Fishing In Weeds?

[MIbassin]

what baits and techniques are good in fishing submerged weeds in 6-10 feet of water? the weeds are about 3-4 feet tall. i always kill them on senkos. i try to expand my arsenal such as jigs and lipless crank baits but i switch back to senkos after 20 minutes because i am not catching any fish. any ideas?

[Sun Fish]

Any other soft plastics, curly tail worms, lizards, creature baits, craws, swim baits, T-Rig, Drop Shot, etc. Jigs work as well, anything with trebels I find near impossible to fish in thick weeds.

[cast_and_destroy]

like sunfish said, a dropshot with the worm just above the weeds can be deadly and a swimbait worked just above them can be effective.

Dont give up on a lipless crankbait its great at catching agressive fish or getting a reaction strike.

[hooah212002]

How on earth do you fish a crankbait of any sort in weeds without getting hung up every single cast? Or do you mean to run it above or on the edges?

[Fishing Rhino]

If Mass hadn't banned the use of lead, this is what I'd be using. I'd wacky worm using senkos. Currently I use Jackall Wacky Jig Heads because they are tungsten, and legal in MA. They have a weed guard which works pretty well. The problem is the eye for tying is above the jighead, and that grabs vegetation. All the same, I fish it in thick weeds and catch plenty of fish. This hook has the tying eye on the front so it will shed vegetation much better.

www.basspro.com/Gamakatsu-Wacky-Jigheads/product/1108311840171/238645

A Jackall Wacky Jig Head with a Rage Tail Grub. It would work killer rigged on the Gamakatsu shown at the address above. As you can see in the photo below, the area between the eye and the weight can easily snag vegetation. I do use these hooks for wacky rigging. In fact, that is what they were created for.

A drop of super glue between the grub and the weight holds the grub in place very well. If a fish tugs on the tail and the bend of the hook's shank tears the body, a drop of glue will mend it nicely. You can catch several fish on one grub.

[irnwrkr]

Texas rig is good. If your not getting bit on the bottom, I like a weightless worm. I usually use the strike king xxx worms, and just twitch it above the weeds.

[OkobojiEagle]

3" & 4" single tail grubs weighted with Brewer spider jig heads.

oe

[flyeaglesfly5186]

Weedless and weightless T-Rigged tubes, let them just drop/drift through the grass. Use a darker color than the grass for the contrast.

[MarkH024]

I was going to recommend ripping a lipless crank over the top...let it flutter down...then rip...keep doing that. I guess it depends on the kind of weeds though. If it's really thick then you wont want to fish something with trebles.

You could try a swim jig with a trailer. Chatterbait, or the option of plastics is endless really. Jerkbait above the weeds, flukes....You have a lot of options, just need to get out there and try it out. Hope you find something as enjoyable as the Senkos. Let us know how it goes!

[MrPeanut]

lipless cranks ripped up out of the grass is always a good choice if the weeds aren't so thick they get stuck on the trebles on every cast...that's too annoying

I would put another vote in for swim jigs too

[drew4779]

I've always had luck running spinners just above the grass. Works at cave run.

[scrutch]

Split shot rig with a sixteenth ounce weight using a zoom trick worm. Slider heads work great too. This is what they are if you have never seen them. http://www.sliderfishing.com/Snagless-Slider-Head-WSH-WSH.htm

They work great because they lay on top of the grass. Just drag it slowly, very slowly. I learned this technique from Chris at Tech during last year's Roadtrip. Thanks Chris!

[MCS]

Had a lot of success today with a vibe style worm throwing on the edges of the weeds sticking up in 2-4' of water letting sink for a sec the bringing it to the top and running it through the grass.

[Loop_Dad]

Split shot rig with a sixteenth ounce weight using a zoom trick worm. Slider heads work great too. This is what they are if you have never seen them. http://www.sliderfis...ead-WSH-WSH.htm

They work great because they lay on top of the grass. Just drag it slowly, very slowly. I learned this technique from Chris at Tech during last year's Roadtrip. Thanks Chris!

Hi scrutch, when you use this slider thing, do you embed the weight part in the worm?

I also do split shot, and weighted swimbait hooks on both swimbaits and worm.

[Surveyor]

Is there a Bass in there???

There he is

2 lbs of Bass 5 lbs of weeds 7 pounder---right??

Got this one this pm on a zoom brush hog watermelon red. 2o wg hook 30lb braid

[The one that got away]

Run a spinnerbait right over the top of the weeds

[scrutch]

Hi scrutch, when you use this slider thing, do you embed the weight part in the worm?

I also do split shot, and weighted swimbait hooks on both swimbaits and worm.

Nope. Just hook it like you would a regular offset shank worm hook. The weight slides thru the grass ahead of the worm. Remember, drag slowwwwwwww. Very slowwwww.

[matstone7]

A keel weighted worm or craw (rage rig) is the ticket here. Because the fall of the bait is horizontal, it limits the pinch-effect caused by line angle and can be worked right through the grass without much work. This works especially well when you have some holes in the grass too.

[Bankbeater]

Zoom Super Fluke.

[Sam]

Fishing Rhino and OkobojiEagle, you let the cat out of the bag!

Those grubs are excellent suggestions. You were supposed to keep them a secret!

Fat Alberts in green pumpkin with the tails dipped in JJs yellow Magic and a small bullet or jig head to get them to fall slow.

Just have a couple of bags with you as the bass, crappie and sunfish will eat the tails.

Man, you guys are giving away all the secrets.

[fishking247]

topwater of your choice. don't be afraid to throw it in the middle of a 90+ degree sunny day

[OkobojiEagle]

with the tails dipped in JJs yellow Magic

Who's giving away secrets, Sam???

oe

[Fishing Rhino]

I agree with matstone about the keel weighted hooks, Owner twistlock being my favorite. Alas, that weight is lead.

I'll throw one other out for consideration. It works slick with lizards. It's the Owner Sled Head.

The trick to rigging a lizard is as follows. With the hook oriented as in the photo, pierce the center of the nose with the top of the bait up, and insert the hook to where the bend starts. Then lift the rest of the body until it is parallel to the long straight part of the shank and exit the point from the body of the lizard. Then, slide the lizard to the twistlock coil eyes/top up. Depending on the weight/size of the sled head it will take two or three turns to button the nose of the lizard against the weight. Then pinch the body at the outer edge of the shank's curve. Push the point through the lizard's body at this point, and skin hook the point to make it weedless.

You can drag this sucker through the thickest jungle and snag nary a blade of vegetation. It will present a nose down drop compared to the fairly horizontal drop of a keel weighted hook. There is no wrong way to retrieve this baby. You can reel slowly. You can twitch it. You can jerk it. You can swim it, if so inclined. I've had fish hit it when I'm cranking it back to make another cast.

That's not to say that all retrieves work equally well. It's up to you to find which "presentation" the fish prefer.