Converted Muskie fisherman, ???????s

[setterguy]

Starting last summer, I officially fished for bass, more often than I did Muskie. I guess its official. If I am to make a full conversion, I have a few questions.

I hear a lot abour flippin and pitchen. I always thought it was the same thing....what is the difference and in what situations do you use it? Also what kind of tackle, any suggestions for reels? They probably need to perform with a little more finesse than a musky reel I would think. Ok - here they are.

Jig and pig- I know what it is and have been trying it on the edge of heavy cover (milfoil, pads, stumps ect.) With limited success, looking for tips or techniques.

Third, I was wondering if someone will email me the secret handshake. I want to be able to practice unitl open water.

Thanks guys, I can't wait to print the info and have something to read, I'm already done with the Cabelas catelog.

[DeBo101]

Why would you quit musky fishing?? I'm mostly a bass guy but ever since I moved to Minnesota the musky bug has got me pretty good!

Flippin and pitchin are closely related but here is what I know about the differences. Flippin is usually used for very short distances. You let out enough line to make a short cast and you hold the line above the real and sort of pendulum the bait out. The casts are very short but they are the most accurate. They had a FLW tour event on Okeechobee this weekend and I saw a lot of guys flipping and pitchin. Pitchin is more of an underhanded cast thats used to get a little more distance.

I use a 7 and 1/2 foot daiwa matched with a Team Daiwa X reel. I used stren superbraid this past year and I was very impressed with it in heavy cover situations.

Bass jigs are my favorite lure to catch bass on I use a 4" gene larew craw 80% of the time but I like to use pork early and late in the year because it makes your jig fall a little bit slower.

As far as fishing edges my experience has told me to fish a little farther into the milfoil and lily pads. I am orignally from South Dakota so I wasn't real use to fishing deep weeds and lily pads. I had never caught a fish out of the lily pads until about last august. Then is started pitchin furhter back in the pads targeting the smaller holes. After that I caught most of my fish out of the pads on a particular lake. I have limited experience in the milfoil but what worked the best for me was to get a little farther in to the weeds and look for points and pockets on the thicker clumps.

The overall key with flippin and pitchin is to focus on points and pockets in the thickest cover. If you have any other questions keep posting them on this forum. There are plenty of anglers with lots of experience who use this forum.

[delmuts]

setter. if you have a muskie out fit ; 6-6 to 7-6 and 50 to 80# braid line, with a smooth reel. it will work. my set up is a 7' med heavy flippin stick with a black max 5600 and 80# power pro line. i use this for scum frogs, flipping and for thowing smaller buck tails. there will times when you are throwing into some really ugly places.

[Deitz Dittrich]

DeBo-outstanding post!.. nice owrk!

Flipping vs Pitching... flipping is done with the reel engaged. You have a set amount of line out and you grab the line between the reel and the first rod guide. You then pull the line from there to swing the bait to its spot it wants to hit. A Pitch is different in that the lure is more cast underhand at the "spot" usually the lure starts in ones hand, and then the reel is engaged and runs free to the area you fish.d So flip=reel never moves... pitch=reel is cast!

Many musky rods may be a bit too stiff for bass applications. Many of my bass rods are med/heavy.. Or even Med... You can deffinatly do it, but again, it may be best to invest in a few "bass gear" rods.. In my opioion, its a little easier to fish muskie with bass gear, than it is to fish bass with muskie gear. Just my opinoon...

And the hand shake is.... Palm to palm, fist to fist, and then fake hook set!

[river rat316]

huh... you large mouth guys must not show that one to us smallie guys.....

[Deitz Dittrich]

Not all smallie guys.. just you River rat!

all jokes!!!

[setterguy]

Thanks for the info guys, the reason that I made the switch in the first place is time. I just don't have the time to scout and target fish like I did a few years ago. I do have some bass gear, and have been making the rounds looking at what I need for the upcoming season. That tax money can't get here quick enough.

[st.crioxfishin]

SG,

Great info already provided! Just a few more things to maybe consider.

In Minnesota its seems to me that you will be pitching a lot more because of the many clear lakes. I would practice this out in the yard, trying to pitch into regular cups, it really helps on the water. As for flipping, I have only used it once or twice when I fished on lakes with murky water. I am not that great at flipping, but it can come in handy if you come across a bad cold front where the fish barry(sp?) themselves in the thickest cover and you need a very acurate quiet approach to get to them.

A great lure that you mentioned to get to these fish pitchin and flippin is the jig n pig. I just started using this last summer and love it. It is a very versitile lure that can be used many ways. I used it in water less than 2ft and water deeper than 15 ft. You can fish it a lot like you would fish a soft plastic such as a tube in shallow water, fishing it deep is a lot like using it in shallow water your just fishing it a little inside the weed edge or just off of it jigging it different ways. You also can use this bait like a spinnerbait or shallow running crankbait and you can 'swim' the jig. My favorite set-up for this was a white colored jig with a white 4" grub for a trailer. The grub gives it that baitfish look. When you swim it, just pump your rod from about 9o'clock to 11o'clock or in that general area. You want to be reeling at the same time to keep up with the swimming of the jig. YOu can try swimming it many ways untill you find what the fish want.

Good luck with the bass fishing this summer, and welcome aboard!

[Cooter]

Did you fall and hit your head or what?

[carlcmc]

Here is a long discussion on jig n pig

http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB57&Number=362001&Forum=All_Forums&Words=jig&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Main=361977&Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=9409&daterange=1&newerval=3&newertype=y&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post362001

here is another post to read through

http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB57&Number=364124&Forum=All_Forums&Words=jig&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Main=364119&Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=9409&daterange=1&newerval=3&newertype=y&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post364124

[RuKiddingMe]

Setterguy, you feeling all right? Cause I could swear I just read that you are Muskie Man converting to Bass... Do you have a fever?

Just messing wiht ya..

I have actually been considering picking up some Bass gear, for a little break during the day... Probably won't get used much if at all, but it's a thought...

Good Luck with the Bucket Mouths...

RU