“Minor” details mean lots more fish

Over the years, we’ve learned to visualize 
the potential of softbaits still in the bag. An experienced eye and probing finger take in texture, shape, and detail, as well as color. Converting potential to success, however, depends on rigging, the precise method of attaching a weight, hook, and other accessories.

With no presentation is that truer than flippin’, a method that can be the deadliest approach for big bass this month across the Southland. Farther north, anglers must wait their turn, but it’s no less essential from Massachusetts to Washington.

The right rigging for a situation enables an angler to place a lure where it can do the most good, then hook any bass that strikes. You must be versatile and open-minded to get the most from flippin’, though. Some anglers have been put off by the heavy equipment involved in this technique, and admittedly it takes getting used to. But if you want big bass, listen up.

Heavy Flipping

Ever since Dee Thomas of California revealed his long-rod, short-line tactics around 1975, anglers have sought to master flippin’. Its allure lies in efficiency and power. Little time is wasted in casting or winding back a bait through dead water. Watching Tommy Biffle, Terry Scroggins, or other anglers who’ve mastered the technique is a tutorial in tackle and lure control.

A long stiff rod, heavy braided line, and a stout hook make for short battles, even with big bass. “Play with them after you get ‘em in the boat,” they always say.

For these reasons, most avid anglers who fish thick cover for bass use a flippin’ stick. But many continue to miss out on big flippin’ bites. And even the most proficient admit they’re always learning new learning wrinkles.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the California Delta, scene of Thomas’ flippin’ revelations nearly 35 years ago, hosted a tournament in the fall of 2009 that highlighted new rigging wrinkles in flippin’. The Delta offers hundreds of miles of winding channels connecting weedy lakes. Vegetation grows thickly, forming mats on top that appear impenetrable to the untrained eye. There, versatile California pro Charlie Weyer put on a flippin’ clinic to finish second with almost 75 pounds of bass caught over 4 days in the FLW Series event, just 9 ounces behind Rusty Salewske who also employed heavy flippin’ tactics.

From Jigs to Texas Rigs

Heavy jigs have long been used in Texas, from Falcon to Rayburn, to punch through canopies of hydrilla and milfoil that grow to the surface. But stringier weeds and matted algae tend to foul a jig as strands collect between line-tie and weedguard, requiring removal after almost every flip, countering efficiency. Especially since the development of tungsten, flippers have replaced jigs with softbaits rigged with heavy slip sinkers to more cleanly penetrate weed mats.

Sam Aversa of Penetrator Weights was apparently the first to exceed the 1-ounce mark with his weights. But sinker size has escalated as anglers seek to probe ever thicker mats. “Today I sell as many 1¾-ounce tungsten weights as I can inject,” Aversa says This process is technologically advanced, which compounds the high cost of tungsten itself. “Temperature in the furnace is almost 3,700°F,” he notes, “a far cry from molding lead. But the relative size of tungsten, little more than half that of lead, helps the get baits down to bass in thick cover.”

Aversa is an engineer by trade and studied the physics of sinkers while designing the barrel-shape of his Penetrators back in 2000. Prior to that development, he’d made lead weights to an ounce for flippin’ in Florida’s weedy jungles. “Rounded sides of the sinker seek the thinnest part of the mat and punch through,” he says. “We also apply a special slick coating to help the sinker slide through.”

Though not a tournament pro, Aversa is known as one of the ablest flippers around. In 2003, he demonstrated his heavyweight flippin’ approach to Weyer at Florida’s Harris Chain. “He showed me how to read vegetation and use the big weight to get lures into places few anglers can reach,” Weyer adds. “The Cal Delta was a natural for this technique.”

Heavy tungsten was one breakthrough and so called “punch skirts” have added another dimension to this presentation. Californian Bub Tosh of Paycheck Baits devised his Punch Skirt late in 2009 to add the flaring action that’s made jigs such a great option for big bass. “I wanted a hand-tied skirt that would flare like natural rubber when the bait hits bottom or is pulled over the top of the canopy,” he says. “The set-up that worked best was a hard round bead with the skirt tied around it. The big tungsten weight smashes into the bead and creates a clicking sound as the skirt pulsates.” Watch the action in a tank or swimming pool to get the full effect.

In his second-place finish on the Delta, Weyer made his own punch skirt from a jig skirt. “Remove the rubber ring from a skirt and tie 3 overhand knots with 65-pound braid, flipping the skirt over each time,” he instructs. “Slip the line through then tighten the skirt.” Gambler also has a new KO Skirt, designed with input from Chris Lane, a pro formerly living in Florida (since relocated to Guntersville, Alabama) and punchin’ master. Just a week or two after the Cal Delta tournament, Lane won a Stren Series event on his new home lake with a heavyweight flippin’ rig, including KO Skirts.

Can a skirt make much difference? “At the Delta, I‘d missed and lost bass on a plain Sweet Beaver on Day-2,” Weyer reported. “After comparing notes with a buddy, I added a punch skirt for Day-3 and put 22½ pounds in the boat by 9 a.m.”

In his victory at Guntersville, Lane matched the KO Skirt with Gambler’s Ugly Otter to crack big bags (20-8 and 24-15) on the first two days. A cold front on Day-3 turned the bass tentative, however. He switched to a compact B.B. Cricket and skipped the skirt to eke out the victory.

Rods and Reels: “Punchin’ mats” is no-nonsense, extra-heavy power fishing, so many experts leave standard 7½-foot flippin’ sticks at home. Weyer uses a 7-foot 10-inch Powell Rod model 7105. “It can handle those weights without tiring you out,” he notes, “but it’s not super stiff. It’s rated medium-heavy and has a softer tip to give the bait to the bass, so fish hold on until you can set.”

Texan Tim Reneau goes with the 7½-foot PT05-76 from Power Tackle. “You can heft a 10-pounder onto the deck,” he claims. Aversa uses a custom-made Revolution Rod that measures 7 foot 11 inches. “A well-balanced rod helps you swing a big sinker like a pendulum,” he says. “With practice, so you can be fast and accurate, and also save wear and tear on your elbow and arm.