Cheese mats...good or bad?

[Montanaro]

What are yalls thoughts on cheese?

 

I've almost never caught bass through/over them...only sometimes on edges.  Do bass avoid thick cheese?  It would seem to me that itd get stuck in their gills and be hard to navigate through.  All the vegetation Ive been fishing with cheese in it has been unproductive...cleaner mats and cover seem to produce.

[CTBassin860]

Throw a frog in the cheese

[Scott F]

I've been fishing a long time but the term "cheese" as it relates to something in the water is new to me. Aside from the stuff that goes on a hamburger, can anybody tell me what the OP is talking about?

[J Francho]

They can be tough, because I think all that slop might suck the oxygen out of the water at night.  Now, wind swept slop is a different story.  I can recall my times when I've quietly poked holes in it with the rod tip, and dropped a jig through, and caught.

[Turtle135]

1 hour ago, Scott F said:

I've been fishing a long time but the term "cheese" as it relates to something in the water is new to me. Aside from the stuff that goes on a hamburger, can anybody tell me what the OP is talking about?

 

We have these on the Tidal Potomac River. I believe what happens is you get a floating mat of vegetation and then some type of algae grows or accumulates on the top of that mat (giving it the appearance of a big floating piece of cheese).

 

I will punch through those mats cause there can be some big largemouth underneath those things.

[J Francho]

2 minutes ago, Turtle135 said:

We have these on the Tidal Potomac River.

 

Interesting.  I see them on the Erie Canal, in areas that are used for dumping dredged main ways.  They can offer some cool structure features in a place that normally just a basic channel.  I wonder if current is a factor (it always is...).

[Montanaro]

Its a stringy algea goo that can reach from surface to a few feet deep.  When matted and baked in sun itll burn and bubble.  If there are canopies I can see bass staying under it but sometimes it is very thick.

[J Francho]

Perfect description!  We're definitely talking about the same stuff.

[Logan S]

Every now and then I'll have a day on the Potomac where the pattern seems to be putting your frog near the cheesy clumps...I've always thought it provided just a little more shade under the mat on those super hot/bright days so the fish sit underneath.  Plenty of other times where you have to find clean mats to fish though.  

 

In general, I don't really like to be around it if I can help it...But I won't leave if it's there like I usually do with the black algae.  

[scaleface]

At a pond covered in the stuff I caught a lot of large bass using a weightless worm with a heavy flipping hook buried in it . I'd just plop it along on top and pause it at pockets . 

[J._Bricker]

If you have a little bit of water under the cheese, and there are blow holes where the fish have broken through... work a frog or punch it. Oh, and be prepared to hang on !

[geo g]

I would rather fish somewhere else, or not fish at all!  That stuff can get sucked up in the big motor and cause an over heating problem.

[Dtrombly]

Those cheese mats will produce more as the summer heat beats down on those fish. 

[Bluebasser86]

The thick mats of slop are usually my best areas when it gets really hot out. Pain to fish, but they're productive.

[.ghoti.]

Never heard "em called cheese mats, but I agree; good places to check when it's hot and sunny.

[ww2farmer]

The most productive mats on my lake are cheese that has attached to the tops of milfoil clumps that have reached the surface.

 

The south end of this lake gets a HUGE cheese mat that is a about 3/4's of  mile wide...basically from shore to shore, and three long cast lengths deep. Not all of it holds fish............just like anything else that "looks good". They will move around under it and there are a few key spots in it that produce year in, and year out due to hard bottom spots under it, and clean milfoil. The rest is muck and a mix of crap grass.

 

It is the WORST punching mat in the history of mats. I can count on one hand in 20 years and have fingers left over on the number of quality bass I have caught punching it...........BUT....it might be the best frogging mat within an hours drive of here. I  have cashed multiple times out of it, caught some real hogs fun fishing it, and had my butt kicked with fish that have been caught out of it by the hard core mat frog fisherman more than once.

 

 

 

 

[Hot Rod Johnson]

On Tuesday, June 06, 2017 at 6:28 AM, Montanaro said:

What are yalls thoughts on cheese?

 

I've almost never caught bass through/over them...only sometimes on edges.  Do bass avoid thick cheese?  It would seem to me that itd get stuck in their gills and be hard to navigate through.  All the vegetation Ive been fishing with cheese in it has been unproductive...cleaner mats and cover seem to produce.

Join

Fishing for Bass in the Cheese Mats

Jason Sealock

11/08/2011

There are certain types of bass fishing that really turn you inside out as an angler. One of those techniques is frogging in grass mats. Turning inside out is not always a good thing. Frogging can be the most exhilarating and breathtaking way to catch bass. And frogging can also be the most frustrating situation ...

 

CHECK YOUR PM's

http://www.***/outdoors/***/story/1466084-fishing-for-bass-in-the-cheese-mats

Edited June 13, 2017 by Hot Rod Johnson