Pattern of the Month

Playing Brett Preuett’s Punch Out

There are times when having a heavy hitter on board can be the difference between a big check and an average day

Brett Preuett remembers screeching across the waters of Mississippi’s Ross Barnett Lake in 2017. In the final minutes of the final day of Elite Series competition, he desperately needed a few big fish to slide into the money and leave the Magnolia State with a check. He’d been making a modest living in a pocket for most of the day, and on the way out, he spotted a clump of lonely grass mats. That’s the moment his fortune changed, using this month’s high-powered pattern: punching.

There’s a reason some anglers become