Tips for large walking baits

[Ian oconnell]

Any body have any tips when it comes to throwing big walking baits like a megadog or punker

[Loudsplashbassn_]

Braid is your friend lol 

[swimbaitrookie]

1 hour ago, Loudsplashbassn_ said:

Braid is your friend lol 

I throw my mega dog on 25 mono.  I hate braid 

[mrlang123]

Direct tie, no ring or snap. With small baits I snap my wrist but with the big ones it's more of a hinge at the elbow and shoulder. I like cutting them in mixed sets of 2 and 3 pulls with brief pauses between. If it stops walking, give it a little tap to get it facing the side then do bigger sweeps or pulls to get it going again.

[bassbass]

As mentioned above.

Braid and mix it up. 2 walks, 3 walks, pauses and stops, also try continuous walks slow and then med and then fast on different cast.

Biggest issue is to not get premature hookulation. Feel that fish first dont you your eye sight to set the hook.

[SVT THUNDER]

The rod you throw them on will make a lot of difference in how you work them and how much strain you put on your elbow/shoulder. With my 806, I have to work it popping the tip upwards rather than down like most walking baits when throwing the Megadawg to get a good walk without killing my arm. But my 867 is 6” longer and just has a better parabolic action in my opinion. Makes it easier to walk for me in the conventional way with the tip down. I throw CXX copoly on all of my Swimbait setups. 

Lot of good advice above. There’s a sweet spot that will get that Megabass basically gliding wide rather than a quick, choppy walk. Most strikes have happened for me while the bait is sitting on the pause or as soon as I start walking it after the initial cast or pause. I don’t catch many on that size walking bait. It seems to shine for me anyway when the water is a bit choppy. But the bite is generally in the 5lb + range. And on occasion, I have to just reel it is as fast as possible to keep it away from an Osprey that I see dropping down. 

[mrlang123]

12 hours ago, SVT THUNDER said:

 And on occasion, I have to just reel it is as fast as possible to keep it away from an Osprey that I see dropping down. 

This is big facts. I barely throw my 8" punker because on every body of water I've ever thrown it, a huge bird of prey (osprey, bald eagle mainly) appears out of nowhere and is very aggressive about trying to get it. If that happens, you dunk your rod tip as deep as you can and reel and jerk as hard as you can to get the bait to dive.

[SVT THUNDER]

4 hours ago, mrlang123 said:

This is big facts. I barely throw my 8" punker because on every body of water I've ever thrown it, a huge bird of prey (osprey, bald eagle mainly) appears out of nowhere and is very aggressive about trying to get it. If that happens, you dunk your rod tip as deep as you can and reel and jerk as hard as you can to get the bait to dive.

Pretty smart. I’ve always just pointed the tip as far down as possible and turn the bait into a torpedo reeling as fast as I can.

We have a population of bald eagles here. They’re generally around the bluff areas of the lake. But I’ve only had one eagle come down on a bait and that was a custom low float 9” Shad glide. But I had never seen one almost in my back yard. She looped around above until she saw a fish. Hit the water like a bomb and lurched off with a large bass. We were just stunned. I’ve seen ospreys swoop down and snag bass with their talons. But I’d never seen a bird actually go under water at full steam and submerge then fly up and away with a fish. Pretty amazing. But I quit fishing for the day before I lost a bait. 

[Loudsplashbassn_]

59 minutes ago, SVT THUNDER said:

Pretty smart. I’ve always just pointed the tip as far down as possible and turn the bait into a torpedo reeling as fast as I can.

We have a population of bald eagles here. They’re generally around the bluff areas of the lake. But I’ve only had one eagle come down on a bait and that was a custom low float 9” Shad glide. But I had never seen one almost in my back yard. She looped around above until she saw a fish. Hit the water like a bomb and lurched off with a large bass. We were just stunned. I’ve seen ospreys swoop down and snag bass with their talons. But I’d never seen a bird actually go under water at full steam and submerge then fly up and away with a fish. Pretty amazing. But I quit fishing for the day before I lost a bait. 

Ive seen a osprey Straight dive bomb in less then 5ft of water how it flew back out after that fall i have no clue lol it was the first time i ever had a bird near my bait. packed it up and just went back home ahaha

[SVT THUNDER]

1 hour ago, Loudsplashbassn_ said:

Ive seen a osprey Straight dive bomb in less then 5ft of water how it flew back out after that fall i have no clue lol it was the first time i ever had a bird near my bait. packed it up and just went back home ahaha

I’ve seen an ospreys talons up close and personal. There’s an old culvert that juts out into the main river channel from a shallow flat. It’s about 15’ away from a tall day marker. Basically a phone poll with a big green light. I noticed a nest on top. Thought nothing of it.  I’d fished that spot hundreds of times without having any reservations. Well, little did I know momma Osprey had youngsters in that nest and she didn’t start flying circles above me for the heck of it.

I was trolling closer to that poll and noticed her circles were getting smaller and lower. I thought maybe I should move. About the time I turned my back to lay my rod down, I heard an odd noise and caught a shadow for a split second on my deck. I turned around and that darn bird had both talons flared out at what seemed like only a couple of feet from my head. I instinctively just went boneless on the deck and she flew right over me. I didn’t strap my rods. I didn’t pull up the trolling motor. I jumped in the seat and fired up the 225 and took off. About the time I was up on the pad, I realized my trolling motor was down and one rod was sideways across the deck. I slowed down and looked the sky over very well. Hit neutral and walked up to strap my rods and when I pulled the trolling motor up, the prop was gone lol. I guess that prop nut on my motorguide was loose and the speed spun everything right off. Just one of those days on the water. But to this day, if an Osprey takes to the air from a nest, I leave.