Jigs or Plastics for Flippin or Punchin Summer Bass

professional bass angler Russ Lane tips on fishing vegetation for summer bass

Summer 2020

to position bass and when you are faced with fishing on a lake system that factor will be wind.”

Before he made a cast, Russ broke down the area.

“I could pull up anywhere here in the channel and start fishing,” he explained. “That tactic could take hours before I hit a section that had bass. By looking at the cover situation and how the current sweeps close and hits the bank that is stacked with cover, I can tell that is where the bass will be, so that is where I will start.”

Not more than a few minutes into the pass, Russ was reeling down getting ready to set the hook into what turned out to be a three-plus bass.

As we moved farther down the bank Russ was able to set the hook into two more bass, before we hit a lull in the action. He was getting to the end of the run; so, he stowed his trolling motor, got behind the wheel of his Phoenix and took us to his next spot.

THE BEGINNING

When the Father of Flippin’ Dee Thomas developed the flippin’ technique, he was faced with trying to get a bait presentation into heavy cover. He could not cast a bait into the cover; so, he began dropping the bait down through the cover.

That was the early thoughts Dee had behind developing the flipping technique… dropping a bait into a hole, in the cover, on a short line and moving the bait a few times, in a vertical movement, then lifting it and dropping it into another hole in the cover.

This tactic caught on, word got out and once it took off, the fishing tackle companies followed suit. Longer rods were being bought all over the country and the flippin’ game was on. Flippin’ became a staple technique for anglers everywhere.

The flippin’ tactic was expanded and that is how the pitchin’ presentation was started.

When in or close to the cover, the buffer between the angler and the bass is the cover being fished. In the more open areas, there is no buffer. Pitching provided a way to get the bait to the bass; before the boat was close enough to spook ‘em.

FLIP OR PITCH?

Pitch or flip… that is the question on a day-to-day basis, when fishing thick or heavy cover. Russ will alternate between a flipping and pitching presentation to stay as stealth as he can. This allows him to keep his bait is in the bite zone, most of the time, putting more odds in his favor and catching more bass along the way.

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