Thick Grass Bottom Ponds

[Bank_Guy_98]

Alright, so i got these ponds around my house that have some sort of thick grass covering the entire bottom. The max depth is 6-13ft deep and i don't know how to fish bottom successfully. The grass covers the bottom 2 ft or more. Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.

[the reel ess]

I've been using a T-rigged Berkley Chigger Craw with a 3/16 oz tungsten weight with some success in a place like that. I would go with 1/8 oz if I was using spinning gear. You can use a weightless fluke or Trick Worm. You could also use a mojo rigged Trick or finesse worm. 

 

My friend goes kayak fishing with me. I take 4 or 5 rods rigged with my best guesses of what might work, but all he ever uses is one rod with a weightless bubble gum colored Trick Worm. He just throws it out on his old, mismatched spinning combo (I gave him a rod) and reels it in very slowly. And catches fish!

[*Hank]

Weightless senkos t-rigged or wacky rigged.

[Dave Jakes]

I'd give a mojo rig some serious consideration, love the way you can just slowly swim a little finesse worm over the top of grass. Another thing I'd try is a big 10 inch power worm or something on a real light weight (1/8 oz max). Bulky and light enough that you can bounce it along the top.

[RoLo]

In many cases, our 'delivery technique' is just as important as our lure choice.
For low-growing plant life such as knotweed, sandgrass and spirogyra (snotgrass)
a "Crank-&-Glide" retrieve (any lure) works very close to cover but without getting slimed.

 

Roger

[ClackerBuzz]

Weightless senkos t-rigged or wacky rigged.

x2 senko T rigged. put a glass bead on the line and it slides thru weeds like butter.

 

don't forget to add some jerkbait/fluke rip now and then.  i can't count how many times i've got bored slow dragging a senko only to give it a fluke rip and instantly got bit

[Bluebasser86]

Is this like a solid blanket of grass or does it have holes/pockets in it? Is there space to fish above it? The way I'm envisioning it there's quite a bit of space above it where I'd be running a spinnerbait, bladed jig, trap, squarebill, or topwater. 

[Bank_Guy_98]

As far as i can tell from the bank it is just a solid blanket of grass with no gaps, but yes there is allot of room above it. i just wanted to practice fishing bottom and see if i could catch a couple like that.

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

 

Ponds and lakes like this are producers of very high quality fish.  They're called eutrophic and are often found around farming communities.

 

As fertilizer washes in from the fields, plants grow.

 

The lake I fished as a boy was mesotrophic at the time.  In other words, it had a respectable amount of vegetation, but nothing like it is now.

 

After not fishing for a while, I have had to adapt these few years I've been back.  Most of my old lures just can't work in the new fertile environment. 

 

Soft plastics, as was mentioned, are awesome.  Bass are sight feeders but they need to get the lures in sight first.  That means noise.  When you Texas rig, slip a glass bead on ahead of the bullet sinker.  This makes the lure click, sounding like a crawdad.

 

Weedless jigs are your friend.  I'm finding the more rattles, the better.  I buy rattles by the bunch off eBay.  Soft craw trailers with claw action give the bass something to feel on their lines.

 

Time to eat; I'll be back.  These are my favorite environments to fish, and I'm sure I'll come up with a lot more before the thread is played out.

 

Regards,

 

Josh

[Josh Smith]

Here are the lures I've had the most luck with this year:

 

 

This is, by far, number one.

 

 

This River 2 Sea Bully Wa 65 replaces a similar Live Target that I lost.  Lots of bass hit this; only the large ones eat it.

 

 

This River 2 Sea Bully Wa 55 is slightly smaller than the one above.  With the stinger hook, I can hook up when the smaller ones ( < 14" or so) hit.  It's effective but I've not used it much after modifying it to see what all was trying to eat frogs in this lake.

 

 

Texas-rigged Jelly Worm, with or without glass bead in front of the sinker.  It just works; not much else to say.

 

 

The Wacky Rig gets thrown after a missed hookup with the frog, and sometimes by itself, depending.  I throw this on an ultralight so this 1/4oz Yum Dinger is about the largest weightless worm I throw.  Very effective for staying in one spot for a while.

 

I tend to make a lot of noise with these lures.  I want the bass to go investigate the noise so it can at least have a chance to see it.  This type of fishing is more like hunting, I think, or it might compare to hunting in dense woods vs hunting in a field or on a plain.  You have to call in the bass to have a shot at 'em.

 

Regards,

 

Josh

[Jaw1]

I use a trig weightless finesse worm or trig a swimming super fluke Jr with or without weight. I use a heavier hook when I fish it weightless to act as a keel to help the bait swim upright. I fish a pond like you described sometimes and the small swimming fluke is very productive.

[Montanaro]

I've fished a pond like this. It does in fact have holes and edges here and there. Lots of bluegill and fry all over. Still trying to nail down the productive areas but soft jerkbaits and trig soft swimbaits seem to be productive.

[hatrix]

A mojo rig will work for sure. Really all you need is a couple split shots to make a mojo rig. There is no need for their custom weight. Really it's a split shot right pretty much that you fish like a Carolina rig. There is quite a lot of baits you could use I am more then sure. If it weighs more then 3/8 you probably want braid to rip it out of the grass when it feel bogged down. For lighter stuff I use copoly / mono and a spinning rod for the lighter line. Just pop it a bit and you can feel it stretching and it will bounce back and never get buried in the grass cause of it. I literally was just doing this today on a 1/8 oz ned rig head I customized to its not a straight open hook in a place chocked out with grass I was using 6# line It just take practice to get a feel for it.