Hi everyone,
Yesterday I decided to try targeting some largemouth on a predominantly smallmouth populated lake. I found that the fish were holding under floating mats of vegetation that had been blown into existing structure, whether it be timber, lily pads, weed beds, or docks. The water depths varied from 1' to about 6' and as usual some of the areas had lead in cover while others did not.
My first choice in lures was a frog and it really helped me locate fish in the mats that I found myself fishing. The bass would usually blow up on the lure but weren't able inhale the whole bait. I think a lot of this had to do with the thickness of the mats I was fishing. I would follow up with a punching rig and proceed to bring in whatever fish were located under the mat which made the day quite enjoyable.
My query is this; when fishing mats situated in deeper water, like 4' or deeper, has anyone ever tried a reaction bait like a jerkbait or spinnerbait along the edge, and if so, were you successful? Or do you just go straight to the punching rig?
Normally I'm not adverse to try different things but I didn't have a big window to fish so stuck with what was working until the evening jerkbait bite picked up.
Thanks in advance for any feedback people can provide.
