How about a few more qualifiers.

What lure weights will you be using?
What type of line and lb test will you be using?
Where will you be using it, docks , rock structure, vegetation?
How tall are you?
Baitcasting or spinning?
What is your rod $ budget?

I’d agree with Ray Z on his questions. Ray make me a custom flipping rod after I answered all of his questions and it is a fantastic rod.

You can trust all of Mike’s input on the heavy gear since he’s a master at it.

I do a lot of light line flipping and would recommend going with a seven foot spinning rod in med-heavy action. The longer rod definitely results in more hookups. Until a couple of years ago I was using a six foot rod and was missing a lot of fish. O-Bass suggested the longer rod and it really paid off. I use 8lb. mono or fluorocarbon depending on the water conditions. I think any good reel would be fine. Most of the time I’m pitching with a 1/16 or 1/8 oz. weight.

Just my input

I'm 5-6 and use a 7 1/2 foot heavy action flipping stick just fine. If you're going to fish heavy weeds you need all the leverage you can get to hoist them out. A good high speed reel is also needed to move as much line as possible when first hooking a good fish and get it heading your way. Heavy slop demands heavy equiptment. I also use braid to help cut through weeds. Flipping and pitching docks or light weeds or weed edges you can use much lighter gear, floro is my go to line for those conditions. I hope Jon Pski tunes in to this subject.

Two things to consider, ACTION designates how the rod bends and recovers, a Fast Action rod mostly bends in the top third of the rod and recovers faster than a Moderate action one and recovery corrresponds to rod speed. The speed of the line is a major factor in a good hook set, even more so than rod POWER that relates to overall rod stiffness, a Fast Action Medium power rod will move more line faster than a Slow action Heavy power rated rod of the same length.

The reason I mention your height is due to the length of your arm as most flippers don't like the handle extending past the elbow and longer rods have a tendency to have longer handles, and shorter fishermen, shorter forearms.

Just a couple of things to consider when you buy your nest rod.

Thanks for all your answers i've used them to help me answer Ray.

Wow not sure where to start here. First I don't want anybody to feel like i'm poking fun at what they use or do. Lets start with the reel. For me a baitcaster is a winch made for heavy line (more then 10lb) so this is a must for me. Yes braid has made using smallier line diameter a opion. With this said a spinning reel (again for me) is out of the question. A flipping switch allows you to let line out in a case where depth change comes up fast. The rod. The rod for me needs to be as long as it can. (tourney fishing 7'11 is the biggest you can use). I always used a 7'6 till one day got my hands on a 7"11 and this made a huge diffence. This allows me to cover a larger area away from the boat. If you want to flip the outside weed edge or middle or inside its easy to do with the longer rod plus you can hold more line in your hands with it. High speed reels are important because lets say your in heavy pads you do want the fish when hooked to be able to travel in any direction because there are weeds which will only limit your changes of getting him in. I think of it like ice fishing want the fish to come up the same hole the line went down. I know this sounds like alot for someone who dosn't FLIP alot. Pitching is something totally diffent. Like RayZ said the rod power and action means everything here.

Sorry so long but its something you need to master and it takes alot of time on the water to do so.

I use a 7'6" St Croix Mojo Stick with a Diawa Zillion Bait Caster.I'm 6'1" Tall. 30lb Braid with 10/20 mono leader depending on what I'm fishing. Those posting before me have a hell of a lot more experience in all aspects of Bass Fishing than I but from a new guys perspective;

Don't give up. It can get frustrating but once you learn it the rewards can be fascinating. I've seen 5+ Lb's pulled from weed mats so thick you could almost walk on it. But you have to get the jig through it then retrieve it.

Example - 3rd week in December Larry "Unknown Angler" invites me out to Lilly! Flipping 3/4-1 oz Black Blue Jigs he pulls in 1/2 every stop we made. Me notta! After about 7 fish he corrects my technique. 2nd pitch my rod tip hits the water. The fish runs under a tree and my leader snaps. "But" with proper technique now being used I at least took a decent hit before calling it a day.

All the best equipment in the world won't catch you more fish. Practice, patience and technique will. (equipment is important but.) This year I plan on concentrating on flipping, pitching and skipping jigs!

Ahhahaha! @ Mattman Thats what I did in my back yard than progressed to the pool! My wife thought I was nuts! LOL

I can't say enough good things about the BPS rods.
I love mine, and they can get the job done.

Tim when you get all set up I can show you how to flip and pitch.

Timmy before you buy a rod set up WAIT till the swapmeet and save some cash

I plan on it bill but the other day dicks had a sale on the quantum tour edition bait caster i got it for 100 bucks (originally 270), so if they have another big sale on a nice rod i could use for flipping i figured i better get some kind of an idea on what i'll need.

I'll have to take a look on that website, thanks

You've been given some great advice above. Pitching is a strong technique BUT, it typically takes a lot of practice to get the cast down nicely. The underhand pitch motion fortunatly though is something you can practice on year round in your yard. I would suggest you attempt to keep your pitches to about the 20 foot range until you get it down well. Once you get the rythm of that cast, you can then try for more distance. Accuracy with pitching is generally very much enhanced once you get well with it. With enough practice, you'll be able to put a 1/2 oz jig between the edge of a dock and the boat moored to it from 40 feet away and, break the cobwebs which indicates nobody else has put a bait there in awhile.

I've been able to pitch with several different rods but for me, a flexible tip enhances my accuracy. I can pitch well with my 6'-6" heavy St Croix that I usually use for casting a jig but I lose accuracy due to not having enough tip action. The bait tends to go high and "lob" in rather than maintaining a nice low trajectory to the water. So, I usually rely on my old Team Diawa, Denny Brauer 7'-6" flipping rod. This is a MH, fast action that is spooled with 17# fluorocarbon. This rod gets the nod in most situations. I see in the recent Bass Pro Shops cataloug that Diawa has a "T" series rod at MH fast, which is supposed to replicate this old classic. At under $100, I'm going to be taking a look at it.

As for true flipping, although I use the Team Diawa set up, I have a 7'-11" St Croix Tournament Legend rod in a heavy power, moderate action that is a beast in the weeds. As our local waters have been having their aquatic vegetation decimated, I tend to only use this rod in certain situations. Candlewood, Lakeville, and Champlain will always see the big blue rod. One feature of this rod is the first guide is set about 3 feet from the reel seat while most other rods have their first guide set at about 2 feet. This plays a role in true flipping as your are usually going to grab the line before the first guide (though you can grab the line between the first and second guide for some extra distance). In flipping, you usually want the bait to fall straight after it hits the water and until you get REAL good at it, you are generally limited to an area about twice the length of the rod. So, I've got a nearly 8' rod, this gives me a 16' flipping radius. But, as I want my bait to fall verticlly, I have to take into account the water depth I'm flipping. IF I allow my bait to hit bottom (not always neccasary)and the water is 6' deep my flip is only going to be 2' to 4' from my rod tip. Which is only about ten feet from the boat. Now the good thing is, as long as your not stomping on the trolling motor, on and off, and the bass are buried in the grass, you can get really close to them without spooking them. Boat control becomes another learning issue with pitching and flipping.

Now, outside of the ability to use pitching and flipping for pin point accuarcy, these techiques also allow you to have increased sensitivity of your bait and, extreme control of the hook set and the fish once hooked due to the distance of line you have out. This brings me to your line of choice. Many folks prefer braid on their flipping set ups. Braid is simply awesome for slicing through the thick grass where your going to use this casting method but, it comes with a downfall also. My 7'-11" rod is VERY strong and so is the braid. Together, they have very little give. I was brought up to use a monster hook set. Generally, if I don't rock the boat with my hook set, I'm not satisfied that I stuck the fish well. Well, with using braid on that heavy rod, I was only hooking up on maybe 50% of my strikes. To counter that, I moved to 20 or 25# fluro and my hook up ratio went WAY up to about 90-95%. This simple change in line convinced me that MY set up, combined with MY hook set, was too much. The move to Fluorocarbon solved it. That little bit of extra give compensated for my hook set.

One last note on the long rod. For ME, a flipping/pitching rod with a jig or creature is awesome on a long cast and or deep water. The combination of little to no strech + the additional amount of line you can move with the long rod usually ensures a good hook set. The amount of big smallmouth on Candlewood working that deep weed edge, or dragging a 1 oz jig in 15 fow at Champlain, has brought a huge amount of fish to my boat that I don't think I would have stuck and boated with lesser tackle.

Jon all i can say is wow!!! that had so much information in it its fricken great. Thank you so much now when i go to get my rod i can use all this info to help me thanks alot.

LOL Mr Kid. I do actually prefer pitching over flipping but flipping has treated me pretty well over the years.