Fishing Options In Thick Weeds

[jason41987]

this lake ive been fishing in is partially drained due to dam work being done on the river that feeds it.. because of this, most the vegetation that grows on the bottom is exposed to the surface which means thick weeds from top to bottom... i mostly just have luck with texas rigged worms but im looking for other solutions to try, perhaps top water, but im willing to try anything that isnt going to snag on these weeds.. so im looking for lure options that can be fished IN thick weeds successfully.. besides the worms i already use

 

on another note, im replacing all the treble hooks on my lures with weedless single hooks so that HOPEFULLY i can actually use my spoons, because once a small weed gets hooked on the spoon it wont spin properly and becomes useless, which is almost every single time i cast... also, id like to target fish like walleye, lake trout, and pike as well as bass, so a good solution for each of these species would be appreciated

[JeziHogg]

Swim Jigs, Punching Jigs, Flipping Jigs

[bigbill]

Weedless lures.

Mepps Timber Doodle

Don't ask me why it works but I out fished a guy with live minnows with it. I just dropped it in the weed pockets. I use the silver blade with the white split double trailer it comes with. Size "0". I have them in all colors too.

Mister Twister Top Prop

This is awesome because it's a topwater bait. A slow reel, or a rip n pause, or 3 rips and a pause. Even just a long pause on the cast will make them strike.

Mister Twister Grub

On a weighted hook dropped into the weeds. For me it's the colors milktruese, chartruese, yellow or black. The single tail or double tails work awesome.

Scrum frogs topwater presentation.

Jig N Pig with a heavier weight to crash threw the weeds to get it to the bottom.

Carolina Rig, with a heavier weight with a short leader. (12" - 15")

[iabass8]

some sort of hollow body frog would be a good solution.

[OkeechobeeAngler]

Johnson gold or silver spoon with a grub for a trailer. 

[jason41987]

what would you suggest for pike or walleye? these look like great solutions for bass.. but i think what i need to do is learn more about jigs and soft baits as they seem most useful, least expensive, most versatile, and can target a variety of species

 

i should note im relatively new to lure fishing.. currently i have a pack of plastic worms, worm hooks that i use with a bullet sinker in a texas rig style, a five of diamonds spoon and a red and white spoon.. these are basically the only lures i have experience with at this point so im probably missing a lot of basic lures that should be in every tackle box, and i think im really missing out if i dont learn more about jigs and grubs, hollow body frogs, etc

[jason41987]

next time i go, ill take a photo of where i fish, see what you guys think

[BuckMaxx]

frog frog frog

[jason41987]

thats what im thinking i might try next... soft frogs in a weedless or texas style rig and also try weedless jig heads and a soft body grub or baitfish trailer

[bigbill]

I use the silver blade with the split double tail grub in white timber doodle but the gold color blade with the chartreuse split double tail grub should work good for pickerel, pike and smallest. They love the chartreuse color more. I haven't tested the the different colors of the timber doodle yet. I'll I know is when I drop it into the weeds I come up with fish.

I just purchased an assortment of the bogbait frogs from the polywogs to the biggest frog they offer. I went whole hog and bought the frog scent too. My only problem was finding hooks for the bigger frogs. I found them on eBay. I looked at bps and cabelas but seem nothing bigger than 5/0. I ordered the 6/0 & 7/0 hooks besides more open 5/0 hooks too. These frogs are available in sinking or floating too.

To me these frogs look awesome it's figuring out the correct presentation.

Even the smaller frogs that I have other than bogbait frogs look good too. We were dropping live frogs in a bass pond and they would freeze and sink slowly they the bass came

from the shadows and ate it. We did this about ten times or so just watching the bass react. Thinking about this slow presentation.

[jason41987]

with all of these weeds, and scum on the surface which appear to be seeds from the weeds, should i be going for lighter or darker colors, more vibrant, or more natural?

[J Francho]

Heddon Moss Boss:

 

http://www.lurenet.com/brands/heddon-lures/heddon-moss-boss

[jason41987]

so, francho, your suggestion it seems is to replace my spoons with weedless spoons, or atleast add some to my tackle box.. i might just do that, for now, im going to add weedless single hooks to my spoons.. but might start collecting more of the weedless varieties too.. also, i notice a lot of fishermen put emphasis on jig head lures, adding trailers, skirts, spinners, and really customizing their jigs much in a way a fly fisherman would tie his own flies.. and it seems theres a type of jig for any fish.. im going to focus a lot of efforts here in experimenting with targeting certain species with certain jigs.. weedless jigs of course

[senile1]

Heddon Moss Boss:

 

http://www.lurenet.com/brands/heddon-lures/heddon-moss-boss

 

Ah . . . . a blast from the past.  I had forgotten about the Moss Boss.  I had a few in the 70s and 80s but have none now.  Thanks for the reminder.

[jason41987]

could someone post some photos of some common, useful weedless walleye jig setups?.. id like to get an idea of what sort of jigs i should look into for walleye, also, keep in mind i fish from shore, so no vertical jigging

[jason41987]

i got a few things when i went to the tackle shop.. i got one weedless spoon to try out, i got a weedless weighted jig head, a grub, went with brighter colors, i bought a couple non-weedless jig heads labeled for use with walleyes to use with the grubs as well, and i bought a hollow body frog with the two hooks along the side of the body.. supposed to be weedless too, but the hooks should not only be beside the frog, but out of the water and above the weeds... as for my normal spoons i took the trebles off and put singles on (couldnt find weedless singles though, but anything is better than trebles in weeds)... also, one of the trebles was bent beyond repair anyway because of a really bad snag i got with it.. i thought i snagged a log, but nope, about 15lb cluser of seaweed

 

question... should i put off-set hooks on my spoons and perhaps add a texas-rigged grub to them?... would this work or wood it mess up the action of the spoon?

[MarkH024]

Ah . . . . a blast from the past. I had forgotten about the Moss Boss. I had a few in the 70s and 80s but have none now. Thanks for the reminder.

I have one in my box. Its been a long time since I've thrown it. I just can't put a frog down it seems. As for the topic, punch rigs, frogs, and hollow belly swimbaits would be my top 3 choices.

[jason41987]

i tried out three lures today.. a weedless spoon, was in fact weedless, never got hung up or snagged.. but i didnt catch anything with it.. also used a hollow body frog, no snags, got a bite but wasnt able to set the hook, i need to look into the proper technique in using these.. and lastly, the weedless jig head which worked very well, but again, no bites..

 

i did replace all my treble hooks on my normal spoons with single hooks and that alone made a huge difference in snagging weeds and i got three fish today with that.. all 26"+ northern pikes.. one i hooked by the skin, pealed some of the skin back.. another got away as he took the lure right in front of me, i watched him do it and he bit onto it from the front of the spoon so the hook, even if it was a treble never would have went into the mouth.. and the third was a normal hook set, landed him, unfortunately the single hook went deep in the back of the mouth.. ended up tearing the artery in its neck.. it bled out and died.. but i kept it and had lunch

[cdaggett]

Try out the Heddon Moss Boss in a dark color

[jason41987]

im pretty sure the walleyes have been biting some of the texas rigged worms i had on a pole for catching bass.. ive been losing them as theyve been getting bitten clean off.. any way to tie a steel leader to a texas rigged worm and a sliding bullet sinker?

[zwhiten12]

Hollow body frogs and jigs all day!