I used to think being able to make long distance pitches were a good thing. But obviously there is no point in being able to make a long distance pitch if your not accurate. So...With a high degree of accuracy as being the number 1 variable...How long of a pitch would most agree is optimal and you can therefore call yourself as being pretty proficient...? 20ft...? 25ft...? 30ft...?

 

 

Are talking hula hoop, 5 gallon bucket, coffee can, or Dixie cup accurate? I would say at 30ft I can put it in a coffee cup 9/10 times as long it is my regular pitching rod. probably not gonna be able to do that with one of my crankbait rods. 

I find it difficult to accurately gauge distance on the water.  I also think accuracy with practicing on land isn't going to be exactly the same as doing it from a boat where you have a lot more going on...wind, waves, the boat moving etc.. 

Something else to keep in mind is while skipping and pitching you can actually guide your bait where you want it to go by moving the tip of your rod one way or another. Its not a huge difference but it can be huge when your talking about big fish in shallow water

12 hours ago, ITO_ZILLION said:

I used to think being able to make long distance pitches were a good thing. But obviously there is no point in being able to make a long distance pitch if your not accurate. So...With a high degree of accuracy as being the number 1 variable...How long of a pitch would most agree is optimal and you can therefore call yourself as being pretty proficient...? 20ft...? 25ft...? 30ft...?

 

 

All together though, coffee cup accuracy Id say most normal people would top out around 25-30 feet on a calm day.

With determination, you can hit any target. Even far ones. Consistent accuracy comes from fishing a lot. I have been semi accurate recently. Springtime + new gear = Rusty. The more youre out there the more accurate you’ll be.

I practice at home regularly and I can consistently hit a target the size of a leaf at 20ft, accuracy drops off any further. But realistically pitching is for close up targets anyways. More than 25-30ft I just short cast. 

I can knock the whiskers off a muskrat from 45ft with a 30mph wind, in a thunderstorm from a kayak ! 

23 hours ago, ITO_ZILLION said:

How long of a pitch would most agree is optimal and you can therefore call yourself as being pretty proficient...? 20ft...? 25ft...? 30ft...?

 

All the way down to a bass's mouth!  ?

This thread reminds me of the casting distance thread. 

 

That being said, I can pitch it into a kiddie pool from about 10 feet 6 times out of 10 and I only backlash on 3 of them.

I personally am thrilled when I get my lure within the same zip code as my target ... and a backlash that I can clear in less than three minutes. I do hope to “raise the bar” this year.

20ft for me. Practice makes perfect

I dont know how many feet I can pitch  , I never measured it and am bad at guessing . I   pitch pretty well from a raised platform . Problem is I fish from a jon boat a lot and the gunwales get in the way . On my wifes 22 foot deck boat there are rails in the way .So , I just dont pitch much anymore .

21 hours ago, J.Vincent said:

I can knock the whiskers off a muskrat from 45ft with a 30mph wind, in a thunderstorm from a kayak ! 

I got dead center between 2 geese last week. I think the one in front flipped me off with his wing in bird language.

Practice makes perfect. You know all those countless hours over the years of not catching fish while pitching or skipping a jig/etc. under a dock or putting it in some tight spot? They are not worthless hours. Repetition, building muscle memory, developing a sense of timing, all means something. There are no wasted hours on the water. You learn as much if not more on your bad days as your good ones. Heck when they are biting well, anyone can catch them. When you fish a fickle fishery like I do, you learn to make the best of the slow times.

A 5 gallon bucket, out to about 25, maybe 30 ft.

I see some here saying a coffee cup...that is 3 1/2" and if you are hitting that, man you are really good IMO.

I've just started pitching - i'm not too bad on accuracy, but I can't get any real distance (beyond the line that's already stripped from the reel at the start) without backlashing.  I've tried loosening the magnetic drag - backlash at distance.  I've tried loosing the spool tension - backlash at distance.  I'm pretty slow at the whole process because I'm trying to be precise.  Should I be whipping the rod tip up faster?  

The more you do it the more powerful and accurate your wrist will get. I put two fingers above the trigger instead of one. Seems to provide a better fulcrum point and aid in power. The more you practice the better you'll get at any distance. Just because you cant do it at first doesnt mean you cant work up to it. There are many things that are possible to do that dont seem like it at first. 

Don’t forget that being able to make the bait quietly entire the water may be just as important as accuracy. If you make a big ruckus but nail your spot, it might not favor well for a bite, however gently sliding the bait into the water even a couple feet off the mark might be subtle enough to draw a bite. It’s something that I don’t think we truly have the data to make any conclusions about.

 

As far as being proficient is concerned, when you can get the bait where you want it most of the time from wherever the boat is and catch fish consistently doing it, that is when I would say one is proficient. 

I agree with @Dirtyeggroll above about how the bait enters the water being an important part of pitching.

 

Although I have caught fish on my patented "splash technique" which is when I make my cast(unintentionally) look like someone threw a brick into the water

 

 

 

if its glass/pretty calm, i want the silent entry...more chop, i want some splash so it gets noticed, more stained the same thing...

 

ever throw a rock in the water and see bass & pannies haul ass over to investigate? I only put stock on being ninja quiet when gin and glass/very calm waters...otherwise i want varying degrees of splash, knock knock...

On 5/4/2019 at 6:18 PM, ww2farmer said:

Repetition, building muscle memory, developing a sense of timing, all means something. There are no wasted hours on the water. You learn as much if not more on your bad days as your good

 

When I was younger the goal was to obtain accuracy so I practiced daily.

 

As I aged with physical ailments the goal is to retain accuracy which is why I practice daily.

 

14 hours ago, Frog Turds said:

if its glass/pretty calm, i want the silent entry...more chop, i want some splash so it gets noticed, more stained the same thing...

 

ever throw a rock in the water and see bass & pannies haul ass over to investigate? I only put stock on being ninja quiet when gin and glass/very calm waters...otherwise i want varying degrees of splash, knock knock...

 

I pretty much do the same thing!

 

Sometimes ya gotta cause a little commotion!