[bigtex]

How do you get your plastic baits through thick cover?? I tried using a heavier weight, 1/2 oz, but couldn't really tell if I was getting a bite or not and the lighter weights weren't enough to brake the surface of the heavy cover. What would yall recommend?

 

[nwgabassmaster]

You are using too small of a weight. Go with a tungsten weight that is at least 1 oz., and even up to 1.5 oz. You get a more compact weight with the tungsten, as compared to lead, which will allow for easier slippage through the weeds, and the extra weight does the trick.

Feeling the bite is just one of those things that you have to get used to. More times than not, in my experience on G-ville, where weeds reign supreme, the bass will destroy the lure, and you don't have to guess!

 

[Ouachita]

I'll second that. Once it breaks through the water under the mat is amazingly uncluttered. It's like a forest. Tree tops might be so thick it seems a bird couldn't get through it. But once below the canopy a bird can fly between the trees. It's the same for bass under thick mats of vegetation. The mat shades leaves off the stems.

Once through I yo-yo a jig or worm through the new hole for a while then make a new hole and yo-yo there. By yo-yoing I mean let it fall, stay a moment, then go back up quickly. Hold it a moment, let it fall. Watch the line rather than just try feeling a bite. A good bite will make the line tic, mostly on the fall. If on a jig, set immediately, no delay.

Jim

 

[Jared]

If you cant afford tungsten you can still use lead as long as its an ounce or more and is a bullet weight. Back when Santee was full of hydrilla punching through the grass with big weights was a great technique. As Jim explained, what the surface looks like and what below that canopy of grass look like are usually night and day and once ya get through the first few inches near the surface you have it made.

Ive seen some anglers actually slam their weight through the slop. They cast it straight up a bit and let it plummet it back down to pierce the grass. I have seen others keep the weight near the rod tip and then whip the rod tip towards the grass releasing the line at the last second so that the weight is slingshotted through the grass. All the techniques worked. Youd think the fish would spook from the weight forcing into the slop violently but surprisingly they didnt.

 

[Ouachita]

When too thick I've had to slam them too. It's very important to hook a bass quickly and immediately try getting it up through that hole in a really thick mat. Once out it can't get back in the water if you slide it across the mat without stopping. Be prepared to cut your way through if the bass comes unbuttoned. I've seen them high and dry on those mats a bunch of times. I use 65# braid for that, even though I figure my XH broomstick would probably break way before 65#. The weeds are silt-coated, so very abrasive. If your rod can handle it and the mat isn't so thick a duck can walk on it dry-footed, try slicing the line through to pull a bass to you.

Jim

 

[fish4funinfl]

A lil trick Billy Murray told me to try if useing a ' SENKO ' style bait to bust mats etc... Instead of the sinker being above the hook , use a screw in sinker and screw it in the bottom of the " senko ' style bait. Then give it a little more arc on a pitch and it will bust through pretty good. But yes you will need a heavier screw in sinker.

 

[bigtex]

I assume that all this information applies to lily pads as well as thick grasses??


That is what I am facing.

 

[fish4funinfl]

That must be one heck of a lillypad field. I usualy use a lighter sinker in lillypads ( maybe 1/4 oz ) and wiggle it in-between the openings.

BUT if there isnt any openings at all, then yes I would think the advices up above will work.

 

[bigtex]

That must be one heck of a lillypad field. I usualy use a lighter sinker in lillypads ( maybe 1/4 oz ) and wiggle it in-between the openings.

BUT if there isnt any openings at all, then yes I would think the advices up above will work.

It is the same mini lake that I had taken pictures of and posted on here.  It has a lot of open water but I want to focus on the lily pads the next time I go.  Those pads are stacked on top of each other where I want to fish and the water below the pads is about 6 to 8 feet deep.  I know there are monster in there.

If you look in my signature area where I am holding the crappie, that is the same place I am talking about but the area I want to hit is a lot thicker with lily pads.

 

[Jared]

Is there any other type of grass mixed with the lily pads tex? If not you should be able to wiggle the weight through one of the holes between the pads. The wiggling to try and get the weight to fall through is also a great enticer to make the bass locate and want the bait even more too. We use to fish a lake in Connecticut that was SLAM full of lily pads and we'd drag the baits to the edge of the pad and then let em rest a sec. After resting a sec we'd raise our rod tip and shake the rod handle which sent the vibration down the line and make the worm shake the pad it was on then wed let it rest for a sec then repeat the shake again. After a time or two wed then slip it off the pad and more often than not once that worm popped through the hole WAM there she was, all set up and waiting to see what was on the pad.

 

[Ouachita]

We've probably had two types of thick vegetation in mind discussing this. In my case locally it's hydrilla that had topped out, then the lake pool dropped about 7 feet. Now the tops are laid over. Animals are walking all over it. Mice can make it fine. Soon ducks will be wandering on it. The slop runs from about 3-5" thick. It takes a piercing force to penetrate it. The operation is normally good over a ditch below.

Lily pads in other lakes in Arkansas had grown to maturity, then pool levels dropped, shoving pads together. That's much tougher. It takes a sharp pointed sinker no less than 1.5 oz, launched as high as possible, shot through the tough leaves.

I tried some of the screw-in heads, and Senkos, but too many times the plastic gets left behind next to the hole, even when glued on. Senkos are just too tender for that. It takes a stiff plastic to survive it, a good choice the Mann's Hardnose.

It's a bit more trouble than I care for now, though some big bass are coming out of those mats. I move out past the last visible weedline and look for newly emergent hydrilla where bass like to bury up in foot high weeds.

Jim

 

[bassman]

I have been fishing Sam Rayburn this summer. The grass is all over the place. I have been punching grass with jigs and worms. The jig I have been using is the Mr. Blitz jig. in the 1 1/2 oz. I have had no problems. on the worm I have been using 1 oz. Penatrator weight. Havent had a problem. Some times I got to toss up the worm so it crashes throw the grass. Will be going back to Rayburn in a few weeks. And will be doing the same thing.