How Fast Do You Work An Area Pitching?

[haydenf96]

Quick question guys,

When you are flippin/pitchin how fast do you work each individual area? Do you flip it and shake it three or four times and reel it back up and repeat? Or do you work it for a little bit and then move on?

[ww2farmer]

I have always been more successfull covering water than soaking baits......besides I can't stand stand to let them sit there for too long. Most of my bites are on the inital fall or after it hits the bottom and I shake or hop it once or twice. In grass I ususally flip/pitch to the target, a hop or shake, then on to the next hole/pocket/etc... with docks and wood I make multiple cast to each, trying to hit every branch,post,, or any other bassy looking spots, and ususally a couple to the same spots at different angles too.

[J Francho]

with docks and wood I make multiple cast to each, trying to hit every branch,post,, or any other bassy looking spots

I think this is a very good point. In weeds, I cover ground. But any other hard cover, I pick that stuff apart. I can't tell you how many really good fish I've caught on the 3rd, 10th, 30th pitch to a likely spot. Here's one I got from a submerged tree on about the 10th cast. Two other kayak anglers had already worked this tree just before I took a shot at it.

[Bankbeater]

It depends on the strike zone. If the bass are tight to cover and not moving off of it then I tend to work it faster and cover more area. If the bass are moving around more then I leave the bait in the water longer.

[Sam]

Non-tournament fishing - throw to a target about 10 to 15 times.

Tournaments - throw to target two or three times and move on to cover more water.

Water temps falling and into the 50's I let the bait sit for at least 10 to 15 seconds after it hits the bottom and then shake it a few times. SLOW retrieve back to me giving the fish time to locate and strike the bait.

Water clarity and temperature are very important when flipping and pitching. You also do best when the sun is out and the bass take to structure and under docks/piers.

[piscicidal]

If i am working a mat...I'll break it up, flipping a section about 4ft diameter at a time, working the whole mat. The initial flip...let it fall all the way down, un-impeded . Yo-yo it up to the bottom of the mat...let it fall again. I'll yo-yo it 2-4 times depending on how confident I am of the pitch or of the spot. After 2-4 lifts/drops, crank up and make a new pitch. At least half of the time, they hit on that initial drop....I would say 95% of the time they hit within the first 3-4drops. To me, it's about percentages, so I think in the long run you are better making a new pitch than continuing to yo-yo the bait 5-6-7-10 times trying to elicit a bite from the 5% of fish that are non-committal.

If I'm flipping a stretch of reed heads or other standing vegetation, I'm typically moving a little faster and will rarely pitch to the exact spot twice. However, if there is an obvious piece of structure that looks good, I'll pitch to it repeatedly from different angles, trying to elicit a strike.

[papajoe222]

How fast or slow I work an area depends a lot on my confidence that it holds fish. Take, for example, an isolated tree on a drop-off or creek channel. That would get a lot more attention from me than say a row of trees in the same location. One or two docks close to a channel swing vs. a dock every 100ft. or so down the shoreline....same thing.

Actually, I'll work them all fairly quickly, but the high confidence spots will get worked a second or even a third time with a different weight or profile bait. I learned to do this years ago fishing tournaments and that second or third pass produced when the first didn't. The only situation where I'll work my bait for any length of time is when I'm fishing a tree, especially if I haven't determined what depth or part of the water column the fish are using in which case I'll work my way down through the limbs.

[merc1997]

there are some variables to consider here. the first thing that comes to mind is whether you are dealing with nlmb or flmb. florida bass are notorious about taking longer to take a bait. with this said, there are many times that you can not just put and take a bait and catch very many flmb. i had to learn this very lesson myself in dealing with falcon lake bass. but, even nlmb can be very contary sometimes. just the other day i flipped into the same place in a log pile 5 times before gettin a bite. so, there is not any set rule. just have to experiment until you arrive at the right combination for the day.

bo

[WRB]

The thought that bass hold tight to cover and do not leave when you are dropping a lure on them isn't always true. Bass often get spooked off the cover on your first pitch and return a few minutes later and reposition on the sme cover. If you are making several pitches, make them from a different angle, the bass may react .

Tom

[scaleface]

Im an old school plastic worm fisherman. Ill pitch to the target ,slowly work it through and keep hopping all the way back to the boat.

[Bluebasser86]

If there's lots of targets available I'll work quickly looking for aggressive fish. If there's limited cover I'll work slowly and try to get every fish I can to bite off each piece of cover.

[scaleface]

The thought that bass hold tight to cover and do not leave when you are dropping a lure on them isn't always true. Bass often get spooked off the cover on your first pitch and return a few minutes later and reposition on the sme cover. If you are making several pitches, make them from a different angle, the bass may react .

Tom

Agreed. Ive done some snorkeling in clear creeks.Those bass stayed near the cover, they did not necessarily hug tight to it . They were active , moving quite a bit. If I tapped on my watch or tapped two rocks together , they would often come and investigate.

One more thing. Every single log or cover that looked like it would hold bass did 100 percent of the time. This was a creek , not a reservoir but I found that interesting.

[retiredbosn]

I read the local fishing report written by a guide for theSantee Cooper chain, he was recommending leaving the jig upwards of a minute! This was pitching to the cypress trees in the upper lake. I don't have the confidence, but I have noticed leaving a soft plastic laying while picking out overruns tends to work lol.

[Dale Bryant]

You can make quick repeated casts if you get bored just letting your baits sink, but don't abandon an area until you're sure it's not holding fish. This is especially true for docks and stumps.

[jkarol24]

Flip bait in, watch line until hits bottom. "weigh" the lure and feel for a bit, reel in, repeat. Each cast takes no longer than 8-9 seconds if its shallow (deeper takes more time for bait to actually sink, but as soon as is stops sinking it gets weighted and reeled in).