How to Punch Mats for Bass

[@AlexRuddFishing]

Gah that looks like a freaking blast!

[@ShayeBaker]

The definition of love my man

[@ShayeBaker]

It is really all I want to do with my life haha

[@jrbz88]

So I am a bit new to fishing and trying to understand the lingo but what is the difference between "drop and pop" and "leaning into the fish", I'm not sure I understand what the two different techniques are exactly?

[@ShayeBaker]

Hi JB! No problem. If you look at the first fish catch in this video, I feel the bite and just pull from where my rod was when I felt the bite to set the hook. The hookset at minute mark 4:50 isn't as good. I was trying to work the bait through the mat and as soon as it finally fell through one hit it and I had to drop my rod to set the hook because my reel wasn't even engaged yet. But that hookset at 4:50 is a little closer to what I mean by "drop and pop". It's the same way most everyone including myself sets the hook on a football jig or texas rig. And it's right for that because you typically have a lot slack between your rod and the bas ton the bottom and you need to compensate for that by dropping your rod and reeling down before you set the hook. Not the case with punching and often times, dropping and popping them leads to missed opportunities because the fish spit the bait out before you set the hook.