I fish a tidal river in Southwest Louisiana, our primary cover is Cypress trees, stumps and laydowns, more hard targets than anything, any tips about presentation, rate of fall, and gear? Thanks in advance for doing this

Rate of fall is something to always take into consideration when flipping and pitching.   The main purpose is to understand how the fish are positioned on cover and what triggers strikes.  

 

For example sometimes bass suspend on cover and so a slow fall is good to keep it in front of them longer, while other times water is very warm or even hot and a fast fall is the only thing that will trigger a reaction strikes.  

 

Water clarity is key also where in clear water typically a faster decent is good because otherwise fish get too good of a look at it.

 

When it comes to gear I like a a Lew’s magnum heavy cover 7’6” heavy action rod with Fluorocarbon on harder cover targets and braid for areas of grass or weeds.

 

Regarding the tidal aspect it’s important to remember that a fish will position on the end of cover types nearest deeper water like the end of a lay down tree while they will get really shallow and move into flooded areas or shoreline areas on high tide.

 

Lastly, it’s important to remember that fish will relate to shade lines as well commonly referred to as soft cover edges.

 

Hope that helps and good fishing