I worked for Frank Hauck met and fished with Both Dee and Frank .In the 70's both were sponsored by Lew Childre . We fabricated our own tule dipping rods out of surf casting rod blanks. We did modify them by cutting to length, glueing a pop rivet to the tip of the rod then running a Dacron line through the rivet inside the rod affixing it to a treble hook at the large end (points cut off) and covering the hook with a rubber foot , like off a stool or table. the Dacron only came out about a foot then we tied on our monofilament. Later Lew's custom made a two piece stick that broke down especially for this. OK here is why a "tule dipping " rod can out fish a flipping rod, I don't care how good of a flipper you are your not as efficient moving down the bank covering shallow water. A boat with two tule dipping sticks can cover every 2-3 foot of shoreline in a shorter period of time. More casts more coverage = more fish. There are also places especially in the delta that you can swing the stick over the reeds that you cant get to pitching. I remember fishing near sand mound sloth once and there was a half sunk car in the water. Frank swung the jig through the window and caught a two pounder out of the front seat of the car ! On another tip we hooked a twenty pound striper. We landed it, but the fish gave us a shower for the first five minutes. When we would go tule dipping we would only bring the Tule dipping sticks no other rods, you covered a lot of water in a day. I still have two tule sticks to this day.
