I have to agree with the two pro rod builders. A rod need not be heavy to
be heavy power.

I have several flippin' rods that are pretty good. My Tica is pretty good,
and at an even 8' in legnth I get a little better reach when going deep into
cover. My St Croix is probably the lightest and it works well for all
around all day fishing. I alos have a couple BPS flipping rods that
surprised me. I bought them because they are cheap, and I often have guests
fishing out of my boat that are less than ideally skilled. (No doubt
somebody here will jump in and criticize me for saying that.) Anyway. I
wanted a cheap rod that I wouldn't cringe about somebody kicking over the
side or stepping on. The rods surprised me. They aren't as sensitive as my
Tica or my St Croix, but for 29.95 retail from Sportsmen's Hide-A-Way They
are pretty amazing. They are lighter than some other cheap rods I have
tried, and they perform fairly well. Neither seem to perform as well when
trying to pitch, but that may be due to putting some of my older beater
reels on them. They are wonderful for flipping. Lots of backbone for a
quick hookset on short line and more than adequate to muscle a big fish out
of the trash.

Now, some things orr pros did not address. What exactly are you doing when
pitching and flipping? Most of what I described above applies to working
deep into heavy cover. Sometimes I find myself working other circumstances.
In some circumstacnes I find that my objective is not ideally suited to
heavy fast rods.

When pitching for distance I usually find myself looking for a medium power
rod that loads up a little more. I really like my Lamiglass 3 wt for jigs
less than 1/2 oz in most circumstances. Not ideal when getting deep into
heavy cover, but almost perfect for pitching to light cover on hard banks.
I get enough distance to back off and not spook fish.

For weightless plastics I go to medium or medium heavy spinning rods with a
fast action. I feel more comfortable with this setup. It does take a
little more attention to your rig to prevent loops and line twist, but that
just makes me pay the attention I need to pay in order to hook up faster.

I usually drop down to a medium power spinning rod when "pitching" under
docks and over hanging cover. Although I rarely actually pitch in those
circumstances. I tend to side arm if up close, and do a side arm circle
cast if the distance is a little greater.

To sum it up. It would be pretty hard for any of us to tell you exactly
what would be best for you, but bear in mind that different circusmtances
may change the ideal rod for the application.

By the way, many of the people here who might disagree with my rod choices
are the very people who helped me figure out what works for me.

Reels... Oh geez. It's hard to argue with the Shimano Curado becasue so
many people like it, but don't care for mine all that much. I have had good
luck with Quantum Accurists, but they do tend to need a lot of service after
the first year. I also have a Pflueger President that is pretty good, but
my over all favorite baitcaster has to be my Daiwa 150i. As near as I can
tell they no longer make that exact model, but they make two others on the
same frame. The MF150i and the TF150i. Unfortunately Daiwa doesn't list
high gear ratio versions of those models. Not too bad for pitching or
flipping except if you need to power a fish away from a stump to keep from
getting wrapped up. My 150i was also the cheapest of my baitcasters that I
really like. I've got a couple cheaper BPS MT1000H reels that are ok, but
no matter how I adjust them they will backlash on me every fifteenth cast or
so. I'm sure they would be fine for flipping, but I just don't use them
that way.


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"Jesse" wrote in message
...
All,

I have been fishing for the better part of 20 years and the last 5 or
6 years, I have discovered the effectiveness of flipping/pitching
jigs. It's hard to give up this tactic for other tactics I consider
faddish or not as effective. Confidence maybe?

To keep a long story short, I have been using various setups and I
have not been happy with the results. Anyone who is an avid
flipper/pitcher knows this can be a great way to fatigue yourself and
at the end of the day have a very sore arm and hand. It catches fish,
but the side effects are something I just can't deal with anymore;
it's old age.

I am just curious to know if there are other "avid" flippers/pitchers
who have a rig setup that is light, "sensitive" and has to power to
handle a ¼ to ½ oz jig/pig and does not make your arm feel like mush
at the end of the day.

Can someone direct me toward a rod/reel setup that can do the job and
give first hand experience with the result?

Price in no issue.

I currently use a Falcon rod with a high end BPS reel.