Accurate Casting

[Mobasser]

My brother was five years older than me, and was the one who got me started on bass fishing.             We fished a two acre pond on our grandfather's farm in Chillicothe Mo. We had very few baits at the time, and used baits borrowed from my dads, and grandfather's tackle boxes.                       99% of the time, it was either a black Arbogast Hula Popper, or my brothers favourite, a smaller wooden frog colored South Bend Bass O Reno. We constantly talked and argued about which was the better of these two baits.                                            He always outfished me. Quietly rowing to the center of the pond, we rowed just enoupgh to move the john boat, casting to the moss, which rimmed the entire pond.                                                 I was confused. Was the Bass O Reno really a much better lure than my Hula Pooper?                      It took me some time to realize it but the answer was no. Both these old baits were equally good. The reason my brother caught so many more fish was simple. Casting accuracy. He had honed his casting skills so he could quietly drop his lure within two or three inches of the moss nine out of ten times. His bait was almost always in the zone, while mine landed on top of the moss, or way too short of the moss line.                                                     It's a fact. Accurate Casting will catch you more fish, but I'm wondering if it's almost become a lost art now. Some anglers from my town never cast anymore, they only pitch for bass.                                                            Pitching can be great way to present lures, but there's times when it pays to lay back away from your target area, and cast.                Do you still think accurate casting is an important skill? Personally, I think it's one the most important skills you need.

[Fishingmickey]

x2

[LrgmouthShad]

I’ve seen it both ways. Where shorter casts/pitches and really quiet presentations were the answer and when longer casts and as quiet as you could get it were the answer. Accurate casting is huge. And if anyone doesn’t stop the spool with their thumb on the end of their cast, highly encourage you try it. It really makes the presentation quieter and more natural. 

[A-Jay]

48 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

 Do you still think accurate casting is an important skill?

Personally, I think it's one the most important skills you need.

 If 'location' is the The Single Most important factor in determining if I get bites, 

sort of stands to reason that putting my bait "right there"

would seriously increase my chances of success. 

May not matter when the bass are 'suicidal',

but I always seem to get to the lake the day After that happens.

So yea, casting accuracy is a priority for me

although I will admit most all of it still needs to happen at 'distance' as well.

A-Jay

 

[jimmyjoe]

   Casting accuracy is not ALWAYS important, but it's like a parachute; when you need it, nothing else will do.  

   Fan casting is fine in rivers, but in lakes I think it spooks fish more often than not.              jj

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

You can have distance without accuracy but you cant have accuracy without distance.

[a1712]

My Grandfather always ask me "Are you Bass fishing or just randomly casting around". Big difference between casting around and putting your presentation on the fish. Brian.

[GetFishorDieTryin]

32 minutes ago, QUAKEnSHAKE said:

You can have distance without accuracy but you cant have accuracy without distance.

???

[Bankc]

Accuracy can definitely be important sometimes.  Often times you'll only get one chance at a piece of cover before you spook the fish, so you want to make it a good one.

My problem, isn't so much accuracy.  I can be pretty accurate when I want to be.  My problem is I get in a hurry and don't think about where I want to cast until after I've made the cast.  So I'll often cast first before I have a plan on how exactly I want to present the lure to the cover I'm casting towards.  It's especially bad when I'm drifting along and don't wait that extra 10 seconds to get a better line through a couple of pieces of cover or something.  I just get into the habit of as soon as I've retrieved my lure, cast it back out there before the water's done dripping off.  

[GetFishorDieTryin]

1 hour ago, Mobasser said:

Some anglers from my town never cast anymore, they only pitch for bass.                                                            Pitching can be great way to present lures, but there's times when it pays to lay back away from your target area, and cast. 

I think accuracy is just as if not more important when your pitchin/flippin then casting.  Lots of times you have to hit the fish right on the head and the hole in the mat may only be the size of a billiard ball. 

 

[ironbjorn]

Side arm, low trajectory will give you the best accuracy outside of pitching imo

[Deleted account]

Pitching is a type of cast. It makes no difference how you are casting, you need to be accurate and consistent to increase chance of being successful. I think most anglers know that.

[The Maestro]

47 minutes ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

???

I took that to mean it's pretty pointless if you're only accurate to a very short distance. You still need to get the bait a reasonable distance from the boat in most cases.

[galyonj]

11 minutes ago, BassWhole! said:

Pitching is a type of cast. It makes no difference how you are casting, you need to be accurate and consistent to increase chance of being successful. I think most anglers know that.

 

I would hope that most do, but you never know.

 

Speaking for myself, knowing accuracy is important is one thing. Being accurate is, at least on a consistent basis, quite another thing entirely.

 

Tell y'all one of the best things I've ever done for my accuracy: I turned a home depot bucket on its side in my back yard.

 

When I'm working and I just cant sit still anymore, I'll get up, take the dogs out, stand on the porch, and just pitch a jig at the mouth of that bucket. I wouldn't say I'm good at it by any stretch of the imagination, but my wrist and thumb have learned a whole lot in a fairly short amount of time.

 

And that's paid off with other types of casts. I don't pull my sidearm casts quite as badly as I did.

[bulldog1935]

Where I fish, long casts, feathering the end of the cast using fingertips on spinning spool and thumb on baitcast spool is the most accurate cast and most effective fishing.  

You get the windage at the beginning of your cast and tune the elevation watching the lure.  

 

You don't catch these in skinny water without having your lure where they're going to be.  

 

@jimmyjoe and I must fish different rivers, because if your 60' cast doesn't put the lure where the water meets the cut bank, you're catching nothing.  

 

I thought of my Fisher fly rods in both instances, because they're magic wands for both quick launch and accuracy.  

[813basstard]

I don’t think my accuracy is the issue..it’s my targets that are the problem 

[gunsinger]

I believe that I catch more fish when I put whatever bait I'm throwing right were I think it needs to be but, I've always wondered about the quiet entry and just how critical it is.  After all, if you make a splashy entry, are the bass smart enough to tell the difference between your lure and a bird landing in the water or some other naturally occurring event?  Or does the noise attract them?  I mean it would seem obvious that if you drop a lure right on their head in shallow water, you'll scare 'em off but I've actually had bass catch my lure just at the waterline.  So, just how important is the silent entry?

[jimmyjoe]

1 hour ago, bulldog1935 said:

@jimmyjoe and I must fish different rivers, because if your 60' cast doesn't put the lure where the water meets the cut bank, you're catching nothing.  

 

   I think that must be true. When I fish rivers (usually the Mississippi and always from shore), I try to target two areas; the roils below dams or obstructions, and sandbars. Because the water level in the river changes so radically some years and some seasons, the location of the fish changes. Sometimes the location of the sandbars change, too. I catch more than bass; I get pike, wipers and walleye, too. Every time I go out with a differing water level, I find fish in a different location. So I fan cast to find them.

   This is where spoons come in handy. Heavy and aerodynamic, they really reach out; 50 yard casts (150 feet) are both common and useful.

   And yes, I have measured my casts. When @WRB suggested I use a football field rather than a laser rangefinder to gauge my casts, I went to a local police shooting range. The cops were a lot friendlier than the gouchy football coach. Go figure.   ?               jj

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, gunsinger said:

I believe that I catch more fish when I put whatever bait I'm throwing right were I think it needs to be but, I've always wondered about the quiet entry and just how critical it is.  After all, if you make a splashy entry, are the bass smart enough to tell the difference between your lure and a bird landing in the water or some other naturally occurring event?  Or does the noise attract them?  I mean it would seem obvious that if you drop a lure right on their head in shallow water, you'll scare 'em off but I've actually had bass catch my lure just at the waterline.  So, just how important is the silent entry?

In my experience, the sound and splash a lure makes (or the absence of one) can be a positive or a negative depending on many factors. 

[papajoe222]

Accuracy and distance are two major concerns when it comes to casting. Shorter casts can glean accuracy, especially with shorter rods (pitching excluded). Accuracy and distance together are difficult to achieve as you normally sacrifice one for the other. That isn't a bad thing , but when attempting to hit small targets at distances of 30yrds or more it can be frustrating.  In the situation presented by the OP the best option would be to stay just inside a casting distance away and feather the spool so the lure lands just outside the moss.  I would consider that distance control, not accuracy.

 

[Bankc]

18 hours ago, gunsinger said:

I believe that I catch more fish when I put whatever bait I'm throwing right were I think it needs to be but, I've always wondered about the quiet entry and just how critical it is.  After all, if you make a splashy entry, are the bass smart enough to tell the difference between your lure and a bird landing in the water or some other naturally occurring event?  Or does the noise attract them?  I mean it would seem obvious that if you drop a lure right on their head in shallow water, you'll scare 'em off but I've actually had bass catch my lure just at the waterline.  So, just how important is the silent entry?

It depends on a lot of things.  Sometimes the noise scares them and sometimes the noise attracts them.  The one thing I've noticed is the further out you cast and the deeper the water, the less they seem to care about the noise.  So I think if they can notice your boat, the noise of the cast might bother them more than if they can't.  Which is probably why they're not bothered by a loud skip under a dock, or a loud punch through dense cover, but do get scared off by a loud flip into a laydown.  

[islandbass]

23 hours ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

???

If I understand this correctly, it Sounds confusing but it’s really not.  Your accurate cast has to go some distance, regardless of its length, lol. 
 

Accuracy is important, for sure, but to me, it can be either directly to my intended target or indirectly to it. 
 

Ex. of direct - perhaps a hole among lily pads that I want to drop my lure into

 

Ex. of indirect - if I have a target in mind but I am at a distance I know my lure will pendulum away, they my pitch will be a little passed my end target so that my lure eventually gets to where I really wanted it to be.
 

Take for example a crank bait. If I toss it right on top of where I want it to be, it will be out of the zone right at the start of the retrieve. I will need to calculate passed my intended target so that my crankbait dives to its intended depth and in the zone. Line type and diameter can affect the depth it will dive and the speed of my retrieve too. So many variables, but it’s all good, lol.  
 

For these last two cases,  both look like a missed but they’re really not and this is another aspect of being accurate. 

[DitchPanda]

Do I think casting accuracy is important?1000%!!! That's the difference I see between myself and the buddies that I consistently outfish. The one buddy I have that is also a good caster...guess what? He's the only one who can hang with me day in day out.

I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging its just the truth. I've spent 20 plus years chasing bass and honing my casting so when I go with buddies that aren't that committed it shows in both casting ability and fish catching results.

[GetFishorDieTryin]

6 minutes ago, islandbass said:

If I understand this correctly, it Sounds confusing but it’s really not.  Your accurate cast has to go some distance, regardless of its length, lol. 
 

Accuracy is important, for sure, but to me, it can be either directly to my intended target or indirectly to it. 
 

Ex. of direct - perhaps a hole among lily pads that I want to drop my lure into

 

Ex. of indirect - if I have a target in mind but I am at a distance I know my lure will pendulum away, they my pitch will be a little passed my end target so that my lure eventually gets to where I really wanted it to be.
 

Take for example a crank bait. If I toss it right on top of where I want it to be, it will be out of the zone right at the start of the retrieve. I will need to calculate passed my intended target so that my crankbait dives to its intended depth and in the zone. Line type and diameter can affect the depth it will dive and the speed of my retrieve too. So many variables, but it’s all good, lol.  
 

For these last two cases,  both look like a missed but they’re really not and this is another aspect of being accurate. 

Its hard to interpret what he meant without understanding what his definition of distance would be.  If I hit my target from 50' out it would be considered accurate, but if I hit the target from 15' out it wouldn't be?  

[Mobasser]

My brother and I had to stay back in the clear water pond years ago. This was before flipping or pithcing became popular, and casting was all we knew. We worked the shoreline from the center of the pond.