flipping/pitching "open" water

[rocknfish9001]

I have heard a little about this, and was informed a little more at a seminar i saw at bass pro. Im still a little confused. I saw a video where some people were actually doing it, and it looks like your flipping a jig like you would when in heavy cover, or to docks, but your just throwing it into weeds. They would toss it out, let it sink, hop it a little bit, and throw it out again. Do you just target holes and edges in the weedbeds and run your way through them? I think LBH has been know to do this, am i right?

[Davis]

I was doing this last year with a *** in the openings of the weed beds. I got blasted a few times but both times I lost the fish or was cut off. This year I'm moving to a baitcasting setup with 30lb Power Pro.

In short.....worked for me except I didn't have the equipment to pull them out.

[Tin]

Not just edges and holes in the grass but anything that strikes your eye as irregular in the grass line. Such as a small cluster away from the line, a point in the grass, a different type of grass mixed in. It is just like pitching and flipping docks or timber. You just need to learn to read the grass as you would a dock or laydown.

[HesterIsGod]

You can also pitch to a school of baitfish with bass under them. When the fall comes around and You can see the birds circling and minnows jumping out of the water, I pitch to all that commotion with a tube.

[EdKras]

One of my favorite spring smallmouth tactics is to pitch to isolated rocks in open water.   After that it's pitching and flipping holes in the weed line.  It never hurts to make a pitch to any cover that you can see in the water.  

[tipptruck1]

I do that all the time with spinner baits. I will see a dock or a log in the water I work that thing from every angle.

[jrhennecke]

Not just edges and holes in the grass but anything that strikes your eye as irregular in the grass line. Such as a small cluster away from the line, a point in the grass, a different type of grass mixed in. It is just like pitching and flipping docks or timber. You just need to learn to read the grass as you would a dock or laydown.

Exactly.  Any type of change in the cover.

[rocknfish9001]

The technique seems to be clearer now, but a main concern would be, what are your best baits for doing this? Its seems you would use a little heavier jig because you are trying to actually get into the weeds, where in normal pitching conditions, you are trying to get it near the cover.

[Big-O]

Heavy jigs for punching thru matted grass or deep structure. Or adjust your jig size to the application. There are as many open water haunts that hold fish as there are shorelines and most of the year, this is correct. Any depth change, change in bottom like mud to gravel, rock, timber laying or standing that can't be seen at the surface, small drains or ditches in any depth of water, small or large humps below the surface at any depth, man made objects that are submerged, but to keep it simple like was mentioned prior to my comments, SOMETHING DIFFERENT. A jig can be deadly in all of these situations.

[Big-O]

Forgot to mention creek channel bends and points below the surface. But again that's something different  and it's about as good as it get's.

[CJ]

I would have like to seen this seminar. I wouldn't define weed lines as "open" water. A senko is about as good as a lure I have found for grass edges, as far as plastics. When it comes to jigs, look for a grass jig. The head is designed to come though better.

[Catt]

There are usually 2 usages of the term open water

1. The most common is any water away from the bank or out on the main lake

2. The second less common is water void of cover