NEVER Used a PUNCH Rig? (WHY Flipping just Catches BIGGER Fish!!!)

If you have never used a punch rig you need to watch this!!! In this video I show you how flipping and punching catches bigger fish. I show you the correct knot to use (snell knot), how to rig up the soft plastic craw or creature, what weight and hook to use, type of fishing line, rod and reel setup, and how and where to fish it to catch bigger fish.
Want the lures, fishing rods, and other bait gear we discussed in the video?
Stinger soft plastic creature bait bit.ly/2Gd3fzk
Tungsten Flipping Weights bit.ly/2UNRO7g
Good flipping and punching hook bit.ly/2FWb2CO
Daiwa braided fishing line bit.ly/2P0RcdC
My favorite craw lure bit.ly/2WIBsgB
Sneaky soft plastic worm to flip and punch bit.ly/2V14k6e
6th Sense Peg Stoppers bit.ly/2TUKuW2
Big Bite Yomama bit.ly/2HXDAxF
Mikeybalzz shirts and hats bit.ly/2ZrWOEZ

[@rickyreynolds9056]

Started punching some for the first time couple of weekends ago and was blown away by the amount of fish I caught in an area that usually is not that good this time of year! I heard them busting minnows deep in the grass so I just had to try it and 💥!! 💪🏻🎣

[@rustyreidfishing3334]

In Florida when they get really finicky I’ve gone as far as punching a straight tail worm or even a senko on a 1-1 1/2 oz weight. Great during the blistering mid-day heat sometimes you can’t feel the bite. You just know you should be thru the canopy but line stops feeding. They’ve “sucked” it in on way down. Don’t cost nothing to swing.

[@juniorcarmack8741]

You are a beast at punching. But I like how you go out deep and catch them big ones. Most of these you tubers always just fish the bank edges instead of using their equipment like you do and look for them big ones out deep liked you. Keep these good videos coming. And that 13 pounder you caught was a beast also. Biggest fish I’ve seen in a long time

[@jayr4421]

I was point blank told by someone at Shimano that the reason that Curado 200E was discontinued was because it sold too well….no one was buying the higher end reels (or lower end for that matter). I have four left and I hold on to them like grim death!

[@cashmeonthedeltahowboutdat]

Here on the CA Delta flipping and punching is mandatory if you wanna catch fish especially in the real hot days

[@trevorhanson7216]

Litrerally just went out yesterday to try and catch my first punch fish; got a bite and whiffed the hookset. Come back to youtube to try and find some more info on it this morning and it's like you knew exactly what I needed. Thanks for the info Mike, you're the man! Loading up my yak to go give it another shot now.

[@mikeybalzz]

👊

[@dougp8345]

Love the vid! John watches you religiously and had me try this earlier this year and I managed to catch 1 and loved it! I think you need a vid wearing that thing hanging in the background, you know the pink thing, LMAO!

[@scottjaworskifishing1598]

Good Stuff Bro...I miss Florida punching, but living in Texas now has made me change my fishing approach. Rayburn Baby!!

[@basstobasscookingbrentbabi5411]

Awesome video as always! Thank you!🎣

[@ageshart4523]

Great video. I am looking forward to the rest of the series

[@sliknix3165]

Love the video and the channel… Great job… as always!

[@ChRiStRiDa7]

Thank you for the great information as always!

[@nathanellis914]

I've been looking at alot of these baits on TW. It's nice to see these baits on video.

[@wall-iflex2452]

I'm pretty new to punching but I love it and this just helps me be confident that I'm doing the right stuff and helping my flipping game go to the next level thx bro let's go

[@55Dag]

Bro! Good video and perfect timing. I basically started punching last weekend. Didn't have any success yet but it's something that I want in my arsenal.

[@Tbowie13]

Man, I wish I had understood more about punching as I was growing up. I lived in Indiana with marshes on the southern tip of L. Michigan. There was grass everywhere and I would swim a worm across the top dropping it down in the little openings, and catch some fish, but I didn't have the right rod, and lost alot. Had I had a punch rig, I could have slayed fish back then. There was no internet though, and I didn't have mentors...anyhow, I enjoy your videos.

[@andrewjimenez660]

Thanks Mikey! Been punching for a couple weeks now. Trying to soak up all the info from your videos. Punching has got to be hands down one of the most violent bites ever. I’m totally hooked on this technique.

[@mikeybalzz]

it is such a fun way to catch them! good luck!

[@bamadondon0495]

Bro thank you so much for reposting this video because yesterday it had no sound and I really thought it was my phone and I was starting to lose my mind.. but I finally got to start my morning out the way I wanted to, coffee and some Mikey's Balz info

[@mikeybalzz]

Thanks for watching man I had an issue with my editor so I went back in and fixed it and reposted

[@bamadondon0495]

@@mikeybalzz you damn human you.... You're not allowed to make mistakes 😆😆😆😂😂😂 it's all good I was too busy staring at swimsuit girls bathing suit the whole time anyway if you just want me to be honest👙

[@shadygraves]

It's called "DAUBIN'' down here on the Lower Coosa! You are exactly right on the black/blue resembling the "shadow" or surface ripple reflecting off bottom. Denny Brauer made the 1st million (and got on the Wheaties Box) by using a black/blue jig almost exclusively. My Okuma Mat Daddy Punchin'/Flippin' Stick is black/blue to remind me this. I flip HEMATOMA 90% of the time. Alternately, I'll flip a Perfection Pit Boss. Another TIP: Do NOT separate the tentacles on that Hematoma Sweet Beaver! If left intact, it (much) more closely resembles the way a crawfish "folds up" to scoot backwards in a retreating posture. It also tends to glide more to the side (on the rare instances you can flip w/a lighter tungsten), giving you a larger potential strike zone if you yo-yo it 5 or 6 times LIKE YOU SHOULD!

[@sethcrowell4165]

I even use the snell knot on my regular texas rigs just feel I get a better hook up

[@aarongreenlee7867]

I was on a lake with that nasty deep thick stuff a couple feet below the surface. It didn't occur to me to punch it. I definitely will next time! I can't wait for the next punching video! Loves to Boggs!

[@edwardcowan7012]

Straight Flipping is a lost art, faster, more accurate than pitching. I have been punching since long before it was supposed to have been invented. A guy in my BASS club was there when Dave Gliebe won the first BASS Flipping and the whole club was doing it before it hit Bassmaster magazine. Yanking Bass out of mats with Mono was wild.

[@joshrigsby1225]

I wish you would've came out with that last video last wk bc i was on guntersville not doing worth a shit and didn't even think about the outer stuff

[@spotlockbaits3689]

Mikey Florida bass are getting so hard to bite offshore or shallow so do you suggest to find grass to punch at these times?

[@vinnylivoti9567]

Mikey have you tried a Tokyo rig for punching? I know VMC now has them with a straight shank flipping hook. This or a heavy duty Jika Rig would be more efficient than using a texas rig setup. Plus the Tokyo Rig's wire helps rip through all the junk and keeps your bait clean.

[@mattthomen1608]

My Tokyo rig was a good punch setup,I made a wire that kept the weight fixed at the bottom to punch.a 3/4 was enough to get in,and I excited a gator with it. It fell on him,and he sprang out of the water,and ate my Tokyo rig. Bigger gator, bout 7 ft.glad my line broke, the drag was locked up w 65lb braid.😂

[@randyphillips9838]

I watched your old video on rowing a snell hook...excellent! Now, u got an easy yet reliable way to tie braid to fluoro??? 🤣

[@josephvillalobos09]

Teach me your ways!!!

[@nunosousa109]

Do you feel any diference between tungsten and lead weights in this technic?

[@sliknix3165]

Mikey, Can you show a close up on how you rig the hook into the bait… Thanks

[@karlwild4015]

Mike, I have a situation. It seems that at one of my local small lakes, a fairly large portion of the lake has become overgrown with a fine hair like grass. Possibly due to a fisherman having caught and killed two 25-30 pound grass carp. Do you have any sugetions, other than frogs, on how to fish that stuff, as it fouls up every lure I've thrown, into it. P.S. Give Boggy a huge belly rub for me.

[@tedlincolnsfishinglife]

🤫 on that paddle tail worms…. Their also great for pitching in littler cover because you can kinda swim them on the way back.

[@basschaser9356]

When do you use punch skirt vs no skirt?? I'm beginner into punching and loving it so far . Love that hard thump when baits go through the mats

[@mikeybalzz]

got you covered did a whole vid on it last year kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6qvipaJnpZmsKM

[@basschaser9356]

@@mikeybalzz thanks man

[@frankmorrison7227]

Do you use braid straight to the hook? No leader

[@gijsberthoogendoorn7988]

Hey man, what reel is that?

[@The_Mortgage_Angler]

Good stuff man but I swear i have lost more fish on snell knot.

[@jd8733]

I had to re-watch the first part of the video to let suspense build to see if I got to here your opinion Mikey

[@pensnut08]

Are there any casting rods without the pistol grip? That "trigger" drives me nuts.

[@BrianWilemanFishing]

Mikey giving some juice.

[@booster4470]

👍👍

[@mattthomen1608]

Spent the whole day dropping that 1.5,and the 2oz. Still trying hook sizes to get my best efficiency. But taking time picking apart those pennywort mats on the Kissimmee river. Had a few kissing mats that sounded good. But I tested the depth, and was too shallow . I'm looking for those spots w slightly deeper like pad stems,or Reed heads mixed in,and closer to the edge. I pitched in deep... and had few trying to find it. So I was dangle dicking and pumping and holding it suspended, and let it fall after I hold it up fir a while to try to get reaction bites.water was super stained,and mixed w leaves and debris.but hey! I wouldn't be looking if it was not worthwhile. When I hook up it's gonna be epic! I was throwing blk blu archelons,and bb crickets.hook sizes 4,3,2 from 6 sense, few gamakatsu, and trokar tk... that JT Likes.Go Mikeybalzz!

[@jpvand1]

Are the glide type really going to glide when pegged with that much weight?

[@mikeybalzz]

good point. i don't mean they'll glide like they glide forward (which is something we'll break down in the next flipping vid on lighter weights) basically when I say glide i'm referring to the appendages not creating a sort of kicking resistance/action that you find on say a burner craw or rage craw. the glide style baits/appendages may move a bit but they don't kick, they glide to the bottom.

[@ozarkhabitatcreations9706]

Mikey please do a pad specific video. How you fish massive lily pad flats an tips on what to use. I just got permission on a 70 acre lake an 75% of the lake is lily pads an hasn’t been fished in the last 15 yrs! Advise much need man tight lines

[@datruthhurts3984]

Swimjigs,frogs and a 3/4 oz punch rig.maybe a belly weighted swimbait.just a few baits if mikey don't respond.15 yrs?dang should slay em unless it's poached regularly

[@ozarkhabitatcreations9706]

Ya man old couple owned it an a family friend bought it an I caught 6 from the bank that is accessible with a swim bait. But majority of if is unaccessible except by boat

[@mattolivo]

Switching out the man thong for the bikini top in the background was a great idea, lol. Heard u use to fish in a man thong so ppl wouldn't fish by you lol. That's funny af

[@derekp6636]

what about lakes that have no visible vegetation like that? We get some reeds along the shore but I'm tired of getting skunked

[@derekwilliams6403]

Thise lakes u cant punch because there is no vegatation to go through idk what lake you refering to does your lake have alot of rocks maybe a crankbait is better option for you

[@derekp6636]

@@derekwilliams6403 yup its an engineered river lake with lots of rocks and docks. Guess the moving water keeps the vegetation mats from building up. DFW Texas! Crankbaits have been our goto previously on the transitions

[@bkbaitsal4389]

@@derekp6636 do a Texas Rig with 5/16 oz tungsten bullet weight pegged and a creature bait you have confidence in. Cast out, let it sink and reel slow, feel the bottom, when it goes up a rock and goes down, wait until it hits bottom then give it a little pop then slow reel again and repeat. I promise you will get bit.. Nothing less than 40# braid. Hold on and Tight lines!

[@brucebroadwater8198]

What kind of fish do you catch with that pink lure hanging behind your left shoulder?

[@andrewcochran7642]

Usually n my experience old men and or perverts and at a high rate

[@jasonbreard3828]

@@andrewcochran7642 Interesting species to target, but everyone is different!

[@andrewcochran7642]

Yeah right but catfish Dave says the checks r n the thousands of dollars a week with the number of subscribers on this channel so Mybe we r fish the wrong lures n the wrong places with the wrong kind of bait I’d say Mikey knows exactly how to hook em !!!

[@williamwhitaker2928]

I've found a Tokyo rig to be far simpler with less moving parts than the old fashioned punch rig.

[@fredreese4178]

First, I need to know how to setup the reel for punching and flipping. Cast control and breaks.

[@BrianWilemanFishing]

I tend to leave my controls and brakes loose. It's all thumb for me. I want the line to come off the rod easily with the pitch and for the line to be free to fall. Also by having my thumb on the spool, I feel more. I can tell if the bait falls further than it should or not as far as it should, most times that is a fish that didn't thump it.

[@fredreese4178]

@@BrianWilemanFishing thanks.

[@mikehurtle]

Awesome video 👊 Yep, guys shouldn’t use rods with no give, because with braid that rod with a hard hook set will tear big holes in their face, and this gives the hook a lot of slop to fall out of because the Barb has nothing to hang onto and this is why guys lose a lot of fish Flipping Especially big ones, because you just can’t swing them in the boat and while you’re pulling the fish through the weeds and then trying to net or lip it makes there’s too much room for error with a rod that doesn’t bend, tearing a big hole in their face is also why when you hook a small fish and it comes flying out of the water over the boat and it keeps on going is because the hook is actually dangling in the hole that you made on the hook set. I also love not Texas rigging, I use a drop shot without about a 6 inch leader and then use two 1/2 ounce tungsten weights facing away from each other so the point is down and one is up, they are butt to butt, this is an awesome rig for flipping and it helps illuminate the weight at the hook which helps prevent the fish from shaking out. This also lets the bait turn horizontally when it gets under the mat, making it look much more natural, I also use a small split ring tied on the bottom, this is what The weights sit against and then use the bobber stop on the top side keeping the weights secure against each other. 👊

[@datruthhurts3984]

Great tip for those of us willing to read more then two lines in a comment lol..tight lines brutha

[@joshbirtchetfishing5196]

Never done it.. My lakes to have the grass for it.

[@SMF89]

I'm a big believer in the Tadpole. Immature Bull Frog.

[@UM_Brandon83]

Mikey you still in placid? There is a new tournament series just on june and placid, director wants to make sure that your invited!! .so fish with me🙏🤣🤣 Be my partner one tournament 🤣🤣🙏🙏🙏

[@mikeybalzz]

that's cool - worries me though gonna lead to a lot of dead fish.

[@UM_Brandon83]

@@mikeybalzz well 3 fish limit, and honestly ive never had a fish die, if properly fizzed, g juice,oxygenator, ice if needed, and they are usually always healthy. Unfortunately others dont take the time and make sure they take care of the fish. But most that will be fishing this tournament, since a usbassin event i think most the guys will have quality equipment, and the knowledge to keep the fish healthy. I am working on getting a live app, to run a MLF style catch and release, tournaments so we can prevent stressing the fish. So hopefully it will work out. Id like to buy a guided trip on placid with you 🤣 you make it look so easy!! Ive watched every video of yours, your the man! Join us last week of oct if your down Usbassin central florida

[@mikeybalzz]

@@UM_Brandon83 mlf deal would be cool! i won't be down there till early winter most likely but good luck out there, as the water cools it should start getting good!

[@UM_Brandon83]

@@mikeybalzz yeah so last time you fished placid you do any good? If so can you give me a few waypoints? BAHAHAHAHAHA🤣🤣 i was waiting to see you at the ramp to hit ya with that one. Seriously though this was my first summer fishing florida, im from michigan so, im sure its going to be another learning curve to learn for fall and winter down here. Seriously any pointers for that transition on placid and june?

[@mikeybalzz]

@@UM_Brandon83 honestly man the vids are your best resource - go back and watch some of the older stuff - i put it all out there no holds barred

[@jerryvalentour164]

You don't list you rods that you use . I want to look in Halo rods the one you use . Now going to watch you next video.

[@ChRiStRiDa7]

Nice! Like the bikini top more than the banana hammock 😁

[@mikeybalzz]

😂

[@rebelboy69]

Best punching bait is the black an blue bandito bug. The bug is the drug baby!lol

[@dougp8345]

Love the vid! John watches you religiously and had me try this earlier this year and I managed to catch 1 and loved it! I think you need a vid wearing that thing hanging in the background, you know the pink thing, LMAO!