E LITE S
BY TYLER BRINKS
3
OUNCES IS MONEY IN THIS GAME
Weigh In on Their Weights
I
f you’ve been to a FLW weigh-in, you’ve defi-
nitely heard it before - “ounces is money in this
game” and while that may be a reference to the
size of the fish, the size of a weight can make the difference in the bite that gets that bass to the boat.
Choosing the right size weight can be a daunting
task with the massive selection currently being
offered to consumers. Tungsten fishing weights can
be purchased in seemingly every increment of weight
size from 1/32 all the way up to 2-ounces. The task
becomes more complex when fishing heavy cover
or utilizing flipping, pitching and punching techniques.
“How much weight should I use here?” is a question
many of us ask as we look at approaching cover on
our home waters.
To help solve some of the mystery behind weight
selection and to see what the pros do, I talked with
three Bassmaster Elite Series anglers. Jared Lintner,
Brandon Palaniuk and J. Todd Tucker all gave their input
on choosing weight sizes for fishing heavy cover and
for general soft plastic fishing.
CALIFORNIA COMMENTS
California’s Jared Lintner is known for his prowess when fishing around heavy cover; most notably for flippin’, pitchin’ and punchin’ heavy vegetation. In talking with him, the first thing he mentioned was to “go with the lightest weight you can get away with”. He continued by stating that it is often the case where one size weight will be too heavy and one size will be too light, therefore it will not penetrate the cover properly.
For fishing heavy vegetation, Lintner will focus on weights ranging from ¾-ounce all the way up to the 2-ounce size. He said that typically, he will use a 1 or 1 ¼-oz for most applications and added that seasonal differences also play a role in his decision on what size weight to use. He added “In the colder months, I like the bait to have a slower fall. This is sometimes a trade off because certain cover requires more weight just to get through the mats. Again, go with the lightest weight you can use to get the job done. If the weight is too heavy and falls too fast, sometimes it
ISSUE 1 February 2012
45