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Best Line for Flipping and Pitching

Best Line for Flipping and Pitching

​Flippin or pitching into weed beds and in and around other structures give you the ability to really target bass without spooking them.

It’s all about pin point casts with little or no splash on entry.

When it comes to tackle ​the best flipping rods will generally be seven and a half to eight feet long with a medium/heavy power rating and a fast action.

You need to be able to load the tip up easily and still have enough power in the rod blank to handle large bass that are hiding in thick weed beds.

Choosing the right line however is a bit more ​tricky and a lot of angler will swear by their favorite line regardless of how and where they are fishing.. 

Both braid and fluorocarbon are the stand out choices.

Monofilament however is rarely a good option.

Mono suffers from having way too much stretch in it to make it an effective line for flipping and pitching.

You need to be able to set the hook quickly when working lures over and through weed beds and lilies.

With the natural stretch that mono has it will delay that strike by a few milliseconds and may result in a missed fish.

Best Line for Flipping and Pitching

​1. Braid

Braid when compared to any other line of the equivalent breaking strain will slice through weed like nothing else.

It is roughly half the diameter of monofilament and as such is the best choice as a fishing line for flipping and pitching in heavy weed cover.

Braid is arguably the most visible fishing line that is commonly used. Although it has many great properties this high visibility is it’s major downfall.

When you are in clear water conditions or in very sparse weed cover then fluorocarbon is probably the better choice.

​When flippin and pitching for bass into thick weeds you need a fairly heavy line to be able to a bass that decides to turn it’s head down into thick vegetation once hooked.

Don’t be afraid to go fairly heavy with the braid, 40 or 50 lb breaking strain is not uncommon and gives you a lot of confidence in your flipping and pitching setup when around thick cover.

​2. Fluorocarbon

Fluorocarbon gives you the same low stretch characteristics as braid yet is as invisible as mono.

Fluorocarbon excels in clear waters when you need a low stretch line.

Working over light cover in clear waters especially using topwater lures for bass means staying a hidden as possible and if you are to use braid that will kill any chances of your fishing line staying out of sight.  

It also makes an excellent leader choice when using braid and you do not want to tie directly into the braid that is your main line.

The one pain point with fluorocarbon is when you are using it in heavy weeds.

Due to it’s shape and thickness it does not slice as easily as braid does through weed beds.

Thick weeds also need a high breaking strain and 40 lb fluorocarbon is too thick and rigid when compared to 40 lb braid.

  • Updated October 18, 2021
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