Hey guys, I am fairly new to pitching and have a few questions.  First is about how far should I be able to pitch? Right now im getting about 15 feet fairly accurate.  Also when I make pitches after a few casts my line in the spool is loose and I need to make a long cast out and reel it in to get the lined spooled tight again, How can I aleviate this from happening?

 

Thanks! Looking forward to the responses,

 

LEW

 

Pitching commonly ranges between 10 and 30 feet,

but the most accurate & effective pitches tend to fall in the 15 to 25 ft range.

 

For those loose coils on your spool, you might try this:

Instead of grabbing your lure between each pitch, raise your rod tip to swing the lure toward you,

but instead of grabbing the lure, lower the rod-tip as the lure pendulums backward,

then lift the rod-tip to pitch the lure to your target. In this manner, each pitch

is one continuous pendulum swing without stopping to grab the bait. 

Unless your weight is too light, you won't see loose coils.

 

Roger

6 hours ago, LEWITH said:

Also when I make pitches after a few casts my line in the spool is loose and I need to make a long cast out and reel it in to get the lined spooled tight again

 

How can I aleviate this from happening?

 

Thanks! Looking forward to the responses,

 

LEW

 

Just make a long cast to get the "coils" out, It's part of the game, try minimize em.

Flipping and Pitching is most of the fishing I do.  I can see no need to pitch over 15 feet or so.  The whole idea of flipping and pitching is to have your lure drop into the water as quietly as possible.  You should thumb your spool slightly as you pitch and raise your rod a little just before the lure hits the water.  After some practice you should be able to place your lure gently on the water with very little splash. If you are getting a lot of loose line, you are not controlling your line as you pitch.  The most important thing to remember when flipping or pitching is to not interfere with the drop.   Let the sinker and lure fall naturally on loose line.  It's the drop that triggers the strike.

When I'm pitching texas rigs with 17 lb test XL , I need a minimum 5/16th ounce weight to be accurate and get distance or go with a heavier bait . 

In Florida a 5/16 oz. weight is about right.   Our grass and cover is fairly loose with small pockets here and there.  I target these pockets and try to drop at least every three feet or so. Sometimes the fish are right next to the grass line. Other times they are much further back.  When we fish team tournaments I flip 2-5 feet in and my partner pitches 10-15 feet.  The only time we need bigger weights is if we are fishing hydrilla mats.  I have fished these mats with 3/4 to 1 oz. weights, but it's not much fun.  Fun or not, these mats sometimes hold big fish. 

 

I'm old school so I use 25 pound Big Game mono for flipping and pitching.  You need heavy line in Florida as you never know what's going to be on the end of your line.  I don't like braided line for flipping or pitching as the rough texture hangs on the cover and impedes the drop.  Many of my friends use it without issues.  It's hard for me to switch from something that works.

Your distance is fine.But accuracy is everything when pitching and of course flippin. 

Control your spool with your thumb and use a weight heavy enough to reach where you want to go which will minimize the line getting loose on you. 

 

Down here, especially on Okeechobee, I use 65# braid to punch with a minimum 3/4 oz weight (I know some guys who wont use anything less than 80#) and 20# Flouro with a minimum of 1/4 oz for the more scattered area's. 

 

 

 

 

Mike

  Pitching is no more than an underhand cast.  The advantage is that pitching keeps the bait low and it lands softly. I don't know how far I pitch, probably 30' average, as range increases accuracy decreases. A lot of my pitching comes from having a target that's farther away than I can hit flipping and to close to cast. Pitching is also effective for getting under things.  I hold the bait in my left hand and load the rod slightly when I pitch, this gives me an exact reference as to where my bait is at the start.  If you backlash, your spool tension is probably loose.  Find a kids hoola hoop and put it 25' away and pitch a 1/2 oz bait into it for a couple of hours. Pitching jigs and creature baits around grass and deep water docs is one of my favorite tactics in the summer.

I don't do a lot of pitching per se opting for a "roll" cast instead. To accomplish this cast I simple make a quick reversed "C" shaped motion with my rid tip.

 

A 1/8 oz weight, 3/0 hook, & a Zoom Speed worm has been my #1 goto for the last 2 1/2 yrs.

Plenty of good solid advice given by those before me.

Just keep practicing a lot.

 

I used to always practice in my basement by pitching a jig into the lid from a laundry soap bottle. I could easily make it in the lid from 30' away 7-8 times out of 10. I never counted but I am sure I did that several thousand times over the years.

In my experience the distance you can achieve varies a lot based on how heavy the lure is. If you have loose line on your reel after the lure hits the water it means you didn't thumb the reel before impact and the spool kept spinning.

 

If the line is fine after the pitch but loose after you retrieve it back in then it has to do with how your retrieving the lure. If that is the case try not to reel in line when the line is completely slack but keep it semi-slack as you reel. Different baits on different retrieves will produce different tightness line on the spool however and there is no way around that.

Years ago when flipping first became known, I couldn't believe that a fish would be right under the boat.   I soon found out I was wrong.   I practiced pitching into a coffee can at first.  If you knock over the can you're not doing it right.  In Florida, if you're not flipping or pitching you're not winning many tournaments.   When people ask me about flipping I tell them to go out with a good flipper at first and watch what they do.  This will give you much needed confidence.  When I first learned to flip I left all my rods at home except for my flipping stick until I caught some nice fish.  After that it was easy.

Practice, practice, practice. Loose line in the spool after a slight misfire is just part of the game. My clearing cast looks something between side arm and skipping (might as well try to catch something, right?) I don't particularly like pitching (or flipping) but sometimes its what will catch best, and THAT, I like a lot.

Elite Series pro Denny Brauer breaks down flipping and pitching and answers viewer questions.

 

https://www.bassmaster.com/video/bassmaster-university-flipping-and-pitching