Punching and Flipping the Florida Way

Early season tournaments held in Florida year after year by Bassmaster and FLW on lakes like Toho and Okeechobee are slowly but surely changing how we punch and flip across the country.

The annual cycle of change emanating from Florida roughly works this way:

  1. Local Florida tournament anglers and professional guides refine their best flipping and punching approaches throughout the entire season.
  2. The top FLW and Bassmaster pros from across the country then convene at major events in Florida. They use their network of personal contacts in the local area as well as publicly available Internet info and compare notes with other pros in order to gain a deep understanding of the latest local advancements in techniques.
  3. The top pros use their vast national experience and practice period in order to assess, adapt and innovate upon the latest local approaches; the pros often take these tactics to the next level.
  4. As the major Bassmaster and FLW tournaments conclude, the pros’ winning patterns, spots, techniques and equipment are all divulged, analyzed and become the new basis for upgrading the game plans of their fellow pros as well as the local tournament guys. The avid angling public becomes informed of the pros’ flipping and punching refinements at this point as well.
  5. Tackle vendors may tweak or design new products to better suit changing needs as the techniques evolve each year. However, new products can take time to develop and get into production. So there is a lag between what’s needed and when it becomes available. It may take months or even until next season before new ideas reach store shelves.
  6. The iterative and incremental annual cycle of change loops back to step #1 as punching and flipping the Florida way is revamped each season.

How the Cycle Began a Few Years Back

It wasn’t that many years ago when punching through Florida’s thick mats with heavy tungsten weights up to one ounce paired with tiny soft plastic crawdads was considered a revolutionary new way to flip in Florida. Again, it may have been local talent who pioneered the approach but it was top pros during the FLW and Bassmaster events in Florida a few years ago who publicized and made the technique known to anglers nationwide.

To compare how the technique has changed since a few years ago, today the pros have steadily ratcheted up to 1-1/2, 2 and 2-1/4 oz tungsten punch sinker weights. It’s not wrong to say some of the very thickest mats may harbor some of the very biggest bass – but those mats are also the hardest to penetrate. By bulking up from 1 to 1.5 to 2 oz sinkers, the heavier weight provides a much better chance to bust a bait through the thickest mats. Quite simply, a 2 oz sinker will be able to penetrate many more mats per hour than will a 1 oz weight.

Also the preferred soft bait has changed over the past few years. Originally, small craws (such as the Gambler BB Cricket) that were popular a few years ago, they aren’t as much in vogue today, except for very early in the season when the water is still cold or whenever a severe cold front, intense fishing pressure or some other factor shuts down the bite, the baby craws still get a work out during the tough times.

Overall, the preferred flipping and punching bait style today includes the Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver and the many different brands and models of creature baits that are loosely fashioned along similar lines as the Sweet Beaver.

Flipping Jigs in Florida

Up until a few years ago, it would not be wrong to say that hardly anyone flipped jigs in Florida, but that too has changed now. Again it may have started with some of the local experts but the top pros do not let any potentially promising local techniques go untried. The latest trend is that everyone’s flipping jigs at the mats now.

The jig weights being used lately are still only up to one ounce, but jigs are a rather new development in Florida for many anglers. It probably won’t  be long before 1-1/2 or even 2 oz jigs are used to bomb Florida’s mats.

And although I’ve never seen a 3 oz tungsten sinker, I’m sure some vendor out there is working on one at the urging of some pro who dreams that a hefty 3 ouncer lobbed on 100 lb braid will penetrate even more mats than the measly 2 oz size.

We’ll need to wait until the top tours return to Florida again early each season to see what else will slowly but surely progress with punching and flipping the Florida way.

This article was written by Russ “Bassdozer” Comeau and featured on the FINS’nTALES website.