Anyone use punch jigs in Lake of the Isles

Always hate to name smaller lakes on a forum but I feel anyone (like me ) willing to fight that slop this time of year deserves a fish or two! Have never used punch jigs-gonna try a texas setup with a half ounce weight and about a #3 hook. Wanted to pick up a 5 hook and a 1 oz. bullet but FF did not have either. I will run out to Joes if you guys think I need bigger stuff. Thanks
Oh tips on Isles would be great too (C&R-would not eat a bass out of a city lake in 80 degree water anyway)

Hello out there-always out of sych, back when I was using light jigworms and 8# line people were punchin’ or dragin’ football lead- now finesse is back. Anyway did get a great idea from In Fisherman instead of pushing into the stuff with a trolling motor, use a push pole, way easier than cleaning the prop every 30 seconds. I have a pole in my garage gathering dust too-bought it for my Jon boat never thought to use it for my big boat.

Could also try a Tokyo Rig. A lot like a punch jig as they are easier to rig and use. Also gives a bit more action.

I dont fish that lake but chisago is weeded out and I punch mats alot out there with blue and black craws. Has been working lately. Or if you can get out of the weeds I’ve also been doing good on 10 inch worms Texas rigged

Thanks!

Never fished Lake of the Isles but punching is extremely effective mid summer, mid day. Takes a bit to get the hang of it but once you do it’s a lot of fun. Heavy weight, heavy hook, plastics with only a couple appendages to limit hangups. Personally I use rage craws on a flipping hook with a 1oz tungsten bullet weight. Some people like to snell them but I use a cinch knot and haven’t had problems with it.

Do you need to pitch to hard or clean bottom? Dude on u-tube snelled his hook and showed how the hook angles up when pulled (helps with hooksets) Thanks 14-I know you are a sensitive finesse guy now, glad you could remember being a power bass man!

Have done it a little on Harriet….same kind of slop but not as bad as isles. I wouldn’t make isles my first choice….it’s so shallow and warm. I think you’ll have better luck in Calhoun or Harriet looking for slop adjacent to a bit of deep water.

I used to do it wading Harriet….wading into the slop is quite the experience.

tim hurley wrote:

Do you need to pitch to hard or clean bottom? Dude on u-tube snelled his hook and showed how the hook angles up when pulled (helps with hooksets) Thanks 14-I know you are a sensitive finesse guy now, glad you could remember being a power <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass man!

Yeah I’m a little confused about myself as well lately although it sure made a difference in our last tournament so I guess I’m going to stick with it for now.

You don’t need to do it on hard bottom. Find floating mats of grass or foil, or pads for that matter. With the floating mats and a heavy weight you can “punch” right through the mat into the open water underneath it. The fish are just using it for the shade, and many times there isn’t much vegetation once you get through the mat. With the pads find a hole in THICK pads and pitch to it. Let it hit the bottom and let it sit for 5 or ten secs, then lift it up slowly and let it come back down again, adding some bounces here and there on the way up and down. It can be pretty deadly in the really thick stuff.

I would have looked for openings in pads-cool- Might try this on a clear lake that is bowl shaped. Nice breaks right next to the pads. So how far back into those thick pads would you go? Pads are on a shallow flat-thanks

Was out punching today for awhile. Fished 2-6 so super mid day. Only got one to the boat and missed two absolute tanks. I was looking for any pads/mats close to deeper water. For some reason today i couldnt get a bite out of the main pieces of really thick pads. All of my hits came off of isolated groups of pads just a touch deeper than the main pads. Also when they are on main pieces of pads make sure to hit the areas where thicker/thinner pads meet. Or where two different types of cover meet. Makes a very nice edge for big fish to hang out on. Very good advice from everyone else as well!
Best of luck!

Thanks Carter

Carter is right on this one. You can definitely find some monsters right in the thick of everything. But any irregularities you can find are good. I tend to focus on pads that extend out on the edge forming a point of pads. Seem to have good luck with frogs and punch rigs on those.

It takes a lot more time to find thick cover and a good clean hard bottom below – But I think that’s where the payday is…

One spot I wanted to do a punch on, had these guys in a canoe way in on pads, no opening except for small 1×1′ ones that they were pitching weightless plastics to. This was by a point so the bottom was probably hard-they told me they had been doing well but what a tedious way to fish (IMO) suppose they tease the big girls out by hitting these openings repeatedly. You would have to have some serious confidence in the spot, think I would pitch a big minnow out and enjoy a sandwich if I were to be that stuck on a spot. The one dude was amazing at casting that little plastic with a baitcaster.