Difference between a Pitching rod and a jig rod

[JBFishing]

My friends tell me that i have a good pitching rod but tht i need a jig rod what is the difference cause i thought my rod was a jig rod but it was especially good at pitchin and flippin. by the way my rod is a lews custom speed stick magnum 7'4 heavy with a *** *** 8.1:1

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Technically pitching is just a casting technique you can do with any rod nutcas with any cast the rod must load sufficiently to be effective. A typical MH work likely work better than the Hvy you mentioned. It depends on the jig. 

[crypt]

2 minutes ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

Technically pitching is just a casting technique you can do with any rod nutcas with any cast the rod must load sufficiently to be effective. A typical MH work likely work better than the Hvy you mentioned. It depends on the jig. 

this…..

[Catt]

I cast, flip, & pitch up to 1/2 oz with the same rod; medium heavy extra fast

[Raul]

3 hours ago, JBFishing said:

My friends tell me that i have a good pitching rod but tht i need a jig rod what is the difference cause i thought my rod was a jig rod but it was especially good at pitchin and flippin. by the way my rod is a lews custom speed stick magnum 7'4 heavy with a *** *** 8.1:1

 

WHUT ?!? 

 

3 minutes ago, Catt said:

I cast, flip, & pitch up to 1/2 oz with the same rod; medium heavy extra fast

 

Me too .... and a Heavy, them Huizache brushes are as tuff as the multiple thorns they got.

[flyingmonkie]

I wonder if their comment might be directed at your reel speed instead of your rod?  8.1:1 is a very quick retrieve... great for flipping and pitching, not great for the impatient among us that need to drag a jig around.

[BrianinMD]

High speed reels are great for jig fishing. You use the rod to move the jig, not the reel. 

[S. Sass]

When you start breaking rods down into technique specific rods then the differences can be seen. In this case the two specific rods in question are very similar in what you need them to do. So like Catt and others sometimes use the same rod. If you compare what makes a specific "Pitching rod" vs what makes a specific "Jig rod" there really is not a big difference.

 

Pitchin rods - Generally these rods are fairly long, roughly 7' 6" in length and have a heavy action with little parabolic bend. You want the tip to have a little give to it, for pitching accuracy. The lure rating generally fall somewhere into 1/4 to 1 1/2 oz. range. Its not uncommon for these rods to be referred to as a "broom stick".

 

Jig rods - Generally are a very sensitive rod with a fast tip. The rod needs to have a lot of power to pull out big fish, while having enough of a tip to pitch or roll cast the jig accurately. These rods are lighter and will have some parabolic bend to them generally not as much as a pitchin rod. Todays standard is generally more closer to the 7' range, heavy action, with a fast tip but some prefer longer. The lure rating generally fall somewhere into 1/4 to 1 oz. range. 

 

So you can see these rods are pretty similar. They overlap in many areas. The length of a pitchin rod is generally slightly longer, has less parabolic bend, and the lure weight is slightly heavier in most cases. So considering all the different anglers personal preference in feel, along with the variances in rods from brand to brand along with what anglers perceive to be the "right" way to do things its not unheard of for someone to see them as the same rod.  All of this does not take into account how nasty of stuff your Pitchin into or your jig size. If you're fishing a really nasty slop where its not uncommon to pull out as much grass as the fish weighs and you're doing it with a 1 oz or more bait, looking for bigger fish, hooking 5+ lb mommas it will become more evident how less effective the Jig rod is. And you can say the same for the reverse. It would suck really bad casting a true Pitchin rod with a 1/4 oz jig all day.    

[fishnkamp]

S Sass explained it well. The good thing is that your heavy rod would most likely handle the typical 3/4 to 2 ounce punch rigs really well, but might not be too good at "feeling" a 3/8 ounce or lighter jig. So perhaps look at a 6'9 to 7'1" medium heavy rod to throw 1/4 to 3/4 jig and plastics or tx rigs. These shorter rods also work really nice around docks, rip rap etc. They are better for accurate casting with these lighter baits. It is really nice to have both in your arsenal.