Punching Heavy Weeds Question

[iceintheveins]

Say the emergent heavy weeds are in 1 - 3 feet of water. Are those weed mats worth fishing with punch gear?

[BiteFiend]

Depends on how thick the mat is and whether or not there is stalked vegetation below the mat. If you are just pitching to holes and the edges of the mat, you could probably get by without punch gear. 

[papajoe222]

How close are they to deeper water?

[crypt]

do the weeds go to the bottom. or is there space underneath? might just get away with good old fashioned flipping. if it's real dense,punching might be the only way to get em out.

[Damn Yankee]

No

[iceintheveins]

10 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

How close are they to deeper water?

One of the weed beds is on the edge of a drop off that goes down to 9 feet, and I catch a lot on the edge.

4 hours ago, crypt said:

do the weeds go to the bottom. or is there space underneath? might just get away with good old fashioned flipping. if it's real dense,punching might be the only way to get em out.

There are spots you can flip the holes, and spots it goes almost to the bottom.

I guess my main question wasn't whether to punch or flip them, but if they are worth fishing at all at that depth. I have caught them in these weeds on frogs and weedless topwaters before. So I figure they would be in there, despite the shallow depth, since it's thick, this lake has limited cover, and it's so hot out.

[crypt]

it's worth trying,try to get under the mats,fish might be holding in the shade of the mats.  In fl. here we get under the mats in the heat of the day and drag em out. so yeah try,never hurts.

[Bluebasser86]

That is seriously all the weeds available to punch around here. If there's 6" of water under them, I've fishing them. 

Maybe matted weeds are different, but we have water willows that only grow out to about 3 or 4 feet deep, and the fish love getting in them. 

[BiteFiend]

With deeper water nearby like that, I would definitely try punching through them. It's possible the bass may move up and under the mat and use the cover as an ambush point.

[Fish4bigfish]

The fish can't read! There are no set rules. You have to figure your area out. The big bass around me are almost never that shallow this time of year. I usually look for deeper weeds and mats in 4 fow. 

[Few]

Its high 90s here and been catcing fish in a foot of water. The key is getting the bait right in the thickest part of the brush or weeds. Pitch anywhere else and nothing

[GORDO]

On 7/9/2016 at 1:55 PM, iceintheveins said:

I guess my main question wasn't whether to punch or flip them, but if they are worth fishing at all at that depth. I have caught them in these weeds on frogs and weedless topwaters before. So I figure they would be in there, despite the shallow depth, since it's thick, this lake has limited cover, and it's so hot out.

I would say try it out. Use a rig that can be used for punching and flipping and just work the entire mat. 

[iceintheveins]

One thing is for sure, these salad mats in 1 to 4 feet of water sure held a lot of bass that were smashing frogs a couple weeks ago. Weather was 97 degrees, but they were there and would smash a wobbletron frog. Wouldn't hardly touch a live target frog though, a couple missed blow ups on that.

 

So the answer, is yes, they will hold under thick salad even when it's real shallow.

[K_Mac]

On 7/11/2016 at 10:17 PM, Few said:

Its high 90s here and been catcing fish in a foot of water. The key is getting the bait right in the thickest part of the brush or weeds. Pitch anywhere else and nothing

It took me fishing with a true shallow water specialist to learn this secret. As a deep water guy, I used to think I had to move deeper when the weather and water got hot. I still think that is a sound strategy, but I always try some heavy cover in shallow water as well. I have caught nice fish nowhere near deep water in the hottest weather.

I would pitch a beaver into the thickest stuff, in the thinnest water. As the guy who taught me this technique told me, "Be careful, you might get your arm broke!"

[ClackerBuzz]

 

 

[Bankbeater]

First I would try working the outside edge of the weeds that is closest to the deeper water.  If that didn't work I would start punching.

[You_Only_Live_Once_Fishing]

On July 9, 2016 at 4:51 PM, d**n Yankee said:

No

Yes

[Mike L]

6 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

First I would try working the outside edge of the weeds that is closest to the deeper water.  If that didn't work I would start punching.

Ditto

 

Mike

[bigbill]

Fish parallel to the weed line. I throw topwater weedless baits in the weeds. I don't like to punch thru causing a ruckess I like the sneak attack. Top props, prop bait, floating cranks, floating worm, timber doodle. I let the timber doodle fall into the weed pockets. If I'm fishing parallel to the weed lines I toss a deeper running bait and slow reel it letting it bounce off the bottom. Adjust your bait colors to the water conditions. Fire tiger, citrus, chartreuse could be your freind.

[bayouXpress]

100%

[hawgenvy]

When the cover is thick enough that you need an ounce or two weight to get through, a topwater bait won't do a thing and the bigger bass may not venture out to the edge. If there is any possibility that big bass are hiding in the cooler dark water under that cover, it's definitely worth a try to get in there, and punching through is the only way. And if you get bit and she's hooked but gets stuck in real heavy stuff like pennywort or hyacinth mats or whatever, don't muscle her too hard or you'll tear her face apart and lose her -- get your boat and your arms down in there and lip her directly out of the mess.