TackleTour

I talked to FLW folks about it when they had a Tour tournament at Lake Hartwell last March, pointing them what they call flipping on Lake Okeechobee videos on FLW YouTube channel is actually called pitching. I haven't seen a guy been flipping, everyone been pitching, but they been saying - I'm flipping. They answered - down here on East Coast everyone calls pitching by flipping this days.

You end up doing both interchangeably and flippin' just sounds tougher. You can't always reach spots flippin', so you end up pitching when you can't reach.
I was flippin' tule mats on Lake Havasu with a 3/4 oz weight yesterday and as I was covering some of the areas Aaron Marten's won the Elite Series event on last year. I often had to pitch over tules and across to holes that I couldn't flip. The coverage of him fishing is a prime example of when anglers are pitchin' a lot of the time, yet call it flippin'. Maybe we should call it flitchin'!

toddmc wrote:Maybe we should call it flitchin'!

Pretty weak, but better than "pippin'."

Randingo wrote:

toddmc wrote:Maybe we should call it flitchin'!

Pretty weak, but better than "pippin'."

Yes, I thought about pippin' also. It is the weaker of the two. I have always liked the term "combat fishin" for close quarters fishing where you are ripping the fish out of heavy cover.

they cast differently.

Technique varies, but they are very diff. I prefer pitching, as flipping is for very close in action, and I don't have much around here.

I love to pitch to heavy cover. I am not a big flipper, though. Maybe it's because I'm so short? I don't know, it just seems like that's a technique that is better for a taller person (with longer arms). But pitching is one of my favorite techniques.

i remember 20 years ago the 6'10" rod was all the rage as the "perfect pitchin rod". how times have changed

Jason Penn wrote:i remember 20 years ago the 6'10" rod was all the rage as the "perfect pitchin rod". how times have changed

Could you imagine using an 8ft old school glass rod?

I have a 7'6" Ocean City Flippin Stick that is from the early 90's (guessing). I am going to give it a whirl this year and see what it is all about. It does have the parabolic action I am looking for in a flip/punch rod. Not enough backbone in hand but it may have one of magical Megabass-like duel tapers to it. I may do a review on YouTube for it.

DISCLAIMER: I am not in any form or fashion affiliated with Ocean City

ccass wrote:

Jason Penn wrote:i remember 20 years ago the 6'10" rod was all the rage as the "perfect pitchin rod". how times have changed

Could you imagine using an 8ft old school glass rod?

I have a 7'6" Ocean City Flippin Stick that is from the early 90's (guessing). I am going to give it a whirl this year and see what it is all about. It does have the parabolic action I am looking for in a flip/punch rod. Not enough backbone in hand but it may have one of magical Megabass-like duel tapers to it. I may do a review on YouTube for it.

DISCLAIMER: I am not in any form or fashion affiliated with Ocean City

One of my childhood fishing buddies showed up to our annual 1/2 day SoCal saltwater trip last year with his circa early 80's brown Fenwick flipping stick. It is a telescoping brown composite rod that has a lot of glass in it and no trigger. It's a bit heavier than the rods of today, but it makes a pretty good light saltwater rod. He has caught small yellowtail and tuna on it. He had an early Shimano Bantam 100 on it that I sold him 25 years ago. The rod is very parabolic and it might be a decent punching rod if you have some muscles . He was the only one in our junior high fishing club (1984) that had a rod dedicated to flipping and we thought he was a baller!

I typically pitch, too, but mostly because flipping is awkward and requires a lot of practice to get down. I just put together a killer setup for flipping, though, and I'm determined to master the technique. ZIL801HFB/ZLN100XXSL-TWS/20# Abrazx.

One thing I want to try, though, is using a low speed, powerful reel. It seems to me that when flipping it isn't necessary to have a reel with hyper fast retrieve rate on a dedicated flip setup because you have all of maybe 4' of slack to reel down before you set the hook and then you will have to pull the fish out of thick cover, which would be easier with a powerful rod and reel. I don't know. It's worth a try. I have a Luna 103L with a 100mm handle and Carbontex, along with several other less pertinent upgrades, and it's a beast that would help balance that 8' beast of a rod.

Jason Penn wrote:i remember 20 years ago the 6'10" rod was all the rage as the "perfect pitchin rod". how times have changed

I like a 6'6" to 6'8" for pitching. I have more control and accuracy. Longer rods I can't get the rod tip low enough with out making contact with the boat sides. I have pain in my elbows and the longer rods make it worse...I'm sure it'll only improve with age...

Covered well, already, that the two styles are distinctly difference.

Two "adds" come to mind:

One is flipping is much faster than pitching. A guy can lay out a flip and look for a reaction bite, if nothing is there, in a matter of seconds he can lift the rod tip and pull his arm wide to pull up the line, then drop it in the very next hole he sees, or, say, working along a grass edge. It is much faster than pitching, can cover water very tightly. Sometimes fish won't move even a foot, so a really tight flipping pattern will put it on their noses.

The second thing is pitching can actually be used for relatively long casts. I have pitch cast well over 100 feet and I know many others who do, too, with spinning tackle.

Where this really is a huge benefit? If you are casting a drop shot presentation over a bit of distance, this instead of the common "drop it over the gunwale" in deep water, then pitching it out keeps the weight and hook/bait from doing somersaults in the air often leading to tangles.

Pitching can also be a great way to make a low angle/ low trajectory cast. With spinning tackle, you can learn to feather it just before it enters the water to drop it in with a much smaller splash.

But, flipping is MUCH faster. If you ever see a pro do it, you can get an idea of how fast he or she can cover water a foot or two at a time if need be.

Brad