As the evidence indicates, power techniques rule the tours. But that obviously doesn't mean tour pros go out and use exactly the same techniques with exactly the same baits day after day.
One shallow-water specialist is Alton Jones, who recently told BassFan how he selects baits for flipping and pitching.
"I put my flipping baits in a couple of categories," he says. "'Fall baits' are baits bass typically bite on the fall and at no other time. These are things like a jig, tube and even a craw bug or craw worm. The other categories are lures you throw out and retrieve -- work back a little away from the target." In that category are worms and lizards, "those types of lures."
Lure selection depends "a little on the type of cover you're fishing. For example, if you're flipping cattails, you really don't have an opportunity to work it back through them. But at places like Okeechobee where you have that needle grass, you pitch to holes but can work it back. The grass is a little more scattered."
What About Both?
But what about situations that are good for both fall and retrieve baits? For example, a stump in five-foot hole in the grass. "That's more of a lure-falling situation," Jones says. "The bass (by the stump) are going to hit it on the way down or pretty quickly afterwards."
If he doesn't get bit by the stump, he'll switch to a retrieve bait -- but that doesn't mean he'll fish it fast, especially this time of the year. "If I'm in an area where the stems are spread out 6 inches to a foot apart, like lily pads or scattered dollar pads, I'm always thinking about leaving my bait on the bottom for a long time since we're fishing around the spawn a lot this spring.
"I'm not talking about sight-fishing," he adds. "I'll just spend a lot of time with my bait just sitting there. I'll fish it slowly and thoroughly."
Another two-bait example is if you're flipping docks and have a grass line, grass patch or row of stumps between the docks. "If I'm throwing at a target (a dock), I'll use a fall bait like a tube. Then if it's scattered grass, I might pick up a 7-inch worm," he says.
"Anytime I'm fishing soft-plastics, I'll have 4-5 different rods rigged up -- a worm, a tube, a jig, a craw-bug. If one bait is hotter than the others, I might have a couple of different colors or sizes, or different-size weights. For example if it's a little more open, maybe I'll use a lighter weight. I'll fish as light as I can."
If the tube is working on the docks, will he try it in the grass? "I'll definitely try the tube if it's working far better, but the problem with fishing it in a scattered grass patch is that it's hard to predict where the fish are sitting.
"When you have a target, that's when you want to use a bait that's enticing in the way it falls, like a tube. When you're looking at grass patch and can't find where the fish are sitting, you'd have to flip that grass 1,000 times to find where they are. It's not that the bass won't hit that tube, it's just that nothing in that area is saying, 'Throw exactly here.'"
Lures
His favorite flipping/pitching lures are the Yum (formerly Riverside) Garret Mega Tube -- "it's my confidence bait, the one I've won the most money on" -- and the Yum Wooly Hawg.
When it comes to colors, Jones says, "I like to let the fish tell me what color they want." But the fish will have to pick from the 6-7 colors he has in his box, including: green pumpkin, black/blue, junebug, watermelon, brown crawfish and red shad. "Those are about the only colors I throw in my soft-plastics -- unless I happen to get lucky and figure out something weird.
"I think people put way too much emphasis on colors sometimes," he adds. "Use the one you have confidence in and stay with it. I look a little bit at the water color, but beyond that I make them hit one of mine."
Tungsten Is Important
"Another thing that's important is tungsten weights (he uses Excalibur TG tungstens)," Jones says. "People don't realize what a big difference it makes.
"Tungsten weights are smaller and denser. They penetrate cover much better, and when you set the hook, the first part of the bait that makes contact with the fish's mouth is the weight. Lead weights are bigger and bulkier and cause the mouth to pop open more.
"I seem to boat a lot more of my fish with tungsten," he says.
Gear
"The rod I use most is a Fenwick Techna AV, 6' 6" medium action. I use a little bit lighter action than most guys because I use Spiderwire. Plus, the lighter action allows me to accurately and precisely flip and pitch small tubes with light weights, like in springtime." The heaviest flipping/pitching rod he uses is a medium-heavy.
He loads his Ambassadeur 4600 C5 MagX with 30- or 50-pound Spiderwire, and attaches a fluorocarbon leader with a double uniknot, also called a uni-to-uni knot.
