Shiryu

Thanks guys, I meant to ask for some specific reel models I could use.

I almost forgot about the reel. Having a fast reel lets me stay on top of the bait so slack isn't usually a problem on hook up except on real windy days and it helps get em in quick. So it helps mitigate some of the potential issues with a more parabolic rod.

I realize there are some trade offs here and I'm okay with that. I might find exactly what I'm looking for and end up hating it, but it's stuck in my head and I won't be happy til I at least try it. I throw the Super Spook and 6" g2 Punker on my Tomahawk GTZ crank rod all the time and I love it. Other than the usual misses I've yet to have any problems hooking up or keeping a fish pinned. I fish straight braid or Gliss mostly, but I'll use a short mono leader sometimes. I will say my hook up ratio is helped by two things, one, the fish I chase are pretty aggressive when it comes to topwaters so they normally crush it or miss it altogether, and two, if you're on my home lake and catching fish on top then you're surrounded by a forest whether you can see it or not so standard procedure for me is hook em up, get em up, and ski em home. If you stuck her good you'll get her in, if not you won't. Either way if you give the fish a couple of feet you can hang it up so I just go for broke. Now there might be some different dynamics at play with a Punker size bait, but that's just one more thing I'll hafta find out. So like I said to start, you might be right, I might be crazy, but it's just something I've gotta get outta my system. I'm wanna try it to see if it works for me, not just cos I think I'll look cool launching a Punker like a SKT Mag.

I've read all the rod reviews and specs, and parsed about all the info from old articles and threads that I care to and I still don't have a clue. I know there are plenty of rods that will throw the 8" Punker just fine, but what I wanna know is which rod/s will let me fling it like I do a Super Spook. I basically want an oversized crank rod that will load up and launch the Punker into the next zip code without me having to worry about it snapping in two. Pretty much my main criteria for choosing this rod. Been told by a couple of guys that the Megabass XX Leviathan loads really well and has a fairly parabolic bend, but neither fished the Punker so they couldn't comment specifically. Any input is appreciated. I'm not partial to any one company I just want the best rod that fits what I wanna do. Also, I prefer a fast reel for walking topwaters. Are there any high gear ratio reels out there that can handle chunking the Punker over and over? Thanks

Just wanted to say thanks again for all the advice. Didn't work out for us, but we had a good time trying. A sustained wind of 10 or so this morning and being on an unfamiliar lake kinda put us behind the eight ball and neither one of us is good enough to get past that handicap. Maybe next time. Oh, and some of the far off ones may have been some other kind of fish, but I figured most of em were bass because we probably 6 or 7 come up within ten or fifteen yards of the boat and could see em real good. If I'd of had my phone ready I coulda snapped a pic of one the ones that I really feel was 7+ cos he jumped maybe eight yards from the boat right in front of me. Thanks again guys!

Thanks for all the info guys. We fished til one last night and we overslept a bit but we're back at em now. Gonna start out small and shad looking and if that don't work I'll throw everything at em that I didn't try yesterday.

Some were breaching like the great whites off the coast of South Africa feeding on seals. Coming straight up out of the water and either doing a 180 and going back in or laying over on their side and crashing back down. I'll bow to your expertise if you say that's not feeding behavior. I assumed it was but I'm certainly no authority. Some of em were definitely feed coming up to the top and making a huge commotion but not breaching clear of the water.

Ha! It's just hard to imagine having to finesse fish that were acting like that, but I'll waltz those suckers all the way 'cross Texas if that's what it takes. Thanks for the tip. Much appreciated.

Good deal. Me and the bama don't normally get along, but I'll give it a whirl. I've got some small Keitechs I can use.

I'm sure y'all are right about what they were eating, but let me ask you this. A lot of the big fish we saw were coming up and doing a full breach 2ft+ in the air, laying over sideways, and crashing back down. And some of the rest were coming 1/2/3-4 of the way out and turning over with a violent tail slap. Is an 8lb fish really doing its best Great White impersonation over some 1" minnows?

So we've been on Fork since daylight. We picked our creek arm and the cove we wanted to start in off the topo maps in my buddy's fish finder. Pull up and Bam! Fish breaking all over the pocket. Good fish too. I'd honestly say we saw 20-30 fish five pounds or over come completely out of the water and probably 6-8 of em were 7+. This has gone on all day. I personally saw a fish I think was over 8 as late as 12:15. We finally left the creek arm at 1:15 with em still breaking. And yet I've managed one 3lb fish on a popper and my buddy hooked a small one on a medium crank but lost it. What gives? If there fish were coming up like that at home we'd of killed em. We threw everything we had at em here and nada. They shouldn't even be breaking. There's clouds but they're low and scattered and they haven't covered the sun a single time today. Is this just a big water deal we don't know about? They wouldn't bite the Punker, the 3:16 FS Gill SS or Floater, the Baby Wake, the 178 F or SS, 6" TT, Shellcracker g2, or my Beast Jr. I even threw a double swim fluke rig for a while. I'm all outta ideas. Am I just going about this all wrong?