Like Catt said, it’s hard to tell from the photo –
But I’ll offer this; exactly what it is may not be nearly as important as where it is, what’s around it and how much of it there is.
Since this vegetation is scattered throughout the lake and from the surface it may all look the same – there’s a decent chance that at some point some of it is holding fish but much of it may not. The challenge lies in figuring out which ones to fish.
I have several lakes that I do well in that are similar. What I do is initially, I ignore the vegetation all together. Then I start with the basics like seasonal pattern and recent past & present environmental conditions. This helps narrow down where (what depth) the bass may be in and what their mood might be. Then it pays to know what some of the prevalent bass food in the lake is and where the bass need to be to get it.
Once some of this is established, now we can get back to the vegetation discussion and how it relates to the factors listed above. Those clumps of weed do offer excellent ambush points for the bass. They could be a bit off them relating loosely to them, they could be holding tight to them or even buried right up in it. The presence of bait fish (fry, small panfish, shiners etc) is usually a good thing and may have the bass more in the open & willing to chase a bait; especially early & later in the day (and at night).
A spinnerbait, a swimbait on a weighted EWG hook, a scrounger/fluke combo even a rattlebait and a squarebill are all decent options. Certainly depends on the mood of the fish.
If crayfish are a staple of the bass there, the bottoms around the weeds become a high percentage zone where a jig & craw or Texas rigged plastic may be the deal. If most of the lake has a soft bottom, any hard bottom areas you can locate are definitely worth fishing and are often solid producers season after season.
For any of these or other baits to work, obviously you need to be around bass and your presentation will need to remain mostly clear of vegetation in order to get bit. Usually shorter / accurate casts presented slightly past (and then brought into) the high percentage / ambush points works well. And when you think the fish might be buried right up in it, sometimes the only way to know for sure is to go right in there after them. It pays to ensure your gear is up to the task – braid works well here.
Finally, those BR members who have been here any length of time have seen me post this before but your situation is definitely Perfect for it. The Texas rigged skirt & craw combo (pictured below) can be thrown all around & into that vegetation without hanging up and it comes through clean so you spend less time picking goop off your bait and more time fishing effectively. Most importantly – It catches plenty of very respectable Bass.
Hope that helps
A-Jay
