NoShoes

I personally love my dobyns but the rod powers are a bit lower than their ratings. 703 is a medium. 704 medium heavy. And the Sierra line is a big jump from the fury’s. I have 5 fury’s with no complaints, but picked up a used like new sierra cheaper than what a fury would cost and it’s clearly a much better rod.

Same Ol monsters but use 3/0 EWG. I use 3/0 EWG for about everything. I move down for finesse worms and up for magnum speed worms, but haven’t had any trouble on 3/0’s on those either.

I’m pretty solid pitching. Flipping is awkward as can be I never feel like I have enough line to reach the bottom. An arms length worth of line ain’t a lot for me, I’m vertically challenged lol ?

What conditions push you to punch over other techniques?

I got some practice to do flipping it seems! Thanks again for the insight!

Everytime I get frustrated with all the effort put in with lack of results it don’t take but one thud on the TRig for it to be all worth it.

@Catt. @Captain Phil When y’all are doing yalls punching, are you spending more time “pitching” like short casts or more “flipping” manually pulling the line down the rod with your off hand?

Full send. If you ain’t first you’re last.

man, the 6 fish would be a good day for me lol.

I own a tracker 175 tx rigged almost identically except with a 50 instead of the 75. I only got 6k in it, but still get boat envy every time I see one of those aluminum rangers. I know functionality wise, the fish don’t care but gosh those are nice boats. Something ain’t right. Same size tracker boat with a 50 hp Mercury and I can hit low 30’s with just me in it.

That’s a helluva 5 minutes of fishing!

I love reading the stories behind the catches, never told mine so thought I’d share that too. The trip before I caught her I almost missed a fish because my drag was too loose. Hook was exposed but never stuck the fish. When I got home I went through and reset all my reel drags, usually fairly a stiff. The next trip I was barely there 5 minutes when I had already got my frog stuck multiple times. I switched back to my main stay Ol monster, second or third cast I felt the tap and set the hook. Immediately my drag went screaming. I initially thought I forgot to reset the drag on that reel, but quickly realized it was the fish pulling not the reel giving. After a jump that made my heart stop and a dive at the boat that stopped it again my wife had her in the net. ive heard of buck fever before deer hunting, but never understood it until I saw that fish full body in the air on the jump.

With the help of quite a few on here, I got my first bass punching the other night! About 4.5 lbs, but Im hooked on punching now and have a dedicated setup coming in. Easily the most fun catch I’ve had in awhile.

I started bass fishing at 27, I’m 29 now. I caught my PB 9 lber at 28. Before last summer my PB was around 3.5. Since then I regularly catch 4’s but closest I’ve got to my 9 is a 6.

Dicks sells dobyns fury rods and you can order a Daiwa Fuego for right around the 200 mark. Not sure there’s a better combo for the the money.

I may have put an order in for a dobyns 766 this afternoon.... ?

Not to be rude but if birds nests are that common then practicing in the yard may be helpful. After a week or two practicing I don’t have anymore issues. I still have a occasional birds nest, but nothing I can’t usually get out and it’s normally when I shank a dock skip.

Hit a 4.5 lber punching a mat off a cypress tree this evening! Probably one the most exciting catches I’ve had. Missed another bite on a similar situation not long after, thanks again!

I’ll give that a try, thanks for the tip! thanks Catt! will try!

it mats up to look like what I believe to be a canopy, I’ve tossed some heavier T-rigs at it and after the initial impact it pulls line freely to the bottom. Is that how you’d tell there’s space under it? thanks Catt, The resources I’ve looked at on punching usually recommend smaller bait profiles to get through the grass. Pretty much all my fish here come on 10” Ol monsters. Would you still try that bait punching?

Like the fish bite the prop or is the prop biting them?

It’s firm, and strong. If I run my trolling motor through it it’s like a bunch of small ropes that I have to pull off.

Ive thrown frog after frog and haven’t had much success. They don’t chase here, aren’t overly aggressive.

Home lake has what I believe to be matted hydrilla throughout, and some areas pretty well covered. Depth for most is about 4 ft, but the pond at its deepest is only 7-8 ft. tough bite here, but there are giants. Although it’s South Georgia, it resembles what I hear about Florida in that is shallow, no structure, with lots of grass and the bass don’t chase. Before investing in a punching set up, just wanted to see what you guys thought about it. I’ve done well on Texas rigs around the cypress trees here, only other cover is the hydrilla.

I have two Fuegos and a tatula. I prefer the Fuegos by a long shot. I don’t like the t-wing and the gloss finish gets slippery. Looking to pick up a couple more Fuegos here soon