THE BASS COLLEGE

When most anglers think of flipping and pitching, they think of heavy cover, heavy lines and big, heavy baits. I used to be the same way, but that was before I realized I could take the basic concepts of flipping and pitching and turn them into finesse tactics. Now I use light line and finesse baits for a lot of my flipping and pitching, and I'm catching more bass than ever.

The reason flipping and pitching work so well is that there are always (or almost always) some bass in shallow water, and when a bass is in shallow water, he's often there to find something to eat. That doesn't mean he wants something big, like a traditional flipping jig or giant creature bait. Sometimes those bass are targeting smaller forage or are shallow because there's more cover there or oxygen levels are higher.

You're usual flipping gear won't work with finesse flipping and pitching. It's too heavy. I like a 7- to 7-foot, 2-inch Big Bear rod with a medium action for my finesse work. The lighter action helps to absorb the shock when you set the hook and will prevent you from breaking off fish. This is critical because of the line you'll be using.

I do most of my finesse flipping with 10-pound-test Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line. If the cover's really heavy, I might scale up to 12, but 10 is less visible and gives your baits better action.

My reels are Abu Garcia Revos with a 6.4:1 gear ratio. You want the high speed so you can get your bait back quickly to make another pitch or flip. It also helps when a bass takes off with your bait and you need to pick up the slack and set the hook.

My three go-to baits for finesse flipping and pitching are (1) the NetBait T-Mac, a 6 1/2-inch Trick Worm-style bait, in junebug, (2) the NetBait Finesse Worm, a smaller straight-tailed worm, in Okeechobee Craw, and (3) the NetBait Baby Mad Paca, a small creature bait, in Bama Bug. Those three lures give me enough variety in terms of profiles and sizes that I'm confident one of them will get bit.

I use a 2/0 hook for everything when I'm finesse flipping and pitching.

For each of these baits, I usually use a 1/8- to 3/16-ounce sinker. Occasionally, I may go up to 1/4-ounce in heavy cover, but that can defeat the purpose of finesse flipping and pitching. I want a small profile, a light weight, a slow falling bait and a very natural presentation. That's the finesse part, and that's what gets bites.

Where should you finesse flip and pitch? In lots of the same places where you do your regular pitching and flipping, but also in places where the cover's not so thick, the water's not so dirty and the fish might be a little more spooky. Finesse pitching and flipping is perfect for those situations where other people don't think about flipping and pitching.

One of my favorite types of cover for this technique is boat docks. They hold lots of bass, including some big ones, and few people fish them really well. Once you get the hang of finesse flipping and pitching, you'll be able to put a bait into spots around boat docks that other anglers can't reach. That makes a big difference.

I like to make extra long pitches with my finesse presentation. On waters that get a lot of pressure, staying back from your target is important. So is turning off your electronics. You won't need them anyway since you're mostly presenting your baits to shallow, visible cover. The noise of a depthfinder can turn off shallow bass.

What makes finesse flipping and pitching work? You're going to make a super quiet presentation to a shallow water fish using a finesse bait and light weight. He won't know what hit him! These bass have all seen spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, square-billed crankbaits and other power presentations. When that little worm with the 3/16-ounce sinker slowly drifts by, they won't be able to resist it.

Since you're usually fishing for pressured bass, don't forget that the first word in finesse flipping and pitching is "finesse." I catch a lot of bass by pitching to a spot and letting the worm soak there for several seconds before barely twitching it to life. Sometimes that's what it takes, but you're better off to fish that way and get five or 10 strikes than to go heavier and hope for just three or four.

Remember, flipping and pitching doesn't always mean stout rods and 65-pound-test braided line. You'll get more strikes and catch more bass if you scale back and finesse them!

This just came out in Bassmaster today. Does this sound  slightly familiar to anybody?

I try to flip into heavy cover sometimes just when I'm trying to trigger bites. I think that working from the outside in when flipping heavy cover is necessary because you can catch the fish that seem more aggressive and ready to hit a lure. I'm not too picky about colors, just as long as they aren't too far away from a natural lizard or worm. I also find letting the lure sit at the bottom for a few seconds to give reluctant bass an opportunity. 

By Mike Iaconelli as told to Steve Price

Last time we covered the various options for bass in current. Now I want to tell you about the various finesse presentations I use under different moving water conditions.

Here's how I decide which presentation to use: A horizontal presentation usually works best in slow to moderate current. This means your choices should include soft, weightless stickbaits, a tail-weighted French fry, a grub and possibly a weightless fluke-style lure.

In 2005, I won a national tournament on the Potomac River by finesse fishing in current. The area I chose to concentrate in, Chopawansic Creek, was receiving extremely heavy pressure from at least two dozen contestants, so I stayed in the mouth of the creek to target postspawn bass filtering out of the creek into their summer habitat in the main river.

Because the fish were locating behind individual clumps of milfoil in water less than 4 feet deep and waiting for food to flow past in the current, I chose a soft stickbait, rigging it weightless and working it on 8-pound-test line. The majority of the other anglers were power fishing with spinnerbaits and big Texas rigged worms, but these lures never reached the bass.

The spinnerbaits went over the fish and the weighted worms snagged in the milfoil. When I cast my smaller weightless stickbait upstream, however, the current brought it back down in a natural drift. After the tournament, I can't tell you how many of the pros admitted to me how they'd totally missed the need for such a natural presentation under those circumstances.

In faster current, or when bass are deeper, a vertical presentation often works better. This means drop shots (even power shotting), a shaky head, and certainly, a tube. Don't forget, you want your lure to appear as natural as possible to the bass, and in current with finesse tactics, this nearly always means casting upstream and letting the current work for you.

I remember the June 2005 Bassmaster Elite 50 on Lake Wissota in Wisconsin, where I finished ninth. Smallmouth were feeding in the middle of strong current, not in the eddies or the seams. They were on the bottom, too, usually behind small rocks and other cover. In this case, the weightless soft stickbait I used at the Potomac would never get to those fish. In fact, few horizontal finesse presentations would have been effective.

I used a drop shot rig and a tube, with heavier weights to get them deeper and offset the current. There are no set rules for how much weight you should use in a situation like this, or even which lure. I try to pick a weight just heavy enough to maintain bottom contact. In slow to moderate current, a 1/16-ounce sinker or jighead might work, but in faster water, I'd try 3/16- or 1/4-ounce weights.

When you're casting upstream, as I did at Wissota, you can guide your line by raising and lowering your rod tip, but you need to let your lure do its own thing as much as possible. Every finesse technique I use and write about here has some action of its own, and current will bring out that action.

Think about tailrace fishing below a power dam as an example of working lures in current. On Alabama's Coosa River, for example, the fast water below Logan Martin Dam is famous for spotted bass, striped bass and hybrids, and the most popular lure choices are grubs and tubes, usually rigged on 1/4- or 3/8-ounce heads, depending on the volume and strength of the water flow. I can't tell you how many big fish have been caught there simply by casting upstream and then letting the current wash the bait down. All you do is hold your rod up slightly to keep the grub bouncing along the rocks.

Up on the Tennessee River, tons of big smallmouths have been caught drifting the light Charlie Brewer Slider worms and grubs in the current around stumps and rocks. Those fish are usually caught on 6-pound line, too; so yes, finesse fishing is certainly a workable choice whenever you're fishing moving water.