Flipping and Pitching

I wanted to make a post about pitching and flipping, aside from all the Classic stuff although it has something to do with it. Ish Monroe posted on Bassmaster.com that he thinks John Murray has a good chance to win the Classic this year, citing Murray's natural ability. If you've read this blog (and no one has, as far as I can tell) you'll note that I was fortunate enough to ride with Murray at the Oneida event last year. Here's a short version of how the first day went down for him: he pulled up on a spot off-shore and caught a limit in less than 30 minutes; he culled about 20 minutes after that; then he fished for bigger fish all day and faced the same problems as anyone else. So, he can find fish, easily. But like anyone else, he has a tough time winning tournaments. What he doesn't have a tough time doing is fishing the techniques. Not too sure why I think it's important to mention this except to remind that Ish says Murray has as much natural ability as anyone. After Murray left his first spot, which was a smallmouth spot, he went to find largemouth by pitching weeds, which is what everyone else did. Even the guy I was paired with the next day pitched for most of the day. But John did so with a kind of precision I imagine I will never see again in my life. I'm not saying this to impress people. I honestly believe that the technique he used was better than anyone--except maybe Mark Menendez, Tommy Biffle or Denny Brauer--has to offer. He was really roll-casting more than pitching in the traditional sense, which is pretty impressive in its own right. I have been practicing the technique all winter, and it is NOT easy. But Murray does it in such a way that is hard and easy-looking. He keeps his rod tip up, rolling it, then lowering the tip and letting the lure skim along the surface. I mean it when I say that he did this perhaps over 1000 times that one day. Not one made a splash. NOT ONE. I'm not kidding. There were times he rolled it out there and I felt sure he would make a big noise. But he somehow slowed the lure down and it entered the water with NO disturbance. Seriously. Imagine a lure about two inches above the water somehow just dropping into the water with no splash, no sound, nothing. I swear, I am not kidding when I say this is what John Murray was doing all day long. ALL day long! So, when Ish says he believes that John Murray has natural ability, I have to believe him.