Catch and Grease

You miss understood what I was saying. Okay with matted grass out of the picture, think about sub surface grass. A heavy jig will sink into it and the bass will never see it... Re-read my post and see if it clicks... Like on a hard bottom your worm happily dances as you hop it back to the boat, but on a grassy bottom it just sinks into the grass, pops back out, then sinks back in the grass, same with jigs.

Calvin Johnson.... Said no one ever.

I haven't tried that specific lure but many like it, you see the problem is that most of my fishing is done over a grassy bottom, so when I use baits that sink and I kill them they sink inside the grass, so things like these open hook swimbaits don't work well. But say a weedless fluke will sink into grass and come right back out That's another problem I find myself running into with things like jigs, with jigs/worms sometimes you need it to sit still. But if your fishing say a 1/4oz or 1/2oz jig over a grassy bottom it sinks down into the grass and the bass never even see it. Texas Rigs are a little better because your weight will sink into the grass but the worm will stay above the grass but that's not always the case... I need to fish the split shot/mojo rig more because it helps with this problem, your weight will sink but your bait will stay above the grass....

Because I'm just not a big swimbait guy, I like shallow cranks and lipless much more... I'm not always following schooling baitfish but when that's what the bass are after I usually pull out the things like crankbaits, flukes, lipless cranks, etc...

Yeah I was looking at the H2O rods the other day, I'll probably pick up 2 heavy ones to fish my frogs, punch grass, and fish jigs....

Definitely my most successful features are fishing the matted grass, whether it be in the grass or the edge of the grass, pads are good too but I do better in the grass. I throw frogs on my lake a lot and have caught tons of bass on them but no 5lbers yet! I don't own a heavy power rod, the closest to a broom stick I have is a medium heavy/ fast action, so when I'm punching grass I lose a lot of fish, sadly I don't have funds to buy tons of rods right now.

Most people talk deep off shore fishing this time of year but since banks lake is all shallow I stick to fishing visible cover mostly, I have almost no luck fishing out in the open water. I really wanna know what kind of bait fish are there but I haven't had any luck catching any and the refuge never answer my calls/emails. All I know is the baits fish are around 2-6 inches long mostly and school up around the grass during this time of year, and if you run your boat through the schools they jump and make weird noises... Any idea what it might be?

The lake I fish is banks lake national wildlife refuge in lakeland Georiga, it is a natural lake that is 4,096 acres and 1000 of that is open water, 900 acres of marsh, 1644 acres of Cyprus swamp and 15 acres of uplands. Its a shallow lake averaging 6-8 FOW and doesn't have deep spots, the deepest place I've found is 12ft and is right by the boat ramp. Its extremely grassy, mostly all of the lake has some sort of grass, it has tons of matted grass and Lilly pads in areas, in the Cyprus Forrest on the lake it isn't quite as grassy and is more open. It is stained with 2-3 feet visibility. It has bass, pickerel, gar, bowfin, bream, crappie, warmouth, and catfish. The one thing I do not know is what kind of baitfish Is there, they school up around the grass this time of year and jump out of the water if your boat gets close, threadfin shad maybe???

What are they gonna do when they run out of names for metal, are they gonna call it "black-er ultra-hardcore murder metal" haha Or is that already a type of metal...

FAAAAKEEE

On what lure? For buzzbaits I put the trailer on the main hook then put the trailer hook on. But I'm usually ethier fishing a trailer hook or a soft plastic trailer, not both at the same time.

I wouldn't call them critical to the population, a big bass is old and has already spawned multiple times, so its genes are already out there... But that's for a whole new thread, let's not get that debate started up here

Well when I hear some one say flipping I picture them throwing into matted grass/pads or something... Even in clear water you have to ask yourself "am I going for a reaction bite?" If the answer is yes then you really don't need a leader. I only use a leader when fishing clear/stained water in not so thick cover and when using techniques that coax bass into biting...

Thanks, the bass here aren't nessecarily schooling up yet but they are chasing schooling bait fish, so a A-rig is plausible right now I geuss, I have a few lighter A-rigs that are 10-20$ setups but I haven't fished them much...

That's awesome man!

Someone give this man a medal!! Thanks I'll definitely be looking into those setups, do you use those in the summer time? Most people say A-rigs aren't particularly successful this time of year...

Why do you need a leader? If your flipping into any decent cover 8lbs is not strong enough and I'd use more than 20lb braid but that's up for debate. Flipping is a reaction strike so a bass won't have time to get spooked by your braid, spool some 50lb braid on and tie directly to your bait and call it a day. But if you insist on using a leader I'd go for a 14-20lb Flouro leader, the length doesn't really matter it's all preference.

Great post man ^^ thanks for the tips, when summers is coming to an end I may buy a smaller type A-Rig because I don't feel like buying a new rod just for A-Rigs yet. Something small enough I can get it out with a MH/F

Dion was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame for crying out loud! But no he isn't rock and roll! Haha I'm with hootie... Call it what you want, I call it good music!

I didn't call in the still of the night rock and roll. And the specific song lovers who wander by dion is a rock and roll song for sure. hell, Dion was a huge influence on rock N' roll.

Alright hootie, how about Frankie lymon, chuck berry, and the five satins? Is that better haha In the Still of the Night-The Five Satins-origina…:

Yeah I mean lately the baitfish have been all piled into small areas on the lake, But it seems like bass of all sizes would be anywhere that the other is. Idk if that made any sense what's so ever haha

One person may think a lake with 4 foot visibility is clear while another may think 10ft+ visibility is clear, use lures you believe will produce well in your situation.

I love my tatula, its my favorite reel I own and I'm gonna be buying more. It pitches baits great

Another question, where would a big bass be? I mean I find bass by finding baitfish in my lake, I've never really went into much more detail than that. So where would the bigger bass hangout?