CTFishTalk.com: Fishing Heavy Cover - Connecticut Bass Fishing ( CT Bass Fishing ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

slim2043 · Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 446 Location: Plainville CT

Anyone have any tips for getting at the summer bass especially in shallow ponds with heavy cover? I have had a rough time getting at em the last few weeks. I've been hitting the ponds pretty consistently in my kayak and throwing everything I have and haven't found any consistency other than pulling in weeds. I'm trying every section of the water column but I can't say I've caught more on the bottom or the top or the mid level. I've only been pulling out between 0-3 fish a trip. Usually I fish salt all summer but with my yak and location now I hit the ponds a time or two a week and May June was killer but July August has been hot and tough. Any advice would be appreciated...

Thanks guys!
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CT_BASSman · Joined: 23 May 2011 Posts: 349

Looking into getting some punching gear,heavy flipping hooks, braided line, and any stream lined baits that will slip right thru the cover should solve all your problems.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Flipping or punching would be extremely hard to do well or efficiently from a kayak, well, unless you could stand up, of course. Flippy motors over weeds at five miles per hour, zip!, zip!, zipping along.
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CT_BASSman · Joined: 23 May 2011 Posts: 349

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

I didn't say that it isn't effective. Very Happy

It's just difficult to do. Heck, I had trouble flipping from the back of Flippy's boat. He goes FAST!
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CT_BASSman · Joined: 23 May 2011 Posts: 349

slim2043 · Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 446 Location: Plainville CT

What kind of baits do you use when you are 'flipping' ?

I guess I have to learn a bit more about 'flipping' and get some more practice in baitcasting because I still kind of look "special" when I'm using my baitcaster and learning two things at once is a recipe for disaster... I can just see myself with 1/4" bloody grooves in my hands from handlining a 3-4 lb bass using 60 lb braid after getting a massive birdsnest flipping an expensive lure from an expensive rod/reel into some dense weed mats... which is all good and fine if the end result is my hand in that big ol basses mouth Very Happy

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steven1smith · Joined: 05 Apr 2010 Posts: 206 Location: South Windsor

If you need practice with a baitcaster, buy a jig(1/2oz) and practice pitching it into a cup about 10ft away. As you get more comfortable with it, move the cup further away, or under a bush or next to a tree.

When flipping pads, use braid, 30lb minimum. I prefer to fish a jig in the pads as opposed to a T rigged bait because a jig is much more weedless than a texas rig, in my opinion. Just let the jig get to the bottom, then move it 3-6" and pause. Do this until it gets to the top, and when it gets there, drop it back down. If nothing hits it within a few seconds, flip it somewhere else.
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A 4lb bass is not going to grow to 8lbs on your wall.

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slim2043 · Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 446 Location: Plainville CT

Thanks guys! I'm gonna get practicing straight away... see if I can get some fruit from my labor before the summer is over... plus flipping jigs works good in cold weather too right? Smile

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CT_BASSman · Joined: 23 May 2011 Posts: 349

I use beaver style plastic baits when flipping heavy mats the flat thin profile design helps the bait slide thru cover.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

The way flippy showed me, you don't even have to crank the reel. You pull on the line like a fly fisherman would to lift and then drop the lure into the cover. you can do this in 12 feet of water.

I had a medium heavy 7-1/2 foot Shimano Crucial baitcasting rod and a Curado CU201G7 baitcasting reel. It worked fine for flipping from the back of a bass boat, but I couldn't cast it worth a damn without birdnesting the 50 pound PowerPro braid that I had spooled on it. They went back to Cabela's, along with another Curado reel and a couple of more Shimano baitcasting rods. I figure that's $550 better spent somewhere else.
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slim2043 · Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 446 Location: Plainville CT

I hear ya there! If I $pend any more $$$ on fishing this year I'm gonna need a 2nd job! I practiced flipping with a 7' spinning rod Smile

... I can flip and pitch 5-35 feet but my accuracy needs some work. I did it with an arms length of line in my left hand and nearly a rods worth hanging and pendulumed it like I watched KVD do Wink

. Maybe next year I'll buy a bait caster flipping stick but I'm gonna reinvent the wheel first! Flipping Black Pond upside down tomorrow!!! Wink

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flippy · Joined: 25 May 2008 Posts: 1150

Does, Somebody want to go FLIPPIN??? Twisted Evil

slim2043 · Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 446 Location: Plainville CT

Hell yeah!!!! Show me how it's done!!!
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hila2006 · Joined: 22 Jul 2011 Posts: 582 Location: Ellington

Dude, I've been telling myself for years now "I'm gonna start learning to flip and pitch" just haven't done it. I've got the right gear for it I guess, all baitcasting etc. But every time I give it a try, it seems to go nowhere. I have to go up in my weights I guess. But I'll be trying more as time goes on.

Good luck.