Cast past your target

[Mike Cork]

Cast past your target!

This is a phrase that was ingrained in my head when I was about 8 years old and fishing with dad. Back then we didn't have pitching and flipping (true flipping) was a technique we didn't get to do much. So, when we were fishing cover, I'd cast to my target and brag about being able to do so. Dad would say that's great, but you've scared away the fish that was sitting next to that stick-up.

If fishing isolated cover, cast your presentation, whether a spinnerbait, chatterbait, buzzbait, even soft plastics or jigs will sometimes produce better when cast or pitched past the target and worked to the cover.

Topwater baits, cast past your target so you can get the walk the dog or spitting action going properly before you get to the stick, bush, or dock pole.

Especially crankbaits, a crankbait has to get to the proper depth whether it's 1 foot or 7 foot before it reaches the cover. Cast well past your target so the crankbait has a chance to reach the depth.

I know this all sees like something we all already know, but I watch anglers all the time cast at targets instead of past them.

Sure I have many times, especially here in the south, had to pitch a jig and hit the side of a cypress tree with a bait that weighed just the right amount and fell at the perfect rate to get a bite. But that's just one way to catch these green fish we all seek.

Casting past your target will increase your strikes, I promise.

[Donald Garner]

With the exception of flipping and pitching I always when possible cast beyond the target area 

[zippyduck]

Even if you are hitting the shore. Done this many times, it works like pulling a frog off the weedline.
But I also find myself aiming at targets.

Yesterday we were fishing docks in 40 fow. We skipped tubes and jigs out the other side and let them swing back under the dock.

[Oldfart9999]

There are times when you just can't, pitching dock post against a wall is one of them so a soft landing is the order of the day, most other times I agree with you Mike!!!
Rodney

[njpaulc]

Especially when I can get halfway up a tree. ;-)

[Captsteve]

Cast past your target!

This is a phrase that was ingrained in my head when I was about 8 years old and fishing with dad. Back then we didn't have pitching and flipping (true flipping) was a technique we didn't get to do much. So, when we were fishing cover, I'd cast to my target and brag about being able to do so. Dad would say that's great, but you've scared away the fish that was sitting next to that stick-up.

If fishing isolated cover, cast your presentation, whether a spinnerbait, chatterbait, buzzbait, even soft plastics or jigs will sometimes produce better when cast or pitched past the target and worked to the cover.

Topwater baits, cast past your target so you can get the walk the dog or spitting action going properly before you get to the stick, bush, or dock pole.

Especially crankbaits, a crankbait has to get to the proper depth whether it's 1 foot or 7 foot before it reaches the cover. Cast well past your target so the crankbait has a chance to reach the depth.

I know this all sees like something we all already know, but I watch anglers all the time cast at targets instead of past them.

Sure I have many times, especially here in the south, had to pitch a jig and hit the side of a cypress tree with a bait that weighed just the right amount and fell at the perfect rate to get a bite. But that's just one way to catch these green fish we all seek.

Casting past your target will increase your strikes, I promise.

yes ya'll all already know but some of us don't.  so I appreciate it when things are explained to where us novices can glean something. Most post about technic and such go right over me head. So thank you again Mike.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Mike Cork]

No problem Steve, I'm hoping to make a lot more posts like this. Just stuff we all look over.

[Captsteve]

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[TheLastRodBender]

Sound advice!!  Thanks Mike!

This is an awesome trick with a hollow body frog too.. Cant tell you how many times I've literally cast a frog ONTO the bank and dragged it into the water, causing a strike very quickly... presumably mimicking how a frog naturally enters the water.

[Capt. BassinLou]

With the exception of flipping and pitching I always when possible cast beyond the target area 

Just like Donald stated here, other than this style of technique. Casting past your target area I took for granted and I assumed was the norm. There are those rare situations where casting where you just saw a bass blow up can yield you a bite.

Good tip Mike. 

[Deadeye]

So true Mike. Way to many times we cast right at the cover and simply spook the Bass that was laying there in wait by crashing down on top of them.

Even in an area of Floating Pads dragging a worm across the top then letting it hit the edge into the Open Water will produce many more strikes than casting to their edge. The Bass will follow the movement and sound and be waiting when it enters the water.

[coldfront]

No problem Steve, I'm hoping to make a lot more posts like this. Just stuff we all look over.

mike, the part you left out:  at times running a boat too close to target can also spook fish ,or make them a little more skittish.

how close is too close when working with these techniques?

pitching/flipping are a different deal.  those are 'too' targets. 

thoughts?

[saltystick]

Good tips and one everyone should use!

Suggestion: pausing at the target a few seconds, twitch the rod tip once, hold and then continue the retrieve. Good on some days when fish are less active yet can still be annoyed by the lures you mentioned.

[Mike Cork]

mike, the part you left out:  at times running a boat too close to target can also spook fish ,or make them a little more skittish.

how close is too close when working with these techniques?

pitching/flipping are a different deal.  those are 'too' targets. 

thoughts?

Coldfront, I think each technique and angler are different. My goal with any presentation is to stay far enough off the targets, shore, grass line so that I can cast or pitch to it quietly. So it really can vary by the angler.

Often if I'm fishing by my self, I'll parallel shore and grass lines so that I can cast down them. In this instance I'm still casting past isolated cover or points/pockets in the grass.

[Oldfart9999]

Mike, one thing I've done is to cast onto a dock then pull the bait off the dock, it works on concrete breakwaters also, you just have to be sure there's nothing to catch your bait. I don't know if the bass thinks it's some animal or what but I've caught fish that way.
Rodney

[muzz]

Truth

[tooboocoo]

I've always been of the opinion that casting past your target is a good idea.  But I watched a video a while back in which Ish Monroe says you should drop your bait directly on your target to draw reaction strikes from aggressive fish that might otherwise ignore a passing bait.   I'm not sure I agree, but I do respect Ish's opinion.

[Mike Cork]

Tooboocoo, there are definitely times that a cast that lands on the bass will shock them and they will strike but more often than not the stealth approach works better, especially with spinnerbaits, crankbaits, or any retrieve bait. This also allows the angler to get the bait to the proper depth before hitting the strike zone.

If pitching and flipping to cover with a jig or soft plastic, I'll try and get my bait to land over a bass's head and let it fall to him but not with my retrieve baits.

[saltystick]

An idea I came up with years ago was that the retrieve can be steady or paused many times. When going for fish that many be very active (prespawn), a steady retrieve will most times get bass to travel a bit in shallow water, leaving a wake to blast a lure. Their hypersensitivity and territoriality doesn't give them much choice. But when fish are inactive but also territorial, they need a bit of winding up before they attack ambush style. To accomplish that, a more subtle approach is needed along with subtle action baits such as a wacky stick, skirted jig and many other bottom crawling lures.

Bass detect moving objects from a distance keeping track of their direction, action and speed. Once a lure makes their scales crawl from an increased time in the strike zone - the space a lure travels through from first detection to the strike, it reminds me of a rubber band stretched to the limit. Bass for whatever reason must attack.

I think that's what anglers do most to get strikes - rile fish into attacking using one or many lures with the right presentation(s) for the situation. Trial & error is usually the norm because fish determine what they'll strike and based on how it is presented on any given day or time of day.

[Lord Finesse]

Casting past your target is good advice in general, but it isn't always possible or productive. In some cases throwing right on top of your target with a soft entry is best.

[RDY2GO]

yes ya'll all already know but some of us don't.  so I appreciate it when things are explained to where us novices can glean something. Most post about technic and such go right over me head. So thank you again Mike.

Yep, more good advice.  I'm getting excited about getting on the water again now!