Flipping and pitching is full-contact bass fishing. It’s what you do when the fish are up in heavy cover like lily pads, grass edges, cypress roots, or dock pilings and you have to get your rig in there with them. With a Texas-rigged plastic and a bullet weight, it’s a quintessential technique, one of the oldest styles and one I’ve been doing all my life.
Common as this technique may be, there are a few tricks I’ve learned that can help convert more casts to fish in the boat. First, I use a beefier rod, reel, and line than most folks. That heavier package helps cast this heavier rig, and also can be beneficial for hauling heavy fish out of heavy cover. I use a 300-series reel with a stout pitching stick, paired with 65-pound braid for my mainline. At the end of that, I run a thick fluorocarbon leader mostly for abrasion resistance.
When it comes to the terminal tackle, I’ve become a huge fan of the ringed offset extra-wide gap bent shank worm hooks for my creature baits. Make sure to rig the hook point level with the top of the bait and straight down the middle so it doesn’t corkscrew coming through the water. I also set a bobber stop in front of my 1-ounce Tungsten bullet sinker to keep the whole rig together as it punches through cover.
Make sure to check out my appearance on Das Boat Northeast where I fish the famous Lake Champlain for largemouth and bowfin with my buddy Blane Chocklett!
