You are pitching...what is your target?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ronan on December 17, 2013 at 10:40am

I am new to WA and yet to throw a line into the water here.  Yes, that new.  In fact all my gear is still being packed to meet me out here.  Hopefully by year's end.  I am coming from Florida.  The majority of my flipping and pitching was in extremely heavy vegetation and cover.  Then when you would flip and pitch isolated spots with much thinner cover and even beds it came down to technique.  Even on flips/ pitches of distance the biggest thing came down to landed the bait with little to no "noise" and using the lightest weight possible for the fishing you were doing or the cover you were fishing.  We could land directly on a fish but if the bait barely touched the surface and gently entered the water you would get the bite more times then not.  In fact this is when you'd get it on the drop and not on the bottom.  If your flipping and pitching is crashing into the water then yes, I think proximity to the fish can spook them for sure.  However, even using giant weights and giant baits, if your flip gently slips into the water and enters the water quietly you can get some of the fastest and most aggressive bites you will experience landing right on top of the fish.

Permalink Reply by Jake Anderson on December 17, 2013 at 10:48am

Ronan,

Welcome to washington.

I agree that quiet entry certainly is the way when pitching/flipping blind, although that still doesn't explain why I've seen a gently placed weightless finesse worm spook the heck out of a bass when dropped over the top of it.  

Permalink Reply by Don Hogue on December 17, 2013 at 11:33am

Water clarity is the #1 variable in bass fishing. It trumps water temp, lure size, lure color, rod, reel, etc. If you see bass, they've already seen you. A bedding bass is extremely wary of danger from above. They are at their most vulnerable while on a bed and something flying in from overhead is their biggest foe. A feeding bass has a much different attitude than one spawning and may in fact be triggered by a splash or a visual stimulus of something moving (falling) in from above. So I don't buy into the "quiet" lure entry. Does the quiet lure entry outweigh the trolling motor noise that allowed you to get into that location? How do you explain a buzzbait?
The real trick is trying to assess a fish's general attitude and reason for being where they are. There are many phases, moods of spawning fish in general and even varying temperaments of ind. fish to add to the puzzle. Feeding fish are a different puzzle. So when you are going along pitching/flipping which fish are you fishing for...or are you just "fishin"? That should dictate where you throw to and how quiet you go about it.

Permalink Reply by Josh Potter on December 17, 2013 at 12:17pm

I feel like fish in sparse cover/ open water are generally more alert and "spooky" simply because they are exposed; spawn or no spawn. Obviously there are always exceptions to the rule but almost all animals are like that. Everybody has seen how quickly a deer in a field spooks even from 200-300 yards yet a deer tucked into heavy cover will let you walk right by at 20 yards. I don't think bass are that different.

 

I have plowed through dead willows on Potholes and had the head of the trolling motor bound up; looked down and see the nose of a bass and catch his ass right off the head of the trolling motor. Conversely I've spotted fish on flats in clear water from 50 yards and made a decent cast only to spook the fish. I personally believe cover, which can be water clarity or lack there of, has a lot to do with the catchability of a bass.

 

I think the next time I see a buck tucked in heavy cover I'm gonna pitch a jig to him and see if he bites. Haha

Permalink Reply by Ronan on December 17, 2013 at 1:32pm

In Florida we have two spawns or what you could call one ridiculously long spawning season.  Sometimes a bedding fish just smashes your bait because it doesn't want it anywhere near it's bed.  I prefaced my statement with Florida conditions because again I know things could be very different from where my experience is based.

Permalink Reply by Joel Alinen on December 17, 2013 at 9:21pm

I hear ya Snake...I like your thought process...seems like you are talking about bed fishing but I think your hypothesis (spooking fish) comes more into play during post spawn, summer, and fall.

There are definetly times when you can drop it on their head and get a reaction strike and other times you gotta pitch it past em and bring the bait to em. I've seen both...I think it depends on the variables.

Seems like if you are mainly talking about bed fishing I've found either you go big or fineness em by going past their home and bringing it to em. On beds I rarely am able to put the bait right in front of em to get em...I either have to pitch it past em and bring it on the bed or just put a big ass bait right in front of em to get a reaction thing going.

In the warm water months I think you can put your bait right on em and get a reaction strike flippin em and power fishing...just gotta put it in front of one!

Permalink Reply by Jake Anderson on December 18, 2013 at 4:32am

Sorry guys, shoulda been more clear.   I'm not talking about bed fishing.  I'm talking early pre spawn and summer fishing.

Permalink Reply by Jake Anderson on December 18, 2013 at 5:24am

You are pitching a jig in april to a 30 yard long reed edge that has points, pockets, edges, a little current, some wood etc... Water is moderate visibility. Not muddy, not gin. Maybe 2 foot vis.

Obviously you see spots you think are high percentage targets. Are you pitching right on the cover that creates the high percentage spot? Or are you thinking about how you would imagine the fish is positioned and pitch a foot or two off to its sides. Don't get confused here... You don't see the fish, you just see a spot where there should be one.

I would say these fish are here to feed. Starting to stage, but feeding up. Mood? Heck if i know, i cant see the fish.


I will say that I see trolling motors and buzzbaits a bit different. Noises that are constant or come from a distance seem to alert bass. Alerting bass and scaring the 'f out of one by dropping a splashy 3/4 oz punch rig on its head are a couple different things.

Kinda like seeing a white van slow rolling up my street gets my attention, but a white van that rapidly backs up into my driveway and slams on the door gets a shotgun pulled.

Permalink Reply by Jake Anderson on December 18, 2013 at 5:33am

Or maybe an easier hypothetical, is if you see a reed move, and you suspect a bass bumped it, and not a carp, do you try to hit the reed with your t-rig? Or are you thinking differently.

Permalink Reply by Don Hogue on December 18, 2013 at 9:08am

Right on it...unless I have a reason not to. For every bass I spook, I can make one react. I don't know how to distinguish between the two when I can't see them so I'm just going with what's working and then later telling a story about how my "method" was the best one.

Permalink Reply by P.J. Koshi on December 18, 2013 at 9:21am

Jake I have found the more I tournament fish the case often turns out the more productive water I fish the better I do.  So to be honest given what I know about your stretch of reeds I probably wont fish the whole thing.  I'll fish the areas with current breaks, and shade, and points maybe places with contour changes and wood... If its a small lake and I'm just dinking around then heck yeah I'll probably give that whole stretch a solid try.  I really don't get the chance to sight fish Largemouth pre or post spawn that much.  I have done it at Potholes a few times in the last 5 years and at some smaller lakes, but I never try to land right on their heads when I can see them.  If I'm just fishing at Potholes in the late summer around tight cover and isolated pieces of structure I don't really think nope cant pitch there I might hit one on the head... Not sure if that response makes any sense but I gave it a whirl.

Permalink Reply by Jake Anderson on December 18, 2013 at 12:58pm

Thanks for the reply Don.

Pj, the site fishing point was a side note, not the focus of my question. If you site fished for 10 different cruising bass and casted on each ones head, i bet you'd be lucky to catch one, yet when we flip down a productive shoreline we try to put a jig right on top of where we think a fish will be sitting. We say things like "for every one i spook, i can get one to react) but we dont really know the real math.

My thought and question derives from an outting last year where i saw this wizard with a flipping stick literally call his bites before they happened because he saw the fish bump a reed from a few feet from his bait on its way to commit.

So he pitches, sees a reed move 2-3 feet off to the right, says..."im about to get bit", then does get bit, and lands 4lber. Does this multiple times in a 20 minute timeframe.

Meanwhile from back of boat, I am pitching to obvious targets, putting jig right on it, and catching nothing.

It had me wondering if putting the bait smack dab on the best spot is akin to dropping a finesse worm directly on top of a fish i can see... Which for me has proven to be a mistake.

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