Delta Punching, how long does it last?

[mmalinao]

Hey guys,

New to punching, but have had some early success. Question for you seasoned Delta Punchers, is it a year long technique or a summer technique?

Appreciate your comments.

-Mike

[SKTR 20i]

I'm new at it as well Mike and hav'n a ball doing it. I hope it lasts year round!!!

John.

[Terry Smith]

HOPEFULLY UNTIL NOVEMBER 6TH!!!!!!!!

[mmalinao]

November 6th, I assume there's a tournament! LOL Good luck with that.

-Mike

[ASD]

Sorry T all punch fish go deep on NOV 5th HEHEHEHEHE LOL

[DeltaBassBuster]

Just for general info for me in the 14 Mile Slough area the punchin' has slowed for me lately. Depending on the weather Monday I plan to try some more punchin', last two trips out it has been a better jig bite for using cranking as a search pattern.

[Cooch]

"Punchin", is just a form of flippen really, where heavy weighted baits are used to get through heavy, thick cover. Most anglers associate punchin with fishing down through the thick, matted, surface canopies here such as the Hyacinth, Perrywinkle, cheese, laydown tule stocks and trash pockets. Typically, your looking for canopies that can have anywhere from 2-8 feet of open water beneath the matted surface. This is a common hang out zone for fish here during the warmer summer and early fall months where the bass take solitude from the bright sun, strong currents and warming water temps. This too is also where a lot of a bass' forage here, tend to take residence during this time as well, so it makes feeding easier, playing into the bass' preditory strengths. Much like the topwater bite though, falling temps will affect the consistancy of the catch rate you will experience while punching. The shallow water fish here, are most affected and driven out to deeper water when the water temps are falling. You can indeed catch fish both in the Winter and Spring too, while punching the heavy surface cover, but you will find that the number of bites you get are irregular and far less than in the summer and fall. The "UP" side to this though, is the bites you get, are gonna be the big ones.

Now there are those who consider any type of fishing with heavy weighted lures, as "Punching". Most common is when fishing the submerged grass beds of the various thick vegitation here like the Hydrilla, Eelgrass and Milfoil like plants. A heavy weighted "punch rig" is very effective flipped into these thick grass beds year round. Often times, especially during the low tide stages, you will get a fairly decent canopy of grass that is floating on the surface. During the high pressure, blue bird skies of winter, this can be a very effective time to flip your "punch rig" into the grass where you have 6-12 feet of water on the grass beds. Cruze won the last BASS Elite event here doing just that down in Itailian Slough. Both Skeet and Iconelli used this same tactic to finish very high in that event as well. Even though it was March, we were presented with winter like conditions that drove the bass into the thick weeds, that "punch rig" will shine if you have the patience and confidence to toss it for 5 bites.

Understanding how/when to use the "punch rig", whether it be by actually "punching" it through thick surface canopies, of by flippen it into the submerged thick cover, will be the determining factor on how succesful you are with that "punch rig" at any given time. The technique of using a "Punch rig" IS INDEED a productive tactic on The Delta year round.

[mmalinao]

Cooch, thank you for taking the time to school me on Punchin and that makes complete sense! I looked up the plants you mentioned and the issues I've been having with punchin heavy grass (not canopies) is that the grass I've found is mostly mushy clumps of snot like substance and it's thick!

I guess I need to run around and find the grass you mentioned.

That also leads me to another questions about fishing deep water. Now in a lake fishing a football head jig makes sense as you feel bottom, bounce it off rocks etc. Now the Delta has been a different story for me as the bottom is all mushy and I'm pulling up crap every cast.

At the last nutcase rally you mentioned that you were going to drag a jig in 18' of water, my question is what do you look for to do that?

I appreciate you're help!

-Mike

[yjjustforme]

X2 I can catch em flipping and punching but I never try jigging that deep. I just don't know what to look for to jig that deep out here on the Delta.

[Cooch]

At the last nutcase rally you mentioned that you were going to drag a jig in 18' of water, my question is what do you look for to do that?
I appreciate you're help!-Mike

I could spend days discussing this one Mike, as it can change regularly, at least seasonally. The past month, it's been on the back side of long tule islands with the least amount of current. It must have a big flat coming off the island, one that is 4-8 foot deep on the flat that extends 30-50 feet off the island, then the ledge drops off into 16-25 feet. There must be deep grass out on the edge of the ledge and growing in the 10-14 foot zone. More importantly, there must be scattered patches of hard, yellow bottom too. The hard bottom is key, in that this is the area that large schools of golden shiners are roaming at this time as well. Find one of these that has a thick population of shad on it, ya go back and forth all day and never leave it. The shad & Shiners are the key as they triggers the food chain that bring the concentrations of the bigger bass into the area. The tidal phase and weather conditions has little effect on these outside, deeper fish and you can catch them on the high or low as well as incomming and outgoing tides since they do not move other than to suspend in open water or in the grass itself. Bounce a jig-n-grub through the last three feet of the edge and through the dropoff into the deeper zone, yer gonna git bit!

Many of these areas will provide a lot of fish right now, especially those smaller fish in the 6-13" range. Most guys when catching hoards of the smaller fish, tend to leave and not sit through and fish for long periods, weeding through the smaller fish and waiting for the bigger fish arrive. It's a patience game and is just like fishing a lake, one that most anglers have a very difficult time doing here.

[mmalinao]

This is a ton of info, I'll need to print it out and take with me next time out! Thank you so much!!

-Mike

[Dom]

Thanks Cooch thats great info and from what I have been finding out there on the river , makes perfect sense again THANKS! I picked up some WADDA JIGS today from Gene gonna give em a try this week-end