Who knows their weeds?

[JRammit]

So to me, weeds have always been weeds... Some are green, some arent.. Some have leaves, some dont.... Sometimes you catch fish in em, sometimes you just reel in weeds

But i always hear guys saying words like "milfoil", "hydrilla", "bullrush", ect...

I read around on some pond maintenance sites.. Found pictures and basic descriptions of these and other vegitation.... I figure learning to identify these could make me a better fisherman 

Who out there knows their weeds?... Which types do you target and why?... And is there anything else the average fisherman should know about weeds?

[Ohio Yakker]

I don't know specifics about what each type of weed is called, but I have an understanding of the weeds of the lakes I fish as to what is typically the most productive. One strategy I use when fishing weeds/grass is that I target areas where 2 different types of vegetation meet, for example where lilly pads meet with submerged grass. I also try to target holes and pockets in weeds as well as fishing the edge of the weed bed. The weeds act as cover for the bass and allows them to ambush prey that is on the edge or in the pocket.

[RichF]

Eurasian milfoil is my favorite.  Bass love it.  But 99% of the time it has to be green and healthy with pockets in the beds.  I agree with Yakker too.  I like to look for areas where two or more different kinds of weeds mix.  I also really like curly leaf pond weed early in the season.  It tends to liven up a little earlier than the milfoil in most of the lakes I fish.

[JRammit]

Ill have to pay more attention next time im out on my spot, look for the areas y'all mentioned

After doing a little research, i believe this lake is filled with that "skunkweed" (chara)... I dont see it emerging, but in certain areas it gets all wrapped around my anchor, kinda resembles milfoil but smells somthin horrible!...... Would you stay away from that stuff?

[avidone1]

Hydrilla is pretty common down here and is a classic bass habitat.

I can also spot coon tail pretty easy.    That's about it I'm afraid

[Catt]

Grass is the reason I keep a Jig-n-Craw & Texas Rig on the deck of my boat 24/7/365!

 

During the early 70s on Toledo Bend the Hydrilla started really getting thick and numerous anglers (me included) were basically fishing the matted grass with weightless Texas Rigs & Johnson Weed less spoons, there wasn't many other baits that would work in this thick stuff. At the time I belonged to the Hemphill Bass Club out of the Harbor Light Marina and one of our members started wining back to back tournaments, not just ours but every ones. He was killing us with 15 fish stringers averaging 3 1/2 to 4 lbs. a fish. No one could figure out how he was doing it, we had all seen him on the main lake flats fishing the grass flats like us or so we thought. Finally at a club meeting he revealed what he was doing. Being a diver he had went out to the grass flats & dove under to see what was there, what he found was tunnels, caverns, & caves under the surface matted grass. In of these areas he could see crawfish clinging to the grass stems, they were also filled with schools of bass, mostly large bass. The next question was what bait could get to the bass, the answer was provided by Lonnie Stanley with a ¾ oz. Jig! Who is this angler that jigged his was too many a tournament win as well to the top of B.A.S.S.  Texas Bass Fishing Legend Tommy Martin! 

Tommy's approach to this technique is different from what you've seen, read, or heard. With most techniques you are actually fishing the densest areas of the matted Hydrilla. The focus of Tommy's technique is the outer 15 to 25 yards of the mat; in this area the grass is a little sparser, his simply pitches or flips the jigs to a near vertical presentation. His main objective is to keep the jig in contact with the bottom at all times, something most anglers fishing grass fail to do. When the jig stops falling many anglers believe they have reached bottom, but from an underwater view with scuba gear the jig has only settled on the thick base stems of the Hydrilla. After making a pitch Tommy will strip about 3 or 4 arms lengths of line letting the jig fall near straight down. Then he will shake the jig to make sure it has not stop on the grass stems. With the jig now resting on the bottom, pause several seconds, the shake the jig once or twice with pauses between each. If no strike is detected simply reel up & pitch again moving locations about 20 ft from the previous. Once you get bite quickly kick or toss a buoy marker over board, fish in grass flats tend to school up so when you catch one there is usually more. Circle the buoy in increasing diameters & depths working the jig slowly (I once caught nine 6 lb + bass in an area the size of your living room). You may work 70 yards or 700 yards to locate the fish but when you do hang on! 

Thirty years later Tommy is still living in Hemphill Texas, still guiding on Toledo Bend, & still fishing the B.A.S.S. tour. The deep grass technique is still catching huge stringers of quality bass with most Toledo tournament wins averaging 5 lbs. So if you've got the patience to work a jig for sometimes hours with out a bump or if you aint afraid of hanging several hawgs back to back give deep grass jigging a try.

[Catt]

 

Living in central Florida, I'm no stranger to fishing through dense hydrilla.

I found the previous posts to be very interesting and very informative.

Remarkably, I do some of the things mentioned in nearly every post,

yet, I don't fish exactly the same as any one post.

> Replace the jig with a 1/4 to 1 oz bullet sinker (as needed), then Texas-rig a plastic crayfish (e.g. zoom big critter craw)

(This offers a weed-piercing, spire-pointed lead-head, while eliminating the drag produced by the fiberguard and skirt)

> Peg the sinker, so it doesn't ride down the line and wrap-up in the weeds.

> Keep the casts short

(Long casts only increase the line that needs to be submerged and reduce your feel of the lure)

> Target the densest weed-beds in the area. Work along the dense edge, outward to about

the midway point of density, whatever distance that might involve.

> Allow the lure to fall as it may while feeling for a pickup. If no strike is felt, lift the lure

about a foot or two, allowing it to fall on a 'different path' through the weeds (this is important).

> Repeat the 1 to 2-foot lifts (slow yo-yo), like slicing bread, until the lure reaches the bottom.

> Once on bottom, twitch the lure a couple of times, wait a moment, then rip it back for the next cast. 

RoLo - Roger

[JRammit]

Good stuff Catt!... The tips and the story!

What im dealing with (i think) is skunkweed  matting on bottom and random patches of (what i think is) American pond weed (leafy)

Seems i catch more from bare spots, away from  these weeds, or in between patches... Wondering if there are "bad weeds" bass dont like??

[Turkey sandwich]

@Catt

Really cool detail about feeding the extra line in the heavy vegetables, sounds similar to feeding slack line to get depth in current.  Is there a noticeable difference in feel once you finally punch through the bases/stems? Am I correct in assuming you're also usually fishing rattles on those jigs since the vegetation is so dense? Do you ever C-rig a floating worm to fish the tops of the weed beds as an alternative to the bottom bouncing baits?  

[BassThumb]

There's an nvasive species of weed found in many Minnesota lakes and rivers called curly leaf pondweed. It's lifespan begins very early in the season, often growing into fairly think clumps under the ice in February and early March, which attract large numbers of fish during late ice.

By the time May and June come around and the water temps are in the 70's, the curly leaf is well into the process of dying and decaying heavily, thereby depleting the water of it's oxygen, sometimes leading to fish-kills. It's decay also releases a ton of dissolved nutrients back into the lake, fueling the mid-summer algae blooms that turn many lakes pea soup green.

Curly leaf pondweed, the oxygen-depleting scourge of Minnesota lakes, is the only weed I've ever seen that actually repels fish in the summer instead of attracting them.

 

[JRammit]

3 hours ago, BassThumb said:

There's an nvasive species of weed found in many Minnesota lakes and rivers called curly leaf pondweed. It's lifespan begins very early in the season, often growing into fairly think clumps under the ice in February and early March, which attract large numbers of fish during late ice.

By the time May and June come around and the water temps are in the 70's, the curly leaf is well into the process of dying and decaying heavily, thereby depleting the water of it's oxygen, sometimes leading to fish-kills. It's decay also releases a ton of dissolved nutrients back into the lake, fueling the mid-summer algae blooms that turn many lakes pea soup green.

Curly leaf pondweed, the oxygen-depleting scourge of Minnesota lakes, is the only weed I've ever seen that actually repels fish in the summer instead of attracting them.

 

Good answer there!

So i guess the same could be said for any dead weed?..... If the weeds i pull off bottom are dead/decaying, theyre pulling oxygen (bad)... If theyre alive and well, theyre adding oxygen (good)?

[Catt]

4 hours ago, Turkey sandwich said:

@Catt

Really cool detail about feeding the extra line in the heavy vegetables, sounds similar to feeding slack line to get depth in current.  Is there a noticeable difference in feel once you finally punch through the bases/stems? Am I correct in assuming you're also usually fishing rattles on those jigs since the vegetation is so dense? Do you ever C-rig a floating worm to fish the tops of the weed beds as an alternative to the bottom bouncing baits?  

When talking fishing grass flats on Toledo Bend we are talking water that is 10-15' deep & matted to the surface.

My #1 jig of choice is Terry Oldham's which do not have rattles.

[everythingthatswims]

I think we need some of our Colorado members to chime in on this one

[buzzed bait]

5 hours ago, everythingthatswims said:

I think we need some of our Colorado members to chime in on this one

yeah i was going to offer my expertise on the topic, but i know nothing of these aquatic weeds.....

[avidone1]

I have to compliment the members here at BR.

All this talk about weed and no jokes about smoking it.

We is sho nuff a classy bunch

[2putt]

I was going to do that. But then I forgot.

[Paul Roberts]

On 4/27/2016 at 6:53 PM, Catt said:

 

Living in central Florida, I'm no stranger to fishing through dense hydrilla.

I found the previous posts to be very interesting and very informative.

Remarkably, I do some of the things mentioned in nearly every post,

yet, I don't fish exactly the same as any one post.

> Replace the jig with a 1/4 to 1 oz bullet sinker (as needed), then Texas-rig a plastic crayfish (e.g. zoom big critter craw)

(This offers a weed-piercing, spire-pointed lead-head, while eliminating the drag produced by the fiberguard and skirt)

> Peg the sinker, so it doesn't ride down the line and wrap-up in the weeds.

> Keep the casts short

(Long casts only increase the line that needs to be submerged and reduce your feel of the lure)

> Target the densest weed-beds in the area. Work along the dense edge, outward to about

the midway point of density, whatever distance that might involve.

> Allow the lure to fall as it may while feeling for a pickup. If no strike is felt, lift the lure

about a foot or two, allowing it to fall on a 'different path' through the weeds (this is important).

> Repeat the 1 to 2-foot lifts (slow yo-yo), like slicing bread, until the lure reaches the bottom.

> Once on bottom, twitch the lure a couple of times, wait a moment, then rip it back for the next cast. 

RoLo - Roger

Ah, the ghost of Roger! Still contributing, even when taking some time away.

I'll add something... Rattles or not, just the action of the jig shaking and thumping around can -no WILL- attract bass. They are curious critters and if you have the patience (and it's rarely all that much required), the bass will find your jig. Now, whether they'll put it in their mouth is another thing altogether.

On 4/27/2016 at 4:00 AM, JRammit said:

Good answer there!

So i guess the same could be said for any dead weed?..... If the weeds i pull off bottom are dead/decaying, theyre pulling oxygen (bad)... If theyre alive and well, theyre adding oxygen (good)?

Sorta. Dead weeds can be good too -if it's the only cover in the vicinity. Little fish gotta hide from the big fish. Hot water, and heavy snow on ice, particularly, along with dead weeds are the really bad combinations.

[Catt]

1 hour ago, Paul Roberts said:

Sorta. Dead weeds can be good too -if it's the only cover in the vicinity. Little fish gotta hide from the big fish. Hot water, and heavy snow on ice, particularly, along with dead weeds are the really bad combinations.

Many anglers avoid "dead" grass under the false assumption they remove oxygen from the water. "Dying" grass removes oxygen, once it's dead...it's dead!

During winter "dead" grass actually holds heat...heat in winter good!