Punchin' and Froggin' on the CA Delta

Can someone explain to me how a $3 frog could work so well? Isn't it common knowledge that you have to spend $20+ on a frog from Japan with a fancy paint job to get fish to bite? I guess not! This particular morning I had headed out to the delta with one thing on my mind; Punching. The plan was to strip the boat of everything but two punch rods, a handful of baits, weights, and hooks, and the Go Pro Camera. I figured I'd spend the day having fun and film a video explaining how stripping the boat of gear helps you commit to a pattern and ultimately helps you put more fish in the boat.

So what went wrong? One word: TIDE.

If it were a guide trip, or even a trip with friends I'd study the tides and make the best decisions possible. When its just me and a camera I didn't even bother to look at the tide charts. Do you know what a "minus tide" does to a shallow punch bite? The big ones go away and the baby bass come out to play! As you'll see in the video my plan quickly unraveled and I was forced to do what any self respecting fisherman would do... I drove to the nearest tackle shop and spent money!

Who would have thought that I would discover a long forgotten bait (at least to me) and begin to hammer the fish? That's exactly what happened! In the following days I kept catching fish and the size got bigger. There will be more videos to follow on this subject.

For those curious about what they're seeing in this video, the punch fish were caught with a 2 oz. punch weight, a Dirty Jigs Punch Skirt, a 4/0 hook, and a Dobyns 766 Savvy Rod (A phenomenal punching rod for the price). The Snag Proof Weed Demon fish were caught with a Dobyns Champion 736, my favorite frog rod.

Socal Slugfest

Good music, hard hook sets, and monster bass, does it get any better??? By now nearly all of the members of the Tactical Bassin community recognize Adam Hinkle when he submits a video. For those of you who don't, Adam is a regular contributor and his work is much appreciated. Some of his recent pieces include Beating the Bank for Giants, Fall Jig Madness, and Mapping Your Approach. Adam Brings a unique perspective and a whole different style to the Tactical community.

True to form, Adam is smashing fish in Southern California. Lucky for us, we get a front row seat to the show. These fish were caught on the 8" Huddleston Swimbait in both ROF 5 and 12. The rod you see is a Dobyns 795 MLSB. Adam's approach to swimbaits is quite a bit different from my own. He uses 20 lb mainline and smaller hooks to draw the heavily-pressured Southern California bass into the open. It just goes to show there isn't always a right and a wrong way to catch these big bass. Its important to experiment and develop confidence but always stay open to progression.

Also, for those of you who are confined to smaller boats and are drooling over the net they keep sliding out of the rod locker, that is a Hiber-Net by Frabill. Its quite a bit different than what I carry but after watching how nicely it stores I may have to check it out myself.