Michael Neal tells you his tricks for catching fall bass with plastic worms in this new video!

 

 

Hes pitching with a 3/16th ounce weight . I cant do that competently . Hes using a 7'4" rod . I use a 7 footer . Does the extra 4 inches allow him to pitch with a lighter weight ?

3 hours ago, scaleface said:

Hes pitching with a 3/16th ounce weight . I cant do that competently . Hes using a 7'4" rod . I use a 7 footer . Does the extra 4 inches allow him to pitch with a lighter weight ?

I wouldn't think so, though it may give him more distance and more leverage when setting the hook

The right length for a pitching rod really depends on the how tall the angler is and how much extra handle you want.

You don't want your rod tip down in the water when your loading up to pitch.

I'm about 5' 11" and I have a rod thats 7'2" but I like a longer handle.

From the middle of the reel seat to the tip its 6'.

 

 

6 hours ago, scaleface said:

Hes pitching with a 3/16th ounce weight . I cant do that competently . Hes using a 7'4" rod . I use a 7 footer . Does the extra 4 inches allow him to pitch with a lighter weight ?

I find shorter rods pitch easier and are more accurate. When pitching lighter weights go down in rod power and chose a rod with a softer tip. Also reducing line size will help. You don’t need a whole lot of rod to fish a worm on lighter wire hooks in sparse cover.  Match your rod and line to cover density and hook diameter 

23 minutes ago, GReb said:

I find shorter rods pitch easier and are more accurate. When pitching lighter weights go down in rod power and chose a rod with a softer tip. Also reducing line size will help. You don’t need a whole lot of rod to fish a worm on lighter wire hooks in sparse cover.  Match your rod and line to cover density and hook diameter 

...but thats not what the guy in the video is doing .  

 

I just looked 16 lb sunline shooter up and its only .0129 inches in diameter , which is .0011 slimmer than what I use . 

 

On 10/11/2021 at 11:10 AM, scaleface said:

Hes pitching with a 3/16th ounce weight . I cant do that competently . Hes using a 7'4" rod . I use a 7 footer . Does the extra 4 inches allow him to pitch with a lighter weight ?

The lighter the bait, the more important every part of your setup is for pitching. Going with too heavy a rod will cause you to loft your pitches and makes it hard to get any distance or accuracy. It's a balancing act.

The rod needs to have a tip soft enough to load a little with the bait you're pitching. The reel needs to be set as loose as you can set it without constantly picking out overruns, and I like mono in the 14-17# range for light to moderate cover and 30# braid for thicker stuff.

The longer rod helps IMO in the aspect of tip flex. Generally a longer rod will have a little more tip than a shorter rod of the same series and power. For example, my 7'3" MH Veritas is a pool cue compared to my 7'6" MH Veritas.

A reel with a light shallow spool that starts easily helps too. I'm REALLY liking my new SLX MGL for pitching 1/4oz.