Florida Bass Basics: 3 Rigs You Need For Pitching

Keith Carson, a pro from Debary, Florida, has a simple and efficient solution for fishing just about any kind of vegetated cover bass typically hold in. He likes to pitch Texas-rigged plastics, and there are three basic rigs he feels will handle anything he finds in Florida waters.

What is pitching? It’s delivering a lure with a direct pendulum swing with a disengaged reel, as opposed to flipping, which is a fixed line length technique.

“It’s important to have multiple rigs handy because you’re going to come across different thicknesses in cover,” Carson said. “You want a rig for everything you come across.

“You’re going to have Kissimmee grass and lily pads, you’re going to have heavier cover like hyacinth and then you’re going to have dense stuff like extra-thick hyacinth. You want to keep multiple rigs tied on, so you don’t have to stop and rig when you see a different type of cover.”

Something for Any Cover

During a recent outing, Carson demonstrated his three setups in a textbook multi-level pitching scenario where Kissimmee grass presented light cover adjacent to a denser weed collection that eventually yielded to a tightly packed hyacinth bank. His rigs included:

Light cover — Berkley MaxScent Creature Hog with a 1/2-ounce weight

Medium cover — Berkley Shape 108 (craw style bait) with a 1-ounce weight

Heavy cover — Berkley 4.5 Crash Craw with a 1 1/2-ounce weight

Using 3/0 Berkley Fusion flipping hooks for each of these rigs, Carson said he finds his 1-ounce option most universal. Effective in all but the densest mats, he can comfortably and effectively employ this rig across a broad spectrum of scenarios. Keeping a 1/2-ounce option on deck provides a less-intrusive presentation when fish are finicky.

The Order

A basic principle: Start from the outside and work inward. 

“Typically, I always work my way from outside-in,” Carson said. “Your most aggressive fish are on the edge; from the outside, to about 5 feet in. They’re on the edge because they’re looking to feed. The ones further in are resting, so they’re harder to entice.”

Carson said pursuing the fish farther into the mats is doubly difficult because the mostly homogenous mass makes it harder to know where to pitch. Anomalies like laydowns, blown-in wood, or multiple vegetation types converging offer some targeting assistance, but it’s still a lower percentage game typically reliant on covering water to find a concentration.

“On the outer edges, you’re looking for points,” Carson said. “Whether it’s lily pads, hyacinth, or hydrilla, those are ambush points for big bass. You pitch on them and they bite right away because they’re ready to eat.

“If I’m getting a lot of bites on the edges, a lot of times I won’t even pitch farther into the cover,” Carson said. “If not, I’ll start punching farther in.”

Seasonal Proximity

Carson closes with a couple of pitching pointers:

During winter and early spring, he finds the fish will push farther back into the mats for warmth.

“They’ll sit higher in water because they like to have their backs to the mat, because the vegetation’s collecting heat. ” Carson said. “During the (warmer months), they’ll sit farther below the mats.”

Understanding these positional differences offers helpful perspective. On a cold day, if your bait clears the cover and reaches bottom, reel up and make another shot. Conversely, on a summer day, it may be worth a shake or two.

Also: Follow your blockers. Any good running back knows that breaking through the line of scrimmage is easier when you let the big dudes clear the way.

“When I’m pitching, I let the weight and the bait do the work, but when you cast out, right before the weight hits the mat, drop the rod a little to make sure the weight goes through first,” Carson said. “You’ll get through the cover easier.”

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