Tulle Stalks

[OroBass]

Please tell me how you fish these weeds specifically. Include tackle used and methods of catching. Do you fish the edges or cast into the stalks etc. Thanks

[CJV]

Get you a heavy powered rod, 60lb braid, good flipping hook and either a missle baits d bomb or RI sweet beaver and go to work flipping every tulle

[WRB]

Flipping & pitching was called tullie dipping before Dee Thomas brought the presentation to general bass fishing by winning tournaments. You can fish the edges and pockets with a lot of different lures, plastic worms, creature, Senko's, frogs/toads, birds, etc. fishing through tullie mats requires punch rigs and jigs. The outside edges are easier to fish with a boat, difficult from the bank.

Look for pockets with rip rap rocky areas that floating debris has gathered to form lose mats, easier to get through and the bass tend to be active in those areas. If you are fishing the delta, tide becomes critical.

Take a look at Andy "Cooch" Cuccia's site or give Cooch a call, he is very helpful.

Tom

[OroBass]

What I'm wondering is can the bass get way back in the stalks of the tulles? I catch alot of smaller fish around the outside of the clumps. Do any of you use heavy braid to cast deep into the clump? I'm positive fish can hide in there but getting to them is hard.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

To answer that easily, yes bass can and do get back there. Yes heavy braid is a must.

[RoLo]

What I'm wondering is can the bass get way back in the stalks of the tulles? I catch alot of smaller fish around the outside of the clumps. Do any of you use heavy braid to cast deep into the clump? I'm positive fish can hide in there but getting to them is hard.

 

Yes, bass can get way back into the bulrushes, but anglers cannot.

I mostly work the perimeter of buggy-whip fields and in the pockets and alleys.

Working the holes is where you'll get into trouble, because snagging a bulrush cane

is no better than hooking a stump. Even with 50-lb braid, you'll have to move in to fetch your lure.

 

Bulrushes normally don't grow well in water deeper than 4 feet,

but hold up well during unusually high water levels. In Lake Hatchineha, the deepest bulrush bed

sat in 5-feet of water. The level remained high and the following year the canes eventually suffocated

so we had to move our game inshore to the 4-ft depth level (In Florida, a difference of 1-ft can mean 100 yd)

 

Roger

[WRB]

I agree Roger, tules or bulrush are extremely tough, if you hook a stock it's very difficult to pull it lose.

In the San Joaquin valley, the delta area tules grow in water as deep as 8 feet, usually less. The delta can have about a 3 foot depth fluctuation in tidal change, so the tules adapt.

Bird lures that mimic black birds, swallows and baby ducklings all work. Rat, mice and frog lures work good.

Any of the flipping or punch rigs work, black/red crank baits can be good worked along the edges. The big 7" Senko's are popular in and around tules.

Tom

[starcraft1]

Your talking about the after-bay reeds. Best bet is to flip or pitch low to the water. Bust through them about 4" to 6" above the water. If you try to pitch over the top of them at this time of yr. they'll grab your line. I've been pitching into them 5 to 6 ft. with no problem. I plan on going out either Thrusday or Friday, so e-mail me or P.M. me. Bring gas $$$!

What to bring; 1 broom stick with 30 lb. braid at least set up for flippin', 1 spinner bait rod, 1 senko rod, 1 swim bait rod, 1 frog rod. Also bring your own food & drink.

[NathanW]

You should watch Major League Fishing episodes at lake Istokopoga, Fl. 2013 Challange cup. It will give you an idea of how its done. Some of these fish are caught pretty far back. Looks like a lot of fun.

[Raul]

There´s no point in me saying: "yeah go ahead and cast your bait as fasr as you can into the bullrushes/ tules", it doesn´t work that way, I´m quite used to fish that particular kind of cover because many of the irrigation ponds I fish have it, actually my first 10 lber came from one of those ponds. You need to study how the plants are distributed, because the density of the plants is determined by the kind of bottom composition some parts can be fishable and others won´t, but one part is always fishable, the edges. Look closely and you´ll see that there´s indentations, points, scattering, reduced density an those parts can be attacked directly by flipping or pitching to them or the edge attacked by fishing parallel and very close to it with spinnerbaits and super shallow and shallow running cranks, jerkbaits and lipless cranks, you don´t need more tan that because the plants seldomly grow below 5 ft deep.

 

As for line, you don´t need heavy braid, it´s not a must, it´s optional, but you do need heavier than regular line, you can use 50-60 lb braid or 15-25 lb test monofilament ( FC is monofilament btw ) either FC, Copoly or Nylon.

[RoLo]

As WRB pointed out, birds make viable targets for bass in bulrush fields.

Wherever bulrushes are available, redwings blackbirds prefer them over other emergent plants,

where they weave their nests right into the stalks. Particularly in the more northerly states,

I've noticed that the first brood of redwing blackbirds tends to coincide with bedding largemouth bass.

On more than one occasion I've stumbled onto the nest of a redwing blackbird while bass fishing

deep in the bulrushes. They lay beautiful turquoise eggs with brown scrawlings.

(Unfortunately, nesting redwings head the list of airboat casualties).

 

 

 

You should watch Major League Fishing episodes at lake Istokopoga, Fl. 2013 Challange cup. It will give you an idea of how its done. Some of these fish are caught pretty far back. Looks like a lot of fun.

 

In the Major League Tournament on Istokpoga, a lot of that heavy cover was cattails and maidencane.
In dense stands of bulrushes you've got to reign in your range and play closer to the vest.
During that tourney, you'll recall that Chris Lane busted deeper into the bulrushes than anyone else, but it didn't pay off.
Getting your lure 'way back' into a bulrush stand is real easy, but getting it back to the boat may not be so easy.

 

Roger

[WRB]

As far as I can determine the northern tule isn't a bulrush, it's closely related and often mixed in with cat tails in the northern CA where the OP fishes. Tules are often over 7' tall and very dense, difficult to penetrate with a boat very far.

Black birds will attack you if you get close to the nest site, no problem knowing they there!

Tom

[OroBass]

Thanks WRB. You are spot on! They are tall and in some spots are in 6 plus fow.

[RoLo]

As far as I can determine the northern tule isn't a bulrush, it's closely related and often mixed in with cat tails in the northern CA where the OP fishes. Tules are often over 7' tall and very dense, difficult to penetrate with a boat very far.

Black birds will attack you if you get close to the nest site, no problem knowing they there!

Tom

 

This is the reason scientists only use scientific names.

'Bulrushes' is the colloquial name, and two of the most common varieties are hardstem bulrushes and softstem bulrushes.

'Tules' is a regional moniker and 'Buggy whips' of course is slang.

They all answer to 'Schoenoplectus acutus', the botanical name.

 

Roger

[Catt]

Slang, regional moniker, or colloquialism causes more confusion that any thing!

 

Any one who is fishing any of these types of vegetation will find the "Bubba" techniques highly effective, but as usual Ole Catt has another technique for y'all to ponder.

 

I've down sized my line from 65# braid to 15# Big Game, down size my weights from 1-1 1/2 oz to none or 1/8 oz at the heaviest. Top 3 lures have been Bass Assassin's 7.5" Tapout Worm in Black Blue Tail, Zoom's Salty Super Fluke in Watermelon Slice, & Rage Tail's Rage Bug in Watermelon Neon. I fish the exact same way I would with the "Bubba" techniques but instead of horsing them I go to them. I'm fishing out of a 16' mod-vee jon boat with an 80# trolling motor so going to them is easy. But keep in mind even with braid ya anit gonna fish that far back, so neither do I.

[NathanW]

"In the Major League Tournament on Istokpoga, a lot of that heavy cover was cattails and maidencane.
In dense stands of bulrushes you've got to reign in your range and play closer to the vest.
During that tourney, you'll recall that Chris Lane busted deeper into the bulrushes than anyone else, but it didn't pay off.
Getting your lure 'way back' into a bulrush stand is real easy, but getting it back to the boat may not be so easy.

 

Roger"

 

 

That was Bobby Lane who was fishing the Hyacinth mats mostly... But yeah he was pretty deep in the stuff...

 

I was referring to when, I believe it was Denny,Talk, and Alton had their boat on the outside edge and were flipping way back into the cattails and pulling out fish. I found it pretty impressive and Recall that Denny was getting fish from pretty deep inside.

[OroBass]

I got the idea on u tube. If you search bass fishing in reeds you will see the video. It shows just enough without really explaining anything.

[RoLo]

Slang, regional moniker, or colloquialism causes more confusion that any thing!

 

Any one who is fishing any of these types of vegetation will find the "Bubba" techniques highly effective, but as usual Ole Catt has another technique for y'all to ponder.

 

I've down sized my line from 65# braid to 15# Big Game, down size my weights from 1-1 1/2 oz to none or 1/8 oz at the heaviest. Top 3 lures have been Bass Assassin's 7.5" Tapout Worm in Black Blue Tail, Zoom's Salty Super Fluke in Watermelon Slice, & Rage Tail's Rage Bug in Watermelon Neon. I fish the exact same way I would with the "Bubba" techniques but instead of horsing them I go to them. I'm fishing out of a 16' mod-vee jon boat with an 80# trolling motor so going to them is easy. But keep in mind even with braid ya anit gonna fish that far back, so neither do I.

 

I agree, the 'lightweight' approach can be very effective in bulrushes.

A heavy 1.5 oz weight is packing a lot of energy in flight, so it’s not unusual to skewer a bulrush cane on the landing,

even before you get a chance to move the lure. In sharp contrast, a lightweight lure is more easily deflected by the stalks

and is less likely to skewer a stalk beyond the barb.

 

Ironically, the last time we fished the Big-I, my best producer was an "unweighted" bubblegum fluke.

This requires more patience, because the fluke sinks slowly and sometimes it never gets down into the strike zone.

But that's a small price to pay for having the ability to probe farther back, while cutting the number of hang-ups in half. 

 

Roger

[WRB]

The name tule comes from the tule lake area in Oregon the same area Tule Elk are from.

You are right Roger, same family.

Tom

[OroBass]

Yep I just did a bunch of homework on Rogers In put. Thanks Roger it's funny how studying bass habitat can really help your game. I have found that EVERY time I locate pennywort near tule clumps I am on fish. Locating fish is usually not a problem. I want more ten pound plus fish.

[Danny Hollenbeck]

On July 23, 2014 at 6:36 AM, WRB said:

Flipping & pitching was called tullie dipping before Dee Thomas brought the presentation to general bass fishing by winning tournaments. You can fish the edges and pockets with a lot of different lures, plastic worms, creature, Senko's, frogs/toads, birds, etc. fishing through tullie mats requires punch rigs and jigs. The outside edges are easier to fish with a boat, difficult from the bank.

Look for pockets with rip rap rocky areas that floating debris has gathered to form lose mats, easier to get through and the bass tend to be active in those areas. If you are fishing the delta, tide becomes critical.

Take a look at Andy "Cooch" Cuccia's site or give Cooch a call, he is very helpful.

Tom

Hey Tom

Nice meeting you. When you are tullie dipping, do you look for high tide? What other elements do you consider when you flipping and pitching tullie? What area do you look for? I find that a straight tullie bank is not productive. What is your 

You wrote: fishing through tullie mats requires punch rigs. 

When you say tullie mats are you referring to hydrilla mat with tullie stalks? Or do you use a punch rig on sparse tullies too? I am always concern about the heavy weight sinking too fast when there is no matted cover. I do use punch rig on matted cover. Any lesson on punching?

[WRB]

Tulies by themselves aren't interesting, stalks that can grow densely to depths of 8' or more. Look at tulies for places that may have areas that provide a food source like bird nests, rocks or logs that frogs, crawdads, baitfish can hide around, areas with isolated pockets of open water inside the tullie wall. Where tulies end at rocky areas like rip rap, or a deeper channel where a culvert empties, any float sum, old docks or sunken boats etc, weed mats whatever that break up the tule wall are good spots.

Use whatever works in the cover and don't over look the obvious; black plastic worms still catch bass in dark water areas.

Punch rigs, look for small weak seams usually near the inside or back edges in bright sun light. Instead of bombing the weight try pitching and shaking the weight through the holes, this way you are in control all the time.

Tom

 

[Danny Hollenbeck]

12 hours ago, WRB said:

Tulies by themselves aren't interesting, stalks that can grow densely to depths of 8' or more. Look at tulies for places that may have areas that provide a food source like bird nests, rocks or logs that frogs, crawdads, baitfish can hide around, areas with isolated pockets of open water inside the tullie wall. Where tulies end at rocky areas like rip rap, or a deeper channel where a culvert empties, any float sum, old docks or sunken boats etc, weed mats whatever that break up the tule wall are good spots.

Use whatever works in the cover and don't over look the obvious; black plastic worms still catch bass in dark water areas.

Punch rigs, look for small weak seams usually near the inside or back edges in bright sun light. Instead of bombing the weight try pitching and shaking the weight through the holes, this way you are in control all the time.

Tom

 

What weight do you use when flipping snd pitching tulies? Do you ever need 1 oz tungsten for tulies? A 3/8 jig should do rigjt?

[WRB]

I use mostly 1/2, 5/8 and 3/4 oz Ohdam EyeMax #2 w/ black-red trailer and #10 w/black-blue trailer or Wadda jigs on the CA delta. These  are both very good compact flipping jigs.

Prefer lightest weight that gets through the cover or whatever works and gets bit, 

Tom

[Catt]

First consideration is are you fishing Tules that line a shoreline or scattered areas/clumps of Tules.

Each is approached differently!

Second consideration is how thick (close together) are Tules.

Tules growing close together is nearly impossible to penetrate leaving no other option but to flip & pitch the outer edge.

Look for places where the Tules form points, pockets, lanes, & irregular features.

Lures can vary from t-rigs weighted or unweighed, jigs, dropshots, spinnerbaits, shallow cranks, & top waters.