Reel Setup For Pitching

[Preytorien]

So I've decided that this year I'd like to put a decent amount of focus on pitching a jig. I keep hearing stories of great success with them, and at the end of this last season I started to really hone in more on how to fish a jig in general.

 

I've read a lot about technique, and I've watched a lot of videos, one in particular several times over (thanks Glenn), and I think I'm ready to start practicing in the backyard, much to the chagrin of my wife whom I embarrass on almost a daily basis.

 

In times past while attempting to pitch, I didn't get very good distance, and often had issues with backlash while trying it. What setup or settings should I use on my reel? ( I have a Curado G series spooled w/ 12lb test )

 

I am just wondering if maybe my pitching problems might be related to how I've got my brakes or something set incorrectly.

 

Any help would be appreciated and I'll be out embarrassing the wife in no time

[Nquince79]

Well the biggest thing is it just takes practice the more you do it the better you will get. You can find videos on YouTube about how to pitch and they tell you how to set your reel. Glenn (bassresource on YouTube) actually has a very good instructional video on pitching and flipping. When I do it I like to take my brakes all the way off also check your cast control knob you might have it too loose for the weight of the lure causing a backlash. Also if you plan on pitching you are usually fishing heavy cover so 12 pound flouro is a little light. I fish a lake with a little shoreline brush so I through 17 pound flouro but depending on cover you can use 20 or even 25 pound flouro. I use a 7 foot heavy veritas and a revo sx and throwing a 3/8 ounce jig is no problem. Most of it though is just practice you will get better as you practice and watch some videos on it especially glenn's his is very informative.

[Nitrofreak]

In pitching I like my spool set loose , the key in not getting backlash or as we like to call it , professional over run , is making sure you have your thumb in the correct location on the spool , the way I guage it is to have the bend of my thumb on the release , allowing the bottom of my thumb to control the spool .

 

The way I practice is to cut milk jugs in half , fill them with water and place them in a circular pattern out in front of you , much like you are standing at home plate on a baseball field and looking at the three bases , I use 6 at 25 feet to start and as you get good at accomplishing hitting each target , downsize the target and hone in on presision , like 4 inch PVC pipe ,  then you can start to move the targets around at different distances .

[Preytorien]

Yea I've watched the Flipping and Pitching video from Glenn about 20 times. Ha! I think you're on to something though with the line weight, the stuff I'll be pitching to is pretty thick, I think I'll upsize to something more stout.

 

On 12/5/2013 at 5:14 AM, Nitrofreak said:

In pitching I like my spool set loose , the key in not getting backlash or as we like to call it , professional over run , is making sure you have your thumb in the correct location on the spool , the way I guage it is to have the bend of my thumb on the release , allowing the bottom of my thumb to control the spool .

 

The way I practice is to cut milk jugs in half , fill them with water and place them in a circular pattern out in front of you , much like you are standing at home plate on a baseball field and looking at the three bases , I use 6 at 25 feet to start and as you get good at accomplishing hitting each target , downsize the target and hone in on presision , like 4 inch PVC pipe ,  then you can start to move the targets around at different distances .

I figured my spool would have to be loose, I just kept getting P-O. I will need to work on honing my thumb this winter even more. I like the milk jug idea, and I can already see the look on my wife's face when she sees THAT! Ha. I'm just kidding, she's very supportive, but she thinks some of the practicing I do is funny to watch. I'm sure the neighbors get a good kick out of it too.

[Nquince79]

Yea upsizing to about 20 pound should do if you fishing thick stuff. The milk jug idea is very good though never thought of that. Just remember you get better with practice. If I'm not fishing I'm practicing my casting.

[Nitrofreak]

I figured my spool would have to be loose, I just kept getting P-O. I will need to work on honing my thumb this winter even more. I like the milk jug idea, and I can already see the look on my wife's face when she sees THAT! Ha. I'm just kidding, she's very supportive, but she thinks some of the practicing I do is funny to watch. I'm sure the neighbors get a good kick out of it too.

 

 

 

You should see the look on my wifes face when I practice using the swimming pool !! LOL !!

 

What ever you decide , make sure you elevate yourself a couple of feet , just as you would be standing on the front of your boat .

 

Take your time , try not to pitch to hard , use a smooth uppward motion by using your wrist , not your whole arm , let the rod do the work .

 

Glenn's video's are amazing to learn from , eventually you will get it and eventually you will get good at it .

[.ghoti.]

This is what works for me. I use all Daiwa reels with MagForce braking, so take this with that in mind.

 

Spool tension set just barely tight enough to keep the spool from moving back and forth.

Brakes almost all the way on

enough line out so the bait is about at the reel when the rod tip is straight up

 

Here's a tip I got from a bud several years ago when I was having problems with this.

 

Start by learning to cast back-handed. When you have that down, simply rotate your wrist 90 degrees, and use the same motion.

[J Francho]

I use four shoes on my Shimanos, and Daiwa Mag set to 10 when pitching.  The spool is pretty much as loose as it can get.  So in a nut shell, lots of brake and little spool tension.  I'll be trying out my new hand tuned Optimus from Pinnacle today, and I'm sure I'll be using a similar setup.

[Preytorien]

I use four shoes on my Shimanos, and Daiwa Mag set to 10 when pitching.  The spool is pretty much as loose as it can get.  So in a nut shell, lots of brake and little spool tension.  I'll be trying out my new hand tuned Optimus from Pinnacle today, and I'm sure I'll be using a similar setup.

I presume that by four shoes you mean you've got 4 of the 6 brakes pulled out or pushed in?

(Sorry, it's my first Curado and I've always used it with the factory 2 pins pulled out.)

[J Francho]

I presume that by four shoes you mean you've got 4 of the 6 brakes pulled out or pushed in?

(Sorry, it's my first Curado and I've always used it with the factory 2 pins pulled out.)

 

Four "out" in an X pattern.

[Fishes in trees]

Remember to practice like you play.  What I mean by is, in my case the front deck of my boat is roughly a foot or so above the water, so standing on level ground and trying to pitch I find myself smacking the ground 6 to 10 feet in front of my all the time.  When I made the adjustment to pitch accurately on level ground, when I get back on my boat I found I was consistently throwing high until I made a re-adjustment.   I got better on the water results when I started practicing from a platform I made that puts me roughly a foot above the ground.

 

Another thing, remember that pitching is for more than throwing jigs.  There are occasions around cover when you will want to pitch a spinner bait or a square bill for instance.  Back in the day( mid 80's) before he became a house hold name, Denny Brauer won a tournament on Truman Lake.  Guys asked him how he won and he answered " Pitching in 3 to 6 foot of water."   What he didn't tell anyone until much later was that he was pitching square bill cranks in shallow heavy cover.   Truman Lake had so much over head cover at the time, it was the only way you could accurately throw cranks in trees.

[smalljaw67]

I use four shoes on my Shimanos, and Daiwa Mag set to 10 when pitching.  The spool is pretty much as loose as it can get.  So in a nut shell, lots of brake and little spool tension.  I'll be trying out my new hand tuned Optimus from Pinnacle today, and I'm sure I'll be using a similar setup.

 

J Francho is spot on!!! I turn my brakes up and set the spool tension loose, this is the best way to do.

[Preytorien]

Four "out" in an X pattern.

Perfect, thanks for the help

[Catt]

Denny Brauer & Gary Klein are arguable the best two anglers at flipping/pitching, both setup their reels with breaks on & tension knob set to the weight of the lure. In a video I watched Denny made a fast hard pitch & held his rod by the end, no thumb...no backlash!

I figure its good enough for those two its good enough for this Cajun!

[J Francho]

The thumb isn't just there for the backlash.  It also controls how and where the bait lands.  I prefer to use my thumb.  I've also watched Denny fish quite a bit, and his spool is pretty loose, if you look close.  I'm guessing what they "say" they do is geared more at teaching others new to pitching.  It's certainly the "safe" advice.

[Catt]

J, I tried getting a close look at his reel! He acted like he wasn't as happy as I was!

His & Gary's point was you shouldn't get a backlash not that you shouldn't use your thumb.

[Virtuoso]

I loosen my spool tension up to the point where it no longer moves side to side. Brakes on 0. Mag or centrifugal. My thumb is there the whole time to manage distance and how softly the bait enters. Only time I add mag breaks is while pitch skippin.

Really don't overdo it with distance. Good technique will get you that distance. If you try pitching too hard your technique will fault. It should be really free flowing. Eventually you'll be doing it without thinking. A good day pitching on the lake can get hours of good practice. I don't like pitching in the yard because im higher up in my boat.

[Jaiden]

I loosen my spool tension up to the point where it no longer moves side to side. Brakes on 0. Mag or centrifugal. My thumb is there the whole time to manage distance and how softly the bait enters. Only time I add mag breaks is while pitch skippin.

Really don't overdo it with distance. Good technique will get you that distance. If you try pitching too hard your technique will fault. It should be really free flowing. Eventually you'll be doing it without thinking.

I agree with everything above. Just remember that practice makes perfect. To practice, I set up cups placed on their sides and pitch to them from a small step-stool to replicate standing a little above water. You'll get some funny looks doing this

[ww2farmer]

I use four shoes on my Shimanos, and Daiwa Mag set to 10 when pitching.  The spool is pretty much as loose as it can get.  So in a nut shell, lots of brake and little spool tension.  I'll be trying out my new hand tuned Optimus from Pinnacle today, and I'm sure I'll be using a similar setup.

Thats the way I do it too with my Shimanos. Except my mag break reels are Revo's....but I have them turned up  3/4 of the way to max when pitching, and almost to max when skipping. The couple I have with dual breaks have two breaks on, and I make the fine tune adjustments with the mags.

[BillinDurham]

I was completely new to baitcasting this year.  After catching a few fish flipping I was determined to learn to pitch.

 

I set up targets and practiced in the yard, from an elevated position, various kinds of targets, etc.  After a couple of 30 min sessions I decided to stop because the wife took some candid pics and posted them on Facebook.

 

Then I took it to the lake.... the practice sessions let me sort things out just enough that now I could practice on the boat, on the lake, pitching to real cover.  Things got a lot better  pretty fast.  At least I think so.  All that just to say, if you can, just go out on the lake and practice there if you can.

 

Ditto on the reel setup.  In fact the practice sessions were mainly about learning how to setup  the reel - X pattern brakes and little tension.  Of course I never change it off of that so I've learned to cast with that setup too.  Thumb is getting smarter and I'm starting to hate my spinning rods with the flouro on them.