Pitching & Flipping

[bassadict69]

What is the difference between the two? I have always thought they were the same but lately I have been seeing references to prefering one over the other.

[Mike Noble]

I'm probably wrong, but here is what I have always thought.  Pitching is where you hold the bait with a few feet of line out, then you bring the rod tip down and back up toward the target, letting the bait go.  Flippig is where you pull line out between the reel and the first eye, allowing a few feet of line between the bait and the rod tip.  You swing the tip of the rod to get the bait swinging, then let go of the line.

Pitching goes further, at least for me.  I flip in very tight quarters when working heavy cover.

I'm sure someone will correct me.

[Chris]

Mike

Ditto...

[jc]

mike you hit it right on the head.

[MotherNature]

Sounded good to me, I am a pitchin' fan and have been since we came here. It has actually caused some of the other castibg styles to go unused and now I am a bit shabby with them 

Flippin' as I am sure Mike C. will say something about this is an art. He is very accurate when flippin and has used that for as long as I can remember. I was never too good at it but he can put a bait where it needs to go without thinking twice about it. I think that now that we are here in Louisiana he uses pitchin' more but he has the flippin' gift 

Laurie

[Ranger375]

Hey it's my birthday so I get to take a try....

Pitchin - what a used car salesman does to sell you somethin'.
Flippin - what you do when you find out what he is tryin' to sell you.   

[DundeeMike]

I agree with Mike{ with that name, he can't be wrong} and Ranger.....

[Mike]

First off I love Ranger's discriptions 

Flipping is a technique by which you use a predeterimed amout of line to cast, once you have this amount figured out you leave your real set and ready to retrieve. This is also a very good technique when bass are shallow and very tight to cover but you really need murky to muddy water to prevent spooking fish as it is a close contact version of the sport.

The general idea is to hold your rod in front of you and let your bait touch the water, now release your spool and pull line on the line between the first eyelet and the reel, while you are doing this lift your rod to about the 9 oclock position, all the while keeping your bait just touching the water. If you are right handed you will be holding the rod with your right hand and pulling on line with your left. Once your left arm is fully extended, while pulling on the line,  your rod is about a 9 oclock position and your bait is still just touching the water, set your reel so it is ready to retrieve. Ok, to flip, pull the line out with your left hand until it iis fully extended, lift your rod to the 10 or 11 oclock position (this will have your bait just out of the water). Now swing your bait to your target and bring your left arm back towards the reel, use your rod and your arm to guide the bait to the target and gently set the bait in the water. The object is to get your bait in the water in very tight to cover with out making a splash or sound. Ok that was the general version, now to fine tune it. The other part of the goal is when your bait is in the water next to the cover and has fallen to the bottom, your line should be taugh. Meaning you have used all the line in your left hand and there is no slack. At this point you are ready to set the hook. You have to adjust the amount of predetermined line as the targets depth changes down a shoreline. It is very difficult to set the hook with line in your left hand so make sure when your flip is done and your bait is falling that you are ready. This technique takes alot of practice, at home and on the water to master.

Pitching has the same goal, to get the bait tight in cover with little to no noise or splash. It it done by holding your bait in your left hand (again for right handed people) with your rod pointed at the water. When you are ready to pitch you want to let go of the bait and swing your rod tip upward at the same time with your reel's spool released. The perfect pitch will allow the bait to glide with in a couple inches of the waters surface towards the target. As your bait reaches the target you want to lift your rod tip slightly more and then put your thumb on the spool to stop the line. When done perfectly  only after alot of practice, the bait will pause in mid air and then fall to the water and if your bait was only an inch or two off the water it will enter the water very quietly. This technique also takes alot of practice as to make it work best you must have your spool completely loose, so when you hit something unexpectedly you are lible to have a mess on your hands unless of course you are very quick on the thumb. Pitching is for the same water targets that you would flip in, but allows you to stay farther away from the target so that you don't spook fish. Pitching is also very effective when working docks, a good pitch will get way up under a dock where that big ole bass has seen very few baits.

Hope this helps
 

[DAWG]

When flipping do you kind of snap the line or do you let it fall freely out of your hand




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Mother Nautre

[Mike]

No, I always just release the bait and use my wrist and the rod to pendelum the bait to the target. Some folks will load the rod tip a little bit but it is truely unnecessary. The best thing is that you can practice anywhere, your back yard or anywhere. Once you get good at hitting your target, put a chair infront of it and pratice casting under the chair and threw the leggs to your target

[DAWG]

Been practicing on the pitching and man it is tough. Alltough it is getting a little easier as the days pass. thanks for the tips.

[Mike Noble]

I find it easier to pitch with less line between the rod tip and the bait.  I will have the bait about half way or just over half way of the rod.

[papa]

I have come to the point that I hardly even use my left hand just kind of swing it out and let it go, really great for short pitches and quicker.

papa

[Mike]

Papa do you use left handed reels?

If a person is right handed and has to pitch with their right hand (like me - and am an uncoordinated with my left hand) it would be very advantageous to use a left handed reel. That way there would be no switching of hands. During active feeding times bass can hit your bait and blow it out while you are switching hands with rod and you will never know they  were there.

So with that said if you are new to pitching I would recommend you learn to pitch left or right handed it doesn't matter but use a reel that accommodates your preference and so you don't have to switch hands after each pitch.

[Fogy]

You are so right on that Mike.  I'm left-handed but most everyone I fish with use the same style real as I do and they are right handed.  I watch as all day long they pitch/cast/flip with their right arm just to stop switch hands so the then can real in the lure with their right hand as well.  :-   I pitch/cast/flip with my left and real with my right, I don't understand why you would do it anyother way.  How many times have you saw or felt your line jump while you were changing hands and set the hook a bit to late, and if your using a buzzbait then you allow it to sink a bit before you begin your retrieve so you have to cast past your target area to get it back on top of the water to bump the stump you wanted to fish & on some days that will scare off potentail bites cause they get spoked.

Just my thoughts
Fogy

[FisherMOM]

I invented my own version of this yesterday... I'll call "pitch flippin'"
(at least I think it's new... it was to me!)

I had the spool open and some extra line pulled out as I did an
underhand toss of a jig under a matt of duckweed. 

The bass loved it,
and it worked for me as there were cattails everywhere in my way! 

[Mike]

If it works and can easily be repeated then "pitch flippin" it is. A lot of times I have got meself into positions where it is difficult to make any kind of ordinary cast, and have to develop some sort of weird pitch flip cast. My problem is that I usually end up with a mess more often that a good shot 

[dave the dope man]

As most of you know recently I had to switch to right handed only due to injury. I find that I can "shake off" fish easier. also like Fogy said I can get the bait moving sooner. So far I have liked it and might as well stick with it now that I havelearned the "feel" of it......Dave

[papa]

When I am in a definate short range "flipping" situation I flip lefthanded otherwise I pitch, flip and cast right and reel right, can't say for sure I have ever lost a fish because of it. I did use a left handed reel for flipping for a while, but really do not flip that much. usually I am pitching and of course will flip if the boat gets to close to a good looking spot.

papa

[Mike]

I am just like you Papa, I pitch - cast - flip - and reel right handed. I don't believe I have ever lost a fish because of it either as I am pretty good at switching during bait presentation except for flipping, in which case I switch hands after I set the hook (may not be perfect but thats how I do it) I rarely flip anymore. Pitching is the way to go, but if the wind or current catches my boat control off guard I will flip cover before disturbing it with the trolling motor.