When do weeds get too thick for bass?

[J Francho]

Most EVERY response has been use punch rigs, flipping jigs, and even my Jika punch rig.  These are all a T LEAST an ounce.  You have countered with topwater, 1/8 oz. T-rigs with a 2/0 hook, rodents, swim jigs, senkos.  You want to fish heavy cover, get the right stuff.  Some of my biggest fish have come from fishing the worst slop.  Many have offered you great advice, and are VERY experienced slop anglers.  You've only made excuses, but have no results.  Time to take the advice you asked for.  The fish are undoubtedly there, you just have to open up, and learn how to catch them.  Sorry for the straight talk, but that's how it is.

 

 

 

 

 

20 hours ago, dan94 said:

The lake is known for its prime bass fishing.

 

4 minutes ago, dan94 said:

This lake isnt know for trophy sized fish anyways

 

???

[dan94]

4 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Most EVERY response has been use punch rigs, flipping jigs, and even my Jika punch rig.  These are all a T LEAST an ounce.  You have countered with topwater, 1/8 oz. T-rigs with a 2/0 hook, rodents, swim jigs, senkos.  You want to fish heavy cover, get the right stuff.  Some of my biggest fish have come from fishing the worst slop.  Many have offered you great advice, and are VERY experienced slop anglers.  You've only made excuses, but have no results.  Time to take the advice you asked for.  The fish are undoubtedly there, you just have to open up, and learn how to catch them.  Sorry for the straight talk, but that's how it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

???

Prime bass fishing as in numbers of fish. Average size 1.5-2 lbs. 

As for using 2/0 hooks and 1/8 jigs if u actually read i was pitching under docks and downsized because whatever was biting wasnt getting hooked up. And ended up being a sunfish. All other rigs used in the open were with 1.5 oz tungsten. But by looking at your pictures of "slop" compared to this lake thats nothing

[J Francho]

Well, you're the one one that came up empty handed, and asked why.  That's a 6 lb. 8 oz. NY northern strain bass I'm holding.  Where's your pics?  Sorry, you gotta put up, man.  Putting a little smiley face with it's tongue sticking out won't get fish in the boat.

 

But I digress, you're on your own.

[dan94]

1 minute ago, J Francho said:

Well, you're the one one that came up empty handed.  That's a 6 lb. 8 oz. NY northern strain bass I'm holding.  Where's your pics?  Sorry, you gotta put up, man.  Putting a little smiley face with it's tongue sticking out won't get fish in the boat.

 

But I digress, you're on your own.

Whos talking about your fish lmao , you said that you were fishing in slop. I said thats nothing compared to the lake i was at  But nice kayak 

[BuzzHudson19c]

I'm surprised I haven't heard more people say this, but have you thrown a poppin frog over it? One of the best lakes around me with the best concentration of big bass gets completely choked out with milfoil. It's pretty much only navigable by kayak or canoe and we have great results throwing frogs. I prefer the poppin frog to make a little more noise to carry through all that slop. There is nothing like watching a bass come flying through a foot of thick weeds and crush a frog.

[sully420]

Just went out today fished a lake thats 12'deep all emergent vegetation, heres 2 of the 7 bass caught biggest is over 6lbs in Minnesota 

[bigbill]

A few decades ago I was new to bass fishing, I was doing decent fishing from shore at manmade dams for century old water power. These old dams have roadways on top of them. Like I said I was doing great at these Hardly fished places in the springtime just before and after the spawn. Now comes the hot weather with the weeds. It shut down my fishing. I went online and started looking for weedless lures. Here's a few, mepps timber doodle size "0" silver blade white trailer with trailer hook, mister twister top prop with a trailer hook, I would also clear a path on top to use my crankbait topwater. For an hour or so I cleared a path topwater. The fishing did get better. The mepps timber doodle I cast it out and let it fall. I'd move it slowly threw the weeds. The top prop I'd reel it slow enough to make the prop spin, I'd stop it over open pockets in the weeds. I do the same thing with shallow floating crankbait. Go slow and stop them over open pockets in the weeds. I'd even cast into the weed pockets. There is so many weedless lures out there. 

[Paul Roberts]

On 8/15/2017 at 10:39 AM, dan94 said:

 What im trying to get at is when an entire lake is weeds it may be possible that bass do not thrive in them.

Bass can live in weed choked lakes. They must hunt differently as they cannot run down their prey; So must you. Slow down, fish vertical, make a commotion, wait for bites. To do this you'll need to know where there are fish.

 

Mid-summer may be the toughest time to find fish in such a lake. You being in Ontario tells me you have cold winters causing vegetation to die-back. You may have to do your fish-finding/scouting prior to peak vegetation growth. Hard cover pieces, depth changes, substrate  changes, vegetation type changes.... changes. Bass will likely still use them when the cover is up.

 

If you really can't get a 1.5oz weight through that canopy then I guess you'll have to wait until it dies back. The cold water periods tend to give up the largest bass just about everywhere. Vegetation die-back is one of the reasons.

 

Good luck. Let us know if you figure something out.

[dan94]

1 hour ago, Paul Roberts said:

Bass can live in weed choked lakes. They must hunt differently as they cannot run down their prey; So must you. Slow down, fish vertical, make a commotion, wait for bites. To do this you'll need to know where there are fish.

 

Mid-summer may be the toughest time to find fish in such a lake. You being in Ontario tells me you have cold winters causing vegetation to die-back. You may have to do your fish-finding/scouting prior to peak vegetation growth. Hard cover pieces, depth changes, substrate  changes, vegetation type changes.... changes. Bass will likely still use them when the cover is up.

 

If you really can't get a 1.5oz weight through that canopy then I guess you'll have to wait until it dies back. The cold water periods tend to give up the largest bass just about everywhere. Vegetation die-back is one of the reasons.

 

Good luck. Let us know if you figure something out.

Going back sometime in october, apparently cold weather is coming earlier this year

[gim]

I was going to recommend just going to a different lake.  If you don't think you can fish it effectively but you think there are bass to be caught, come back later in fall when the weeds aren't so thick or just try another lake.

[dan94]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

I was going to recommend just going to a different lake.  If you don't think you can fish it effectively but you think there are bass to be caught, come back later in fall when the weeds aren't so thick or just try another lake.

Going northern ontario this week. Many canadian shield lakes to fish ill take some pics and send here

[WRB]

In-Fisherman did some detailed study reports in there original series. If interested I can scan the issues as they apply to the Canadian Shield lakes and northern LMB and email a copy to anyone interested.

Tom

[dan94]

Just now, WRB said:

In-Fisherman did some detailed study reports in there original series. If interested I can scan the issues as they apply to the Canadian Shield lakes and northern LMB.

Tom

sure!

[WRB]

1 minute ago, dan94 said:

sure!

Pm your email address

[jmcarriere]

On 8/15/2017 at 8:45 PM, sully420 said:

Just went out today fished a lake thats 12'deep all emergent vegetation, heres 2 of the 7 bass caught biggest is over 6lbs in Minnesota 

What lake was that it almost looks like rush

[DomQ]

I've fished rice lake before, weeds are a problem, but like everyone else said, find sunken structure and drop offs, heavy weight and pitching is the key to catching them! 

[.ghoti.]

I dont think there are many bodies of water too "weedy" for bass. There are however, quite a few too weedy for fishermen.

[scaleface]

I try to see the  lake without the weeds . If it was barren of weeds where would I fish ?  

[Alex Siso]

Hey, my first post, sorry to revive an old thread, but i felt the need to comment here. Im a kayak bass fisherman, in Ontario as well. 
 

What the OP is talking about i believe is called starry stonewort. An invasive aqutic plant that is taking over some of the shallow areas here in southern Ontario. Ive noticed it especially bad in the holland river and lake Dalrymple. I have never been able to catch many fish in it, and i haven't seen or heard of anyone doing so either. It literally grows from the bottom to within a few inches of the surface and is so dense. It fills in the area like concrete. We call it “the carpet”. I have learned to just keep moving on from an area if i see it growing very thick or to go to the deeper weeds just off where it is growing, past the edge of it. 

I have included pictures below off google of what it looks like.  
 

(If the OP is talking about something different, my apologies).