Hitting Targets

 On a recent trip to the river I was reminded how bass fishing is more of a game than other kinds of fishing.  I was fishing a flat (2-3feet of water) with scattered weeds all around.  If I made a good cast to avoid the weeds, I was rewarded with a bite here and there.  If my bait landed in the grass, or retrieved into the grass, that turned the fish away quickly.  I was using a buzzbait on this morning to fire up the largemouth and trying to make lang casts, as the water was quite clean.  As I fished around these scattered weeds and grass my accuracy got better and better, as a result, the bites became more frequent.  Fishing, at least the part of throwing baits accurately is certainly a game.  That morning reminded me how important it is make good casts.  

Making a good cast is more than just throwing your bait out there and hoping.  Also, no matter how perfect the cast was, there is no guarantee that a fish will hit your lure.  There are many things that go into making a good cast.  First and foremost is practice, people that are good at hitting a ball, shooting a basket, rolling a strike and hitting a perfect forehand all have one thing in common, they practice.  This always brings me back to when I was in high school and I would practice pitching jigs in my basement throughout the winter.  Practice will help any angler become a better presenter of their lure.  Another major factor in casting is your rod/reel setup.  On this day I was throwing a1/2oz buzzbait to maximize length on my casts.  I was using a Lew's Custom Lite 7 foot rod, Med/Hvy action with a fast tip.  I paired this rod with a Lew's Speed SpoolRX reel, featuring 8 bearings.  Bearings on a reel are everything, the more bearings, the smoother the reel will function.  The Med/Hvy rod with a fast tip allowed me to get a lot of distance out of my casts, yet keep the accuracy consistent on repeated casts.  This combo is well balanced, another key to making good casts.  Another major factor when casting is using two hands.  One hand obviously on the reel to control the line and the other should be on the butt of your rod.  Two hands are better than one for distance and accuracy.  Finally, one last tip, wait for the lane.  By this, sometimes you are better off waiting another second or tow for the boat to be at that perfect angle to make a cast.  Many times anglers rush a cast just to make another cast.  Find a good lane and work that lane to perfection!  

It turned out to be a great morning of topwater action, clouds in the area allowed me to catch fish on a buzzbait past 10am.  The key that morning was hitting those open lanes between weed patches for smooth retrieve that the bass couldn't resist.  I hope this gives you some ideas "to up your" casting games and help you catch a few more fish the next time you get a chance to get out. 

One of a few dozen bass that fell to a buzzbait on this morning.