when punching grass for largemouth, do you prefer to use a skirt, or no skirt? the skirt may trigger more bites, but i think it would turn off a few fish too. :-/ what do you think?

You have to understand that true punching(matted vegetation) is almost always about reaction strikes. The fish rarely gets a look at your lure in all that slop. Use a compact craw bait like a Chigger craw with a rattle and a tungsten weight to break through. A skirt can also get you more hang ups.

I've been punching grass since the early 70's with Jigs, Texas Rigged Jigs & Texas rigs; I never leave an area without throwing a jig & a Texas rig. One must understand that beneath that matted surface are caverns, caves, & tunnels offering a bass plenty time to eye ball your lure.

I do sometime use a heavy jig with a skirt, but the last few years plastics have been more consistent. Creature baits (I like the brush hog) with a 1/2 - 1 oz. tungsten weight and a rattle seem to be the way to go. It doesn't hurt to use both until you find what they like best.

If your in Wisconsin, your wasting money on a set up for punching. 

in the summer there can be alot of grass and i use my medheavy rod with braid for fishing grass, wanted to try fishing it a little this year, just wondering if adding a skirt between the 1/2oz. weight and chiggercraw would be a good idea...

in the summer there can be alot of grass and i use my medheavy rod with braid for fishing grass, wanted to try fishing it a little this year, just wondering if adding a skirt between the 1/2oz. weight and chiggercraw would be a good idea...

are you tossing the bait into grass or are you punching thru a thick mat ??? the mats i punch a 1/2 oz. weight would not even start to go thru !! i use a 1 oz. weight minimum . anyhow , punch skirts work good , the ones i had got hung up(not the skirt , the hook so i lost the whole rig ) and are gone . most of the skirts come in two packs so get a pack and give them a try

Well, there's run-of-the-mill 'weed-penetrating' and there's serious 'mat-punching'.

Milfoil or hydrilla that's loosely matted on the surface can be fished in the usual manner.

Just use an up-and-down sawing motion that encourages the lure

to drop to a lower-and-lower tier in the vegetation.

When confronted with tight rafts of hyacinths and alligatorweed, then serious mat-punching is in order.

I prefer slender plastics like the zoom big critter craw rigged directly on a heavyweight T-rig jig.

I don't feel that a silicon skirt is needed because the plastic craw has appendages of its own.

Roger

If your in Wisconsin, your wasting money on a set up for punching.

Punching with the standard 1-2 oz weights is overkill in the Upper Midwest, but there are plenty of opportunities arounds the pads, milfoil, and coontail for punching with 1/2 and 3/4 oz weights, which more often than not, will match up just fine with standard MH and H power worm/jig, toad, and frog equipment.

in the summer there can be alot of grass and i use my medheavy rod with braid for fishing grass, wanted to try fishing it a little this year, just wondering if adding a skirt between the 1/2oz. weight and chiggercraw would be a good idea...

It's worth a try.

http://www.***.com/BOSS_Punch_Hub_5pk/descpage-BOSSPCH.html

I just stick with a 1.5 oz. Tungsten weight and a craw soft plastic or brush hog.

When punching I use a punch skirt most of the time. I believe that the bead on the punch skirt cams the hook out (with a snell knot) and allows for better hookups. I have had good success with the paycheck baits set up.

If your in Wisconsin, your wasting money on a set up for punching.

Punching with the standard 1-2 oz weights is overkill in the Upper Midwest, but there are plenty of opportunities arounds the pads, milfoil, and coontail for punching with 1/2 and 3/4 oz weights, which more often than not, will match up just fine with standard MH and H power worm/jig, toad, and frog equipment.

That's the point I was trying to get across, you'll never need a mag-heavy set up with a 1-2oz on it.  Honestly, 1/2oz-3/4oz is more than enough

If your in Wisconsin, your wasting money on a set up for punching.

Punching with the standard 1-2 oz weights is overkill in the Upper Midwest, but there are plenty of opportunities arounds the pads, milfoil, and coontail for punching with 1/2 and 3/4 oz weights, which more often than not, will match up just fine with standard MH and H power worm/jig, toad, and frog equipment.

That's the point I was trying to get across, you'll never need a mag-heavy set up with a 1-2oz on it. Honestly, 1/2oz-3/4oz is more than enough

Gotcha.

8-)