Finesse Flipping
by Massimo Zanetti
The weather scenario was the typical
post-frontal one: You know, bluebird skies and locked-jaw
largemouths. After three hours spent deliberately flipping
conventional lures in the thickest cover and getting only one
bite on a 1/2 oz. jig & pig, I thought that there must be
better way to unlock those jaws and stimulate the fish into
biting. I figured in my mind that a finesse approach should have
been athe thing to try...but the light line finesse tackle didn’t
jive with that heavy cover! So, instead of using light tackle, I
Texas rigged a small 4" perch-colored Snakebite Mega
Curl on my heavy 7’6" flipping stick, doused it with a
generous shot of Kick’N Bass fish attractant, and I started
putting that small piece of plastic into the thick stuff!
Right on the third presentation, flipping
my small bait at a log mixed in a patch of grass, my monofilament
suddenly twitched! I quickly reeled in the slack and set the
hook! A 2-pounder thrashed over the grass. "That's
better!" I thought gladly as I pulled it into the boat and
released it in few seconds. In the next five minutes, after
catching another couple of fish about the same size, I felt I was
onto something with my newly-discovered finesse flipping. So I
decided to experiment by switching to an equally small 3/16 oz.
skirted jig trailed by a 2.5 inch Snakebite Frog. After 20
minutes using the small jig without getting a single bite I
started wishing to change back to the Mega Curl, when my line
started slowly moving towards the boat. After a powerful tussle,
the electronic handscale stopped at almost 4 pounds this time! In
the remaining two hours of that fishing trip, my fishing buddy
and I caught another couple of dozen fat and vigorous largemouths
by flipping finesse style.
Small slow-moving lures and stout tackle.
Since those early experimental days, this combo of finesse lures
on flipping tackle has often represented a good cure to
locked-jaw fish. You offer a subtle-looking bait right on the
nose of those bass hiding in the thickest places. The fish hardly
refuse this kind of offering.
The two categories of flipping finesse lures I
use include:
Jigs: I include skirted jigs up to ¼ oz
in this category. I usually trim the skirts down to make them
look even smaller, and I add an equally small trailer, normally a
2.5" Snakebite Frog or a 3" soft-plastic craw like the
Snakebite Mega Craw. In this way, I obtain an extremely short,
compact lure that I can put everywhere in thick cover.
Soft plastics: Snakebite is one
manufacturer who offers a great line of small plastics ideal for
finesse purposes when flipping and pitching. I love the 4"
Mega Curl, a versatile Zipper-type worm with a great built-in
action. I usually flip this bait with a 3/16 or ¼ oz. bullet
weight. The 3" Mega Craw (that I’ve just mentioned above
as jig trailer) is a deadly lure all by itself when Texas rigged
and flipped! The same goes for the other soft plastics which
Snakebite hand-pours, especially the 4" Finesse Paddle. Just
click here if you want to know more about Snakebite Custom Fishing Tackle.
Not
a lot of weight. The great thing I’ve found about
flipping small lures is that I don’t need to add a lot of
weight for them to puncture heavy cover. A 4" straight worm,
goes almost everywhere even if you put a small bullet weight in
front of it. And it is an offering that the bass just doesn’t
see too often in thick vegetation. Finesse lures are compact and
because of that, they do not seem to ever intimidate the fish in
any way. They in fact represent an unobtrusive and easy meal to
the eyes of any bass.
The key is the small lure. I have
experienced that flipping finesse lures is a technique that pays
big dividends. I can tell you of a lot of other times when
flipping small baits has produced for me since 1993 when I first
tried it. Using this tactic, I’ve had second big bass on the
third day on the 1994 International Tournament flipping a 4"
western worm in reeds. In one of last year's Italian Championship
tournaments, flipping a 3/16 oz. black jig, I culled almost 4
limits of bass while the other contestants struggled to catch a
couple of fish!
Another example is that in Italy in general, we
started flipping tube jigs in the early 90s. We simply Texas
rigged every kind of soft plastic lure we had and flipped them
into the thickest cover. We weren’t aware that US anglers
typically did not flip tube jigs then. Were we wrong to flip the
small profile tube lures? Not if you ask former 2–time B.A.S.S.
Megabucks champion Doug Garrett or 1998 Bassmasters Classic
Champion Denny Brauer. Since the success of these national pros,
many US anglers now flip tube lures into thick cover like we've
been doing it in Italy! Likewise, I hope you may have picked up a
few more tips from this article about finesse flipping and the
lures we use to do it Italian-style!
Regards, Massimo
| Author Information.
 Massimo Zanetti is
33 years old, Italian by birth and bassman by choice! Massimo is
married to his wife Annalisa since 1992 and they have two
daughters, Paola and Chiara. Fishing since he was a kid, now
Massimo fishes almost exclusively for bass since 1988. He started
bass fishing competitively in late 1992. Massimo writes articles
for a few Italian fishing magazines, club newsletters, and
websites. Massimo has been a featured speaker at several
seminars.
Massimo considers himself a versatile bass
fisherman who always tries to adapt techniques and lures to
weather/water conditions and to the bass metabolism. He loves to
fish around shallow cover and visible targets, and he's mostly a
river fisherman. In his opinion, this is the way to go!
He is a field tester for Shimano Italia/Rapala
and he's sponsored by KeepAlive Oxygen Infusors, S.O.B. Fishing
Products, Snakebite Custom Fishing Tackle and Scientific Bass
Products. |
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