(Editor's note: The following is the ninth in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
Ever since the beginning of his career when he saw Denny Brauer give a seminar on flipping and pitching, Randall Tharp said that he’s “dedicated pretty much my entire fishing life to becoming the best at [those techniques] I can possibly be.”
From South Florida up to Champlain and west to California, his flipping sticks never leave the rod locker. Indeed, he finds that that they’re also essential on fisheries not traditionally viewed as flipping venues, like Beaver. “Those are the lakes that I’ve had the most success on,” he said.
While a big part of the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup champ’s success is the result of keeping the long rods and short line moving, he also said that “the right set-up is key.” He said that the evolution of equipment has made these techniques even more effective, and the key is keeping it simple – but utilizing the right tools.
He has three different rods in his short line arsenal, each with a specific purpose in mind. The first is a 7’6” fast heavy-action stick with a shorter handle. This is his choice any time he’s using fluorocarbon, and the short handle allows him to cast as well as pitch.
The second is a 7’11” heavy-action stick that’s best when he’s flipping 1/2- to 1 1/4-ounce weights on braid. He likes that one in sparser vegetation like milfoil or the deep grass of Toledo Bend.
The third is his true meat stick, a 7’11” extra-heavy that bends down further into the rod, to absorb a little force on the hookset. The 7’11” length simply makes him more effective, allowing for longer pitches with less effort.
He pairs any of the rods with an extremely high-speed reel. A few years ago that might not have been possible because the speedsters didn’t have sufficiently beefy gears, but that’s no longer a problem. With the fast retrieve he can get his bait back quickly, and this technique is “all about making the most vertical presentations that I can.”
Around wood he prefers fluorocarbon because braid digs into wood and gets hung up a lot more. In vegetation, he likes braid, specifically 16-strand weaves that are smoother and more “resistant to sharp things” than typical 8-strand weaves. Over the past couple of years he’s been using hollow-core braid from Gamma, which he believes is the best of all worlds.
He’s picky about his tungsten weights, noting that smaller is better because it goes through cover better and results in better hook-up rations. He likes the products from Reins because they’re nearly pure tungsten. He always pegs his weight and behind them he ties on one of two hooks -- a 4/0 or 5/O VMC EWG hook when he’s using thick plastics like a tube or Brush Hog; and a 4/0 VMC straight-shank with other lures. The latter hook, he explained, “has changed the way I fish,” but added that it’s essential to use a snell knot with it. “That’s what makes this hook work.”
When it comes to baits, he said that it’s essential to “try not to overcomplicate things.” With jigs, he keeps his sizes simple – 3/8, 1/2 and 5/8 – and his color choices generally tend toward either black/blue or green-pumpkin. While he’ll occasionally use a larger jig, that application has diminished since tungsten has become widespread.
His jig trailers include a Zoom Big Salty Chunk (“my number one”), both sizes of Super Chunk and a Twin Tail Grub (when he wants a little more action), but again he keeps his color choices simple: green-pumpkin in clear water, black/blue in stained or dirtier water, and sapphire blue when it’s dirty and sunny. For plastics, he likes a flipping tube around the spawn, and a craw when he needs something that moves a lot of water. Of the latter, he said it “almost calls a fish to it.”
The most versatile lure in his boat, however, is the beaver-style bait.
“If I had to empty my tackle box out, that’s the one I’d keep,” he said. It pairs perfectly with a straight-shank hook and can be deadly with everything from a 1/4-ounce weight in buck brush up to the heaviest slab of tungsten he owns in thick mats.
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