good thing is things can only get better from here.

My guess and I could be wrong, but they are probably trying to make the lake more productive. More productive meaning more plankton and macroinvertebrates, but again I could be wrong.

Left side of the island.

Did you honestly think that area was going to fit his style? This is one of the reasons I like Ike so much... he does a little of everything. I wish Ike would take these 2nds, 3rds, 4ths and put them into 1sts... he would be more talked about as much as KVD.

Wilson Dam.... 6.5 lber caught in the tourney last weekend and plenty other chunks. It may be a haul for you, but if not try it out. Cranks/jerkbaits seemed to be the ticket.

Shaky Head Jig Jerkbait

If it were me I would try a strike king bitsy bug jig with a netbait chunk, a shaky head with a zoom finesse worm, and a suspending jerkbait. If those three don't work I don't know what will. Those are my coldwater /OH SH$T I'M IN TROUBLE baits.

All I have to say is WOW! I won't be able to afford something like that, but it looks amazing!

Bamajoker did you fish the southern collegiate tournament? My partner and I from Penn State fished it. We could have def. did better, but for what fish we were on we were happy with it.

They will work back there also. We our bigger fish near the dam as well as the first creek on the left side of wheeler dam. There are also bigger fish in the same creek I first mentioned toward the mouth more.