Favorite Bassin' Techniques

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Troy Pattillo on December 4, 2008 at 4:28pm

Hey Tag, when you say snell, do you mean your actually snelling with the braid to the hook? I snell rigs up for salmon and steelhead with mono or flouro but not sure how easy this would be with braid. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks!

Tag Watson said:

Great topic, JD

The last two seasons I have become addicted to punching heavy vegetation. 7-1/2 to 8 foot flipping stick, 50-65 lb. braid, 3/4 oz. to 1-1/2 oz. tungsten weight, snelling a Reaction Innovations BMF Flipping hook and flipping into the thickest, nastiest foliage I can find. While buzzbait, frog and wakebait strikes are very exciting, for me nothing beats punching a soft plastic through a 3 inch thick mat of "cheese" and practically getting your arm broken they smash it so hard. 8 months until July!!!!

My least favorite technique is anything that involves smallmouth.

Permalink Reply by S Hwang on December 4, 2008 at 4:45pm

its not that hard Nolliver - those RI hooks have a straight eye so its a little diff than a bent/angled eye but if I can do it anyone can. Just watch those two keeper barbs on the shaft.

Permalink Reply by Daniel Bavery on December 4, 2008 at 6:57pm

I suppose my favorite technique would have to be any nice and big topwater. I love Wake Jr's and MS Slams, but by far my best is the 9" Punker. Froggin would be a close second followed by punching I suppose. As long as I think a largie will come up, I will throw it. I have done decent this year on big topwater, but I have seen some massive bassies coming up for a look, or demolishing me Punkers and giving me the grief of losing thems!!! Oh, and Optimums Ambitious Buzz, outstanding beast caller.

If its not topwater, Ill throw jigs. Other than that I dont toss much else, maybe a 10" stik bait on occasion. I make thems at me house

Dan

Permalink Reply by RB on December 4, 2008 at 7:44pm

Nice info in here. Tag can u post a pic of your punch threw set up? I have a couple lakes that get thick in summer/spring with veggies

Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on December 4, 2008 at 9:32pm

Nolliver said:

Hey Tag, when you say snell, do you mean your actually snelling with the braid to the hook? I snell rigs up for salmon and steelhead with mono or flouro but not sure how easy this would be with braid. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks!

The Uni-Snell is the easiest snell knot to use with braided lines. I wouldn't recommend the Uni-Snell for mono or fluorocarbon but it works fantastic with braid. Use a dab of super glue after you snell the hook and you're ready to yank some bucketmouths out of the salad.

Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on December 4, 2008 at 9:49pm

RB said:

Nice info in here. Tag can u post a pic of your punch threw set up? I have a couple lakes that get thick in summer/spring with veggies

Hey RB,

I'm too lazy to go out in the shop and rig one up right now but my punching rig consists of the following:

1 or 2 sinker stoppers, a 3/4 oz. to 1-1/2 oz. tungsten weight (black, june bug or green pumpkin), Tru-Tungsten force bead if extra noise is needed, a snelled Reaction Innovations BMF hook (3/0, 4/0 or 5/0) rigged with a soft plastic creature bait, beaver, craw or tube. I like to color the first 10-15 feet of braid with a black permanent marker.

You don't need to use a hard Conan-style hookset with this technique. When you detect the bite, reel quickly and use a firm, solid pressure set. When you detect the bite, DO NOT drop the rod tip and reel down to set the hook. You will miss a lot of fish this way as they have a tendency to drop the heavy weight very quickly when you give them any slack.

That being said, even with a firm pressure set, prepare to break a flipping stick or two with this technique, it just happens. Thank goodness for warranties.

Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on December 5, 2008 at 11:56am

Great post, T-Dot!

Do big baits work on smallmouth as well? I see you holding a trophy class smallmouth in your profile pic and I was just curious if you caught that gorgeous specimen on a big bait or an itsy bitsy little dropshot worm.

PPE? Get a cortisone shot and keep casting!!!

Permalink Reply by S Hwang on December 5, 2008 at 4:31pm

Tag Watson said:
The Uni-Snell is the easiest snell knot to use with braided lines. I wouldn't recommend the Uni-Snell for mono or fluorocarbon but it works fantastic with braid. Use a dab of super glue after you snell the hook and you're ready to yank some bucketmouths out of the salad.

Eh Tag do u ever use some kind of keeper for the bait? I know RI make something for them and some people DIY it with shrink tubing. I have been just glueing it on and it definitely doesn't hold it very well. Is it worth pursuing some kind of bait keeper or is sliding baits just a part of the game when punching?

check http://www.flwoutdoors.com/article.cfm?id=144916 for example

Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on December 5, 2008 at 4:45pm

Eh Tag do u ever use some kind of keeper for the bait? I know RI make something for them and some people DIY it with shrink tubing. I have been just glueing it on and it definitely doesn't hold it very well. Is it worth pursuing some kind of bait keeper or is sliding baits just a part of the game when punching?


I haven't played with the keeper but it does seem like a good idea. Without a keeper, the baits will slide over time but some manufacturer's plastics stay in position much better than others. The barbs on the BMF hook hold the plastic pretty well on their own.

When punching it is pretty much one fish per bait. Since the hook point is buried in the plastic, it will tear the plastic on the hookset. The big round bend on the BMF hook does not lend itself well to Tex-Skinning the bait like a Superline EWG hook, for example.

Permalink Reply by troy kelly on December 5, 2008 at 6:17pm

Largemouth: My favorite way to fish for largemouth is to pitch any kind of soft plastics. i would mind nothing else than to pitch baits all day. Another of my favorite things to do is skip docks. Also like everyone else fishing walking baits like a sammy is awesome!

Smallmouth: I for one prefer smallmouth over largemouth, maybe becuase i feel more confident catching them day in and say out. If i could do one thing all day it would be throwing ripbaits with my favorite being a luckycraft slender pointer. I would have to day though i catch more smallies on jigheads and dropshots, but after seeing tags smallie pics i may have to investigates swimbaits more. Toyed around alittle with califronia swimbabes baits but would like to find some nice hardbodied baits.

troy

Permalink Reply by ExBassGuide on January 8, 2009 at 8:16am

If you seen my youtube videos you know I love fishing wacky rigged 3 inch senko type baits. I fish white early and for mid-day I have done well on browns & greens. My best bass on this rig is a 6lbs 4oz small mouth and a 5lbs 11oz large mouth bass. I got over 700 bass last year and most fell for the wacky senko.
Good Idea for a post Jordan!
Roger

http://www.youtube.com/user/exbassguide

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