GEAR
PUNCH SHOT RIG
flipping
hook
swivel line
connection
wire
dropper
split ring
connection
BUB TOSH PERFECTS
THE PUNCH SHOT RIG
T
streamlined
weight
By David A. Brown
THE PROCESS AND PURPOSE BEHIND THIS UNIQUE POWER-FISHING SETUP
he need for a better punching presentation guided
California pro Stephen “Bub” Tosh Jr. to design the
new Punch Shot Rig, now manufactured and sold by
Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits and available to anglers start-
ing this fall. Centralized components include a 55-pound-
test stainless-steel split ring that holds a 50-pound-test P-
Line high-speed rolling barrel swivel; a tungsten weight with
a wire leader; and a 3/0, 4/0 or 5/0 flipping hook. Each com-
ponent is independently mounted.
Tosh, who used the rig to earn a fourth-place finish at the
Costa FLW Series Western Division event on the California
Delta earlier this year, says that giving each component its
individual connection point adds to the rig’s efficiency.
“The swivel can spin on the split ring, and the weight can
spin on the split ring, and that allows the hook to remain fac-
ing up at all times, like it would be if it were rigged on a drop-
shot,” he says.
Comparing to the Competitors
46
At first blush, Tosh’s creation might resemble an Owner Jig
Rig or a Decoy Jika Rig, but according to Tosh there are differ-
ences that set it apart. Both of the other rigs feature a weight
hanging directly from a split ring or the lower ring of a swivel
attached to the hook eye. With the line tied to that split ring or
swivel, bait motion is optimized, while the free-swinging weight
sends the rig downward and holds it close to the bottom.
Tosh’s Punch Shot Rig boasts the same benefits, but using
the wire to create distance between the hook and weight
solved an issue he saw with other designs.
“The problem [with previous designs] was that when you
flipped it out, the weight could loop over and into the belly
of the hook, under your soft-plastic bait,” he says. “When you
set the hook, that weight would take away the hook gap, and
you would miss a lot of fish because that weight would act
like a deflector and prevent the hook from penetrating the
fish’s mouth.”
Arriving at the Final Design
Working with his friend Jun Shoji, a tackle designer and tour-
nament angler in Japan, Tosh initially experimented with sus-
pending an inverted bullet sinker on a 6-inch piece of wire
wrapped around the split ring. Ultimately, they determined a
shorter leader was most effective in grass – the rig’s primary
application – while also performing well around rock and wood.
The finished product now combines Shoji’s short-leader
weight design with the other components Tosh assembled.
Get the Rig
The Punch Shot Rig sells for $4.99 to $6.99 for two, in 3/8,
1/2, 5/8, 3/4 and 1 ounce. It’ll be available from Yamamoto at
baits.com.
>> DESIGN BENEFITS
Easy penetration – On the fall, the Punch Shot’s stream-
lined profile allows it to penetrate grass with less weight than
might be needed with other rigs or jigs.
Fewer lost weights – Working drop-shots over rocky,
snaggy bottom can claim several weights in a day because
the finesse rig precludes an angler from applying enough
direct pressure to work it free. The Punch Shot Rig’s central-
ized components and wire dropper lessen this concern.
Muck-free presentations – With the weight holding the
bait above the bottom, the Punch Shot Rig keeps bottom
muck from obscuring the bait.
FLWFISHING.COM I AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2017