ENJOYING THE OUTDOORS: FLIPPING, PITCHING MAKE UP FOR BEING SECOND DOWN BANK

Getting beaten to a shallow fishing area doesn't especially trouble Brent Gentry if those first to arrive don't seem to know what he does.

"I smile when a I see somebody ahead of me who's casting to the cover," said Gentry, a tournament bass angler and lure manufacturer. "When I see that they're casting, I know that they're not going to catch all the fish. They won't be able to reach most of them."

Being second down the bank doesn't leave one with second fiddle in terms of catch -- not if the follow-up angler is flipping and pitching behind a caster, said Gentry.

Gentry, chief of Lunker Lure Products Inc., at Carterville, Ill., is a devout practitioner of flipping, the short-range method of delivering a lure with a pendulum-type swing, and pitching, which is a modified "flip cast" to targets that are only slightly more distant.

Most accomplished bass anglers are well versed with the two tactics. For the uninitiated, however, one must understand the physical moves involved before their value can be fathomed.

To flip, one starts with a long, stout baitcasting rod, usually a special flipping stick in the 7-foot size, heavy line and a weedless jig or weedless-rigged plastic lure. A length of line equal to the distance to be covered -- 20 feet or so once the lure takes out all the slack -- stripped off the reel and the reel engaged.

The fisherman holds the rod in his prime hand and, catching the line between the reel and first rod guide with his off-hand thumb, he holds should leave just enough line out the tip-top guide that the lure can be held above the water.

Raising the rod tip, the lure is swung back, then the rod is pushed forward, the tip lowered and finally "flipped" ahead for momentum. The push and flip moves the lure toward the target low over the water -- and at the same time the fisherman feeds the slack line in his off-hand through the guides. Done right, it puts the lure gently on target just as all the line plays out.

Trust me: The mechanics of flipping are easier to do than explain.

Pitching is actually a sort of modified cast in which line does play off the reel. It begins with the rod held generally upward and a length of line hanging down to position the lure at about the level of the rod hand. Drooping, pushing forward and raising the rod tip, the lure is swung toward the target in much the same pendulum manner used in flipping. But when the lure reaches the outside of the short arc, the thumb on the reel is released and the momentum of the lure takes additional line.

This underhand sort of cast takes a little more practice than simple flipping to master, but once grasped, it allows quick, short-distance presentations (a few feet beyond flipping range) with accuracy.

Why go to the trouble to adapt these odd deliveries?

"It's faster and lest you hit more targets in the same amount of time than casting," Gentry said. "It's quieter and lets you slip up on fish better. And flipping and pitching is a lot more accurate.

"You can pitch and flip to those little spots that casters can't hit -- places where bass have never seen a bait.:

Indeed, the angler who flips and pitches at close range in tight fish cover increases his odds of getting his lure bitten by continually placing it in the most fishy places -- specific pockets in cover, the dark hidey-holes that are too difficult to hit with common casts.

The flipped or pitched lure usually remains in such a spot only for as long as it takes for the lure to settle to bottom, or it may be hopped in place a time ore two, then enticingly drawn away with a swimming motion -- and as soon as it's pulled clear, it's hustled right into the next adjacent fishy spot.

The spring movement of bass to shallow cover for spawning purposes makes the accurate, short-range presentation especially productive. Rings and clusters of flooded buttonball bushes on such waters as Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley are tailor-made for flipping and pitching.

"The bushes are unreal fishing right now," Gentry said.

"That's where I want to be. But I'll flip and pitch through the summer and fall anywhere I'm fishing that there is some sort of shallow cover that's holding bass.

"After fish are out of the bushes later on, you can go to places like deadfallen trees on a main lake bank near the river channel," he said. "That's the kind of place a bass will take cover in during hot weather, and it's a good place to flip. You don't have to have a whole lot of cover if you can catch a fish or two out of each spot."

Gentry's chosen gear includes a heavy flipping stick, 25-pound test line and most often one of Lunker Lure's own Rattleback jigs, a skirted, weed-guarded jig designed with Missourian Denny Brauer, one of the pro bass circuit's top flippers and jig anglers. Gentry most often uses a 1/8-ounce jig tipped with a spring lizard-style pork bait early in the year. As the water temperature rises into the upper 60s, he switches from the pork to a soft plastic crawfish trailer.

While stealth is one of the prime advantages of flipping and pitching, Gentry said fishermen who use the tactics shouldn't ignore what should be obvious -- allowing themselves to sacrifice the edge with sloppy deliveries.

"I think the key is presentation," he said. "It's important in flipping to keep the bait no more than about a foot over the water. You don't want it to pound the water when it lands.

"If you flip it20way up in the air, you might as well be casting because the bait will hit hard and splash and spook the fish," Gentry said. "Some fishermen mess up by releasing their baits too high.

"My jig just "ploops" when it touches the water, barely making a dimple on the surface," he said. "In some situations, I like to softly lay the bait on the cover I'm fishing or even up on the bank, then just crawl it off into the water."

While presentation is critical, keeping close track of the bait once it's in the water is equally vital, Gentry said.

"You probably won't feel 80 percent of the strikes," he said, "but you'll see them if you watch the line. A fish will take the jig and the only way you can tell it is that the line flinches or goes slack before it should. I don't take chances. Whenever the line does something it shouldn't , I set the hook."

A hard, swift hook-set for the short-range flipper can be an interesting event.

"Last weekend, I set the hook once and a fish flew out of the water and hit my partner in the head," Gentry admitted.

Aside from the hazards of scaled missiles there is a good reason for taking robust actions at first sign of a strike.

"You've maybe only got a split second before a bass can spit out the lure," he said. "I set the hook fast and hard by sweeping the rod straight up over my head. You need to move a fish out of the cover before it can tangle you up."

There 's a final strong argument for flipping and pitching and the brutish tackle they warrant: Not only can it put a lure into tick, gnarly places that a caster couldn't imagine, with a fair amount of gusto put into the rod sweep, they can muscle even big bass right out of there.

"Flipping and pitching just make it easier to put fish in the boat," Gentry said.

~Steve Vantrees is the outdoors editor of the Paducah Sun.