So my buddy and I were out tournament fishing last weekend. Up in northern MN, the swim jig bite was hot. All day we were catching fish on 3/8 swim jigs burning them over submerged vegetation flats, pitching to docks, and working deep weed edges in 10-16 feet of water. We always loved how versatile they are, but we got to thinking. What if you used a modified "punching rig" to do the same thing? Because the one thing that swim jigs can't do, is work through really heavy cover. For example, if you get a frog blow up in slop, you can toss in a punch rig and get the follow up strike, whereas a jig usually picks up a lot more of the vegetation and slop. So the idea is, take a pegged 3/8 oz tungsten weight, punch skirt, and straight shank flipping hook with a good swimming trailer and you'd have the ultimate all around bait. It would be something you could use to work deep weed edges, burn over shallow flats, pitch to isolated cover, and punch through light slop. Before I go out and spend hours testing the theory, has anyone tried this? I tried searching and didn't come up with anything too specific.

that sounds very interesting. It is a good idea i might have to try that. i just wish tungsten wasnt so expensive.

that sounds very interesting. It is a good idea i might have to try that. i just wish tungsten wasnt so expensive.

 

Me too. When tying direct to 20lb or 40lb braid, I still get bit off by maybe 1 out of 8 pike, but usually you can at least get them in the boat to retie and save the tungsten.

I've tried it. The peg/weight/punch skirt/hook/plastic is significantly more bulky and didn't result in more fish than a weighted swimbait hook and a swimbait thrown into the junk. Fewer spots to get slime/snot stuck on the swimbait too.

I was just going to post the same - try a weighted swimbait hook and sleek profile, soft swimbait.  Otherwise, you can always swim a good grass jig and trailer.