All:

I just bought some gear for punching, ie. dropping heavy-weighted rigs down through thick weed mats.  Can anyone tell me which lakes are good candidates?  I intended to try to technique at Triple J, but the weeds are solid from the bottom, so there really isn't open water below the mats, like there would be with lily pads or hyrdrilla.

Thanks!

Jim Mathis

Hey Jim,

Black Hat used to be ideal along with a few of the Cody Ranch lakes but I think most of the vegetation on those lakes has cleared up or dramatically decreased.  We recently fished a tournament on Lake O' the Pines where the fish were congregated under the hyacinth and you had to have a 1.5 oz weight on to come crash down through the stuff but when you did get bit it was a good one.  Like you, we had an absolute blast doing it and if you can find any lakes with those type of canopies I'd love to go find out as well.

Tight lines,

Jackson, thanks for your response.  I'll look around and let you know if I find a good one.Jim

How about Jer Mar for punching or even Athens Northeast.  I was just thinking about mat punching when you posted.  I took a plastic craw and put a screw in bullet weight at the tail end and then ran the hook from the other end and bring it thru the screw on the bullet weight.  I always throw my plastics high to make the biggest impact upon entering the water.  My thought on this design was for a direct line with the bullet weight doing the punching and the line just following.  I did some punching years ago in Loxahatchee, FL. But we used an ounce and a half weight.  I also learned on punching that bigger plastics is maybe not the answer. I had better results on  3.5 or 4 inch craw.  My only concern with going thru the screw with the hook is getting a good hook set as you have to bring up the fish and salad too.  Of course a major change for me is to switch out my 4 pound line with some heavy braid.  Going back in time, Clifton and even Deer Trail I did real good. Clifton I would fish the holes in the mat and pads and Deer Trail the edges of the mat.

Here is my 2 cents FWIW:

The predominant aquatic vegetation in most of the club lakes (at least JerMar, Athens NE and similar lakes) is C. Demersum (coontail),  a non-emergent free floating (although often connected to the substrate) plant, that presents a vertical orientation.  It rarely "emerges" in the sense that other common aquatic plants may, and does not readily form "mats" (although the very tops of the coontail may collect algae that seem to form mats).   

From an angling perspective, punching does not (again, IMHO) lend itself to this type of vegetation because the cover is predominately vertical. Even if there is a "mat,"  it  usually composed of filamentous algae.  Once you punch through that, you still have a (basically) vertical environment (and now a bunch of snot moss on your bait).    Compare that to hydrilla, which does form mats, with lots of open space underneath.  With coontail, you don't have that much open space under a horizontal cover (mat).

In my experience weightless plastics like stick baits and flukes work better in this type of vegetation than punching.   I'm not saying it won't work, just that it hasn't been a very productive technique for me for the reasons stated. 

Lily pads may be a completely different deal, but by the time the pads emerge, it seems to me that a lot of the more quality fish have already oriented to cover over deeper water (not that much deeper, but too deep for lily pads).

Giddings Blackjack does have some (less now) thick grass beds. It has been several months since I have been there. Maybe someone has more recent info. There are several new brush piles added by PWF which would be good for pitching. 

Bill Fetech

Originally Posted by Murray Camp

Here is my 2 cents FWIW:

The predominant aquatic vegetation in most of the club lakes (at least JerMar, Athens NE and similar lakes) is C. Demersum (coontail),  a non-emergent free floating (although often connected to the substrate) plant, that presents a vertical orientation.  It rarely "emerges" in the sense that other common aquatic plants may, and does not readily form "mats" (although the very tops of the coontail may collect algae that seem to form mats).   

From an angling perspective, punching does not (again, IMHO) lend itself to this type of vegetation because the cover is predominately vertical. Even if there is a "mat,"  it  usually composed of filamentous algae.  Once you punch through that, you still have a (basically) vertical environment (and now a bunch of snot moss on your bait).    Compare that to hydrilla, which does form mats, with lots of open space underneath.  With coontail, you don't have that much open space under a horizontal cover (mat).

In my experience weightless plastics like stick baits and flukes work better in this type of vegetation than punching.   I'm not saying it won't work, just that it hasn't been a very productive technique for me for the reasons stated. 

Lily pads may be a completely different deal, but by the time the pads emerge, it seems to me that a lot of the more quality fish have already oriented to cover over deeper water (not that much deeper, but too deep for lily pads).

 

Great points Murray.  We were recently fishing lake LBJ and the Eurasian Milfoil sets up in almost the same way...  Very vertically oriented and not as much open space underneath which didn't lend itself to punching as easily as other types of vegetation. It almost seems like you need a drop in water level for coontail and milfoil to accumulate on the surface and give bass that haven they love underneath.  Many of us would attest that if you can find the grass, you find the bass and fishing a weightless stick bait doesn't work well with my ADHD so I'm more of a light Texas rig kind of guy and I just fish the edges if the situation doesn't lend itself to punching.  My favorite two things to punch are hyacinth and lily pads....  The lily pads are nice because they tell you what's underneath them.  As you highlighted, when it's truly emergent, you know you are really shallow with good roots, typically two or three feet or less.  The outside edges can be around four feet deep and on those hot summer days, prime territory for big green monsters.  Hyacinth is a guessing game but bass absolutely love the edges which make it so fun to fish.

I think Gary Yamamoto would agree with you that there's nothing quite like a stick bait around grass.  In my experience, I seem to catch smaller fish on the average then when I have a Texas rig in my hand.

Ugh on the filamentous algae....  I know it's great for the food chain but such a nuisance to fish around.

Jackson, I fished Athen NE this weekend (see report) and in between the few and far between strikes I started looking at the coontail and thinking about your comments.

Perhaps a hybrid "punching" technique that would allow the bait to get to about 12" - 18" subsurface before slowing down to a very slow fall rate.  Maybe a standard "punching" bait like a beaver but with a light Texas rigged weight < 1/4 oz. tungsten would work.  I tried it with a  3/16th tungsten and a full sized brush hog -  but couldn't get bit (although not much of anything worked). 

Hey Murray,

Good effort.  Sometimes those dudes have lock jaw.  My inclination would have been for a half ounce weight a trick work to try and sneak through the jungle but some days it doesn't seem to matter what you throw.

It's this puzzle that keeps us coming back!

Jackson, Murray, others - I appreciate this type of technique discussion that is specifically related to our PWF waters.  That's awesome!  We can find a lot of great bass fishing education online, but often it is not very specific to our waters.  I appreciate it - keep it coming!

Mark

Well, I've got Malouf booked for the 24th, and the coontail was heavy there last year, so the vertical weed issue is relevant.  I might be able to try the punching around the dep trees and weeds, but it will be more like just deep jigging than punching.  I had to horse a few out with a giant pad of weeds last year, so at least the heavy rod and braid will help with that. 

As an aside....  I'm headed to Broseco tomorrow night for the weekend and just for grins I rigged up a two ounce tungsten on some 65 lb braid and a Trokar flippin' hook.  I'm going to see if those thick grass areas have changed any since last year.  They were NOT conducive to punching in years past and I'm expecting an algae bloom to make it even worse but I'll give it a shot.

That thick matted vegetation seems to be in three feet and less which won't help but in the heat of the day we will be looking for another bite so I'll keep you guys posted.

On Timber Lake,  those yellowish mats offer some productive punching. Often, those mats only go out for 1-2 feet from the bank, but in late summer, when I find them farther out - especially over deeper water - I have had decent (certainly not fantastic) luck punching them wih a 1 oz weight and Rage Tail craw. Unfortunately, I have no idea what the conditions are there right now. I've also had some success punching the 'dollar pads' on Cody Ranch, primarily with a 8-10" lizard and a 1/2 oz weight.  A 1 oz sinker with a dropshotted brush hog (like a Don Harper rig) also works under those pads.

Broseco doesn't have anywhere near the matted grass that it's had in years past.  The only available vegetation for punching was those two areas of lily pads but they are in less than two feet of water and quite narrow.  We didn't get bit giving it a try.

All of the Heartland 10-10 Ranch lakes have thick areas of lily pads. Most are easily accessible but Home Place has areas that have never seen a boat. An angler in a kayak might do real well there.

Great point Larry.

Now that you mention it, I'd say almost half of HomePlace is good for punching.  We went way, way up toward Beaver last time and caught a lot of fish up there.