Florida style in Georgia

Bobby Lane has only 1 keeper on this beautiful fall morning in south Georgia. He began with a topwater frog and then switched to the punch rig as the sun rose over the lake.

 

I can always tell a guy from Florida by how he fishes matted vegetation. Experts like Lane know how to read every subtle difference in an otherwise ordinary bed of thick hydrilla. Pitching into holes in the grass is a given. Yet Lane and his types find irregular features like variations in thickness or contours and growth patterns that reveal hidden secrets on the bottom.

 

The meticulous approach to reading water means fishing slow. In a 10-foot stretch Lane will make 25 pitches into the hydrilla. Each presentation is deliberate and meant to coax reluctant bass into biting. Or to reveal the presence of the lure in the thick grass.

 

Running and gunning is not part of the plan. Whatever works and we shall see how that approach varies with the other punch technique experts stacked up in the top 5.