Favorite bait in heavy hydrilla/milfoil at high noon

[Micro]

Here's the scenerio: the sun is straight up, not a cloud in the sky, water pushing 85 degrees, water depth anywhere from 8-15 feet, VERY heavy milfoil and hydrilla, almost no shade on the water. Milfoil and hydrilla has matted much of the surface, and is a foot or two below the surface everywhere else.

How are you going to fish this?

Reason I ask is because this is what I face on my home lake from July through October when the weeds start dying back. And I'm horrible at fishing it. 

[Catt]

[bassfisherjk]

I have about the same problem on one of the local lakes I fish.I use a T-rigged Zoom Baby Brush Hog with a 1/16 oz. bullet weight. Colors,either pumpkin or watermelon candy.I make as long of a cast as I can and just slowly pull it through the weeds.

[roadwarrior]

GYCB Kreature rigged skirt forward, weedless, 1/8-1/4 oz

bullet weight. Let the bait fall to desired depth or until it

hits an obstruction or the bottom. Retrieve steadly with

an occasional twitch, just like you would fish a spinnerbait.

Be careful, you might get your arm broken!

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1180909581

8-)

[Siebert Outdoors]

Typically in this situation I will throw a Florida rigged weight with a sleek bait.  Ribbon tails or bulky fronted baits tend to catch a lot of weeds.

My preference,  3/4-1.5oz tungsten weight and any slim line bait that the front of the body is smaller then the weight back.  Craw type baits seem to work good. 

[Randall]

I move out to where it is just below the surface and fish a swimbait over the grass. It's what I do if the conditions are right June through October. Most fun I have fishing all year. If you ever figure the bite out you will start to hate the cooler months of the year and wish the grass was still there.

[Micro]

I fished again today.  I picked up one by pitching a tube into a hole in the grass near a dock.   Had a few misses on that tube as well. 

Got two by flipping some jigs with paca chunks near some of floating islands of vegetation.  (Lost the arms of three Paca Craws to bowfin). 

Caught two on Rage Tail Space Monkeys in my usual fashion. 

5 fish in 6 hours.  All in all, a rather poor day. 

I'm sure you guys on southern lakes that experience the HUGE growth of hydrilla, milfoil, and spyrogira each summer understand my frustration. 

[Micro]

I move out to where it is just below the surface and fish a swimbait over the grass. It's what I do if the conditions are right June through October. Most fun I have fishing all year. If you ever figure the bite out you will start to hate the cooler months of the year and wish the grass was still there.

I don't fish a lot of swimbaits.  I have some small hard swim baits, though.  What specifically are you using? 

[ww2farmer]

If I had to pick 1 favorite...............well I couldn't, but I can pick 3. A T-rigged beaver , a whacky rigged senko, and a frog.

[Randall]

I move out to where it is just below the surface and fish a swimbait over the grass. It's what I do if the conditions are right June through October. Most fun I have fishing all year. If you ever figure the bite out you will start to hate the cooler months of the year and wish the grass was still there.

I don't fish a lot of swimbaits. I have some small hard swim baits, though. What specifically are you using?

I mostly use smaller sebile magic swimmers 95 and 82 and my own High Power Herring. The 3:16 freestyle baits are used by a lot of people in the same situation as well. The reason for the bait choices is that these baits burn as fast as you can reel very well on or near the surface without rolling over or blowing out of the water and can also be slowed down or twitched over productive areas still staying out of the grass below. This makes it possible to cover a ton of water to find active fish in miles of grass. Often after you find an area holding active fish by burning the swimbaits you can slow the baits down to a crawl for a few casts or change to other slower moving baits (tubes, worms and senkos for me) to catch more fish. If the grass is to close to the surface for treble hooked swimbaits I switch over to a Lake Fork Tackle swimbait rigged weedless. Just cover water and look for thinner growing grass or grass with holes that the fish can hold in and get your baits over as many of those spots as possible.

[Catt]

Very interesting Mr. Randall...very interesting indeed 

[Micro]

Okay, thanks.  I have a bunch of the Sebile Magic Swimmers in 95 and 125 size.  Mostly use them in the spring and fall but I'll give them a whirl in the areas you said and see what happens.  I like the Sebiles very much; they've been very productive for me. 

[Big-O]

Micro, the obvious top water frogs Toads etc. or punching thru with jigs and pegged flippers is a good choice but you might try slow swimming the Eeliminator over the top of it and pausing it over the holes. I'm also fan of soft plastics on 1/16 to 1/4 oz weighted hooks to slowly fish over the top of it. With this prerentation, you fish the top of the grass identical to fishing a shallow flat with a Trig....slow lift, ease it forward slightly and let fall, feel and repeat. Where there are holes in the grass, the bait will automatically settle down into it. This is a slow yet very effective technique for catching alot of fish and some monsters too but the key is 1st finding the fish....

I concentrate on any bottom or depth changes like drop offs, points, submerged brush or timber, rocks, thck to thin grass lines, or matted grass edges closest to deeper water. One or more of these factors will be the key to finding the fish but once you do, this technique will amaze you with it's results.

Here's a link...and a couple of photo's using the Annie on weighted hooks and fished like this and all Soft plastics can be effective to some degree. The Space Monkey is terrific. If you read the last few paragraphs you'll notice where I gave him an Anaconda to try out the night before. I also gave him the weighted hook as well. He did OK

http://blog.newsok.com/outdoors/2009/04/28/choke-canyon-texas-new-best-bass-lake/

Big O

www.ragetail.com

[1inStripes]

[backwater4]

1/2oz. tungsten bullet weight, heavy wire offset worm hook, a toothpick, glass rattle and brush hog. Pitch or flip to any holes, let the bait hit the bottom, lift a few inches and shake it. Reel in and repeat as necessary. If all else fails read the post above mine.

[burce]

I actually fish in the same type of area. I caught a couple of bass last summer on some watermellon red brush hogs, but haven't caught anything since, and the milfoil is really thick right now.

I tried throwing some spro fogs out, but theyre light and I can't really hit the area I want. I feel like when I use a bullet weight for a trigged senko or brush hog I still collect milfoil and it's pretty annoying

Not sure how to handle this best. Never tried jigs, maybe I should (never have used them in general)

I REALLY feel like this is a hot spot for bass though...theres a lot of high grass in a big area, then it stops and theres a small opening with nothing (that I can't reach with a weightless worm or frog), then the heavy milfoil up until where I am standing about 10ft off shore. I really want to conquer this spot and it's really frustrating because I don't know what to do

[Wayne P.]

Any Tx rigged creature bait.

[bigtimfish]

1 oz tungsten weight pegged with bobber stop, gambler KO hangover skirt (blk/blue), gambler flippin hook, Any small plastic. Color does not have to match the skirt. I love the GYCB kreature with the arms pinched off. Also the BPS flippin craws.

[jerkw8nonajerk01]

hey...this is a great topic guys...I am landlocked and my little ponds become FULL of weeds..great info.. I usually stick to a frog but will try some of the presentations mentioned here...i really like the sound of the GYCB creature rigged backwards...this sounds deadly....what about getting wacky rigs through it??

[GSU_LipRipper]

My favourite way to fish thick weeds like that is using a Paycheck baits punch skirt! they came from California made to punch through those thick matts on the cali delta! i love these skirts to they come in some awesome colors check it out man!

http://www.paycheckbaits.com/

[florida strain]

For the stuff just around the matts ,I use a floating jerkbait ...it ticks the top off the hydrilla just subsurface. kinda rips it a tad.. i saw kvd do this .so i thought i would give it a try and learn how to do it. caught some nice fish from doing it although it is a lot of work.