Today’s post, Doodle Socking 1961, is a timely topic since the father of Flipping, Dee Thomas, recently passed. There’s no question that Thomas was a tule dipper as evidenced by how much was written about him in the northern California newspapers of the 1960s and early 70s. But when he was talked into fishing a tournament in 1973 with his future team partner, Frank Hauck, Thomas quickly had to change tactics or forget about fishing competitively.
In an interview I conducted with him in late 2011 about the subject, Thomas told me that the restrictions placed on him back in 1974 by Western Bass Fishing Association (WBFA), actually forced him to develop a new method in which to present a lure that had not been done before.
It has been written here a lot about what Thomas did in order to become legal in the Western Bass events. Western Bass rules initially stated that the rod only had to have a baitcasting or spinning reel attached to the rod. But after winning his first event, the other anglers complained that Thomas’ technique was not sporting, they called him a “meat fisherman.” This left Wayne Cummings, Tournament Director for WBFA in a tight spot. Cumming called Thomas and told him he’d have to reduce the length of his rod. Thomas and Cummings agreed to the 7-foot 6-inch length.
Thomas had already seen the writing on the wall and had been practicing with a 7 1/2-foot rod in his garage. He’d developed a technique where by pulling line with his left hand off the reel between the reel and the stripper guide, he had better control over the jig. And, because the rod was shorter, it effectively allowed him to work the bait back to the boat. With the standard 12- to 16-foot Hawger rod he’d been accustomed to using while tule dipping, you could not do that.
This opened Thomas’ eyes and he further developed the technique with respect to boat position, sun angle, wind angle, etc. The new rules imparted by the anglers and WBFA would come back to bite them in the rear end.
Now that we have the history of Flippin’ under our belts, let’s look at this 1961 article on Doodle Socking, or tule dipping.
Before flipping was unveiled in 1974, anglers wanting to probe the shallows very often did so with the long rod. Standard equipment was a 12- to 16-foot cane pole with anywhere from 60- to 100-pound line attached to the tip. The length of the line ranged anywhere from a couple of feet to the length of the rod and the angler sculled the boat down the shoreline and probed openings in the grass, tules or shoreline willows with a surface buzzer. Other baits used were spinners and a crazy worm developed by DeLong called the Jigging Worm. Recently I went to the DeLong website and saw that they’d brought the Jigging worm back but it looks like it’s been relegated to the sale bin. I’m going to have to get some just for the heck of it.
Recently I was thumbing through the 1961 Southern Angler’s and Hunter’s Guide by Don Fuelsch and saw an article he penned on doodle socking. Although it’s short, it’s a great look back on a technique that’s pretty much gone the way of the paper graph.
Another cool thing about the article is it shows a couple of great vintage pictures of the technique in action. We all know what it’s like to hook a hot fish right at the boat as you’re pulling a bait out of the water – there isn’t much time to react at all. With this technique, though, you’re inviting that sort of heart attack material to happen.
Looking at the pictures, the angler has no more than two feet of line hanging off his pole as he fights what appears to be some decent fish. Makes me wonder how long they played them or did they just lift them out of the water as fast as they could?
The pictures also show that doodle socking wasn’t anything close to flipping at all. The major differences are:
- the line is attached to the end of the pole,
- the amount of line the angler’s able to use on each flip,
- the fact that in flipping, because of the shorter rod, you have more control over your bait,
- flipping allows you to work your bait back to the boat due again to the much shorter rod.
Yeah, doodle sockers will always claim that flipping is just doodle socking, but overall they’re a completely different means in which to present a lure to a shallow bass. Take it from the man who originated flippin’ himself. He started out as a tule dippin’ doodle socker but he took the knowledge of that technique and developed an even better one.
Tule dipping
My first job at the age of 14 was working for one of the first bass fishing shops in northern CA called Bass Fishing North that was located in what was formally a gas station on the corner of Bascom and Camden Ave, Campbell CA. The shop was owned by a Vietnam vet named Fred Dietz who was from the south and very familiar with bass fishing . This was the early seventies and not much was known about bass fishing in California at that time but there was a lot of interest and Fred had a good following. Fred had good ties to what lures were hot in the south but not yet available in CA. He also knew many of the southern suppliers that made specialty bass rods and reels. In that mix was the tule rod used for “tule dipping” . I had heard about tule dipping working at the shop , but really had no idea what it was about . I figured guys just plowed there way back into some tules and caught fish. Fred received the parts to make a few tule rods up and after seeing them I was totally confused. These ten foot poles looked like they were for surf casting and there was no reel , so how does that work? A few days later Fred mentioned that he was going to take his friend fishing in the delta and wanted to know if I was interested in coming along. He said I could net and maybe make a few casts. This was very exciting stuff because I had never fished out of a real bass boat. Fred owned a yellow Astroglass bass boat with a motor guide foot controlled motor and Lowrance depth sounder! The day finally arrived Fred and I launched his boat at Paradise point Marina. This was my first trip to the delta and it looked like nothing I had ever fished, reeds and tule everywhere. It was very foreign and exciting, very fishy looking. We motored a ways and stopped at a houseboat picking up Freds friend. We then motored another ten fifteen minutes and stopped near a bank with sparse tule and rip rap. Fred showed us how the tule stick worked , swinging the jig and pork rind out near the bank and then swimming the jig back. The jigs were banana heads with black and orange bucktail but had a piece of neoprene rope tied on that worked as a weed guard. We are slowly moving down the bank, the two rods swinging and swimming the jigs . Fred mentions that we want to cover every three feet of shoreline. Fred then makes a big grunting sound and sets the hook I can see the rod bend and hear the line zipping sideways trough the water . Fred swings the fish towards the boat and I net a three pound delta bass. Wow ! Were tule dipping ! Fred keeps moving down the shoreline skipping certain areas , he informs us that the new shiny rock on the banks doest hold as many fish and discusses the tides which I have no understanding. The fish are now on a real bite and both Fred and his friend are catching and releasing more bass than I’ve ever caught in a day. The fish are all good size ranging 2- 4.5 lbs. As the day went on we fished Sycamore, Hog and Beaver slough, covering every foot of the bank swinging the tule poles till our arms were worn out. It was one of the most memorable bass fishing trips I ever took. Tule dipping out of a bass boat in the CA delta for big fat black bass ! Tule dipping was so very different than conventional equipment and I quickly understood why it worked so well. You systematically cover more ground, your stealthy and your presentation can be very controlled even to the point of making the jig swim in circles if needed. So simple yet so effective. I still have two tule rods hanging in my attic, maybe its time to take them down and give them another shot.
Sadly a few years later Fred died in a plane crash near Yolo CA and Bass Fishing North was closed.
Mike, wow, what a story! That would have been awesome to experience.. Thank you for the look back.
Hey Mike great comment! I would like to pick your brain about that hair jig you were introduced to for Tule dipping. Dee Thomas used the same type of banana head jig with a hand tied rope weed guard so I am curious about the origins of this hair jig if you remember who the inventor was I have always assumed it was Dee.
There was a guy from Fremont CA. (Benny Romano) who managed the fishing dept of a sporting good store there called (Tri-Cities sporting goods). He was a Flippin disciple of Dee Thomas and he gave a class the about flipping technique and how to tie those flippin hair jigs. I believe he also had the supplies for tying those hair jigs available in his store also.
Thanks , Ken