Shallow water bait

[skekoam]

So I visited a new pond today.  First cast wit a jig and it seems like there is grass just below the surface.  I was getting caught up in it everytime.  Finally found some clearing along the grass lines and caught several small ones with a senko.  Is there a better bait i should be using given the conditions?  I wish I had a buzz bait, but not sure if the fish are aggressive enough for top water.

 

thanks 

[JustJames]

I’d try Hula Grub 4” or 5” weightless with 1/0 ewg hook.

[Mike L]

Speed worm with a 3/16 weight. If they're there, you'll know soon enough. 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[scaleface]

6 hours ago, skekoam said:

I wish I had a buzz bait, but not sure if the fish are aggressive enough for top water.

You never know   . A spinnerbait  over the grass can be effective too .  A toad may work and with the grass   below the surface ,  the hook can be exposed for a greater hookup ratio .

[Dens228]

Paddletail on a weighted swimbait hook? 

I'll do that when I have trouble ripping a full jig/paddletail through them.  But I've found that ripping the jig through gets me some nice bites. 

[Bankbeater]

I’d try a shallow running crankbait or a wakebait. You might also try swimming a finesse jig since you have had luck with jigs there before. 

[J Francho]

I like a spinnerbait for this situation.

[Jermination]

throw a chatterbait or rattletrap on at least a MH rod, depending on grass thickness, possibly throw it on a heavy rod. hold your rod tip at 11 while burning it in. much easier to rip through the grass using a heavier outfit. booyah pad poppers are always a good choice too

[Fishes in trees]

Lots of options for shallow water baits.  The whopper popper double buzzer floats.  Maybe a Minus 1 or similar wake bait.  Spinnerbait & worm approaches have already been mentioned.  A bait that you seldom hear of ( or see in the store for that matter, not sure if it is discontinued or not) is the old Heddon Moss Boss - a top water plastic spoon of sorts.

[skekoam]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.  Have any of you had any luck with the Zoom floating worms?

[fishballer06]

Sounds like Fluke water to me. 

[Choporoz]

Fast - 3/8 Chatterbait

Slower - Rage Bug on 0, 1/16 or 1/8 Swimbait Hook; Toad

Slowest - Frog, Senko -- Don't need to keep the senko outside the weed lines - rigged weedlessly, a weightless senko can go just about anywhere -- I had luck this weekend slowly dragging it across the weeds/leaves/junk and pausing occasionally, especially around holes/breaks in the clutter

[bowhunter63]

13 hours ago, J Francho said:

I like a spinnerbait for this situation.

x2

[skekoam]

A local guy was selling some tackle for cheap so I picked it up.  Is the circled item a good spinner bait?  

[Choporoz]

Tough to say.....if hook is sharp and it runs straight up and down with blades spinning, it should be fine.  If not....hooks can be sharpened and wires can be adjusted.....so it should still be fine.  BTW, those grips will be awesome to help you land a grouper.   

[primetime]

I just learned a new trick (Maybe it's not new, but was new for me yesterday)..I usually try to fish submerged weeds that may be growing up to a few feet underwater, with weightless flukes, Swimming worms, topwater, floating jerkbaits...Swim Jigs etc...Ripping traps if possible, Mojo rig.....

 

I almost always would peg a worm weight if swimming for longer casts, or go heavy to get all the way through, and if shallow, try to tick the tops, or work edges etc..

 

I was fishing in 8 feet of water with Hydrilla and mix of other weeds that were about 3' from the surface and not as thick as usual, but still easy to get hung up...I grabbed a rod that had an UNPEGGED 3/8 bullet weight (Heavier than would normally go) to fish a speed worm subsurface and tick the weeds, swim horizontal, rip it if snagged etc...What I ended up discovering, is that with the heavier weight sliding in front of worm, it would get a bit deeper but then hang up in most spots a foot or 2 under the weed tops, but the worm would stay weedless and maybe bury down slightly and also flutter as weight crept through. I started ripping the bait up and with the sinker getting hung, it was triggering reaction strikes much more than simply throwing a fluke with open jig head, or pegged weight and doing the same. The speed worm actually comes through without much trouble, the weight creates the erratic action when it comes free, and they were crushing it as soon as it came loose, bait was clean for most part. I then switched to a Caffeine shad to get a nice fall, and that seemed to work just as well, 3/8 unpegged...You will still have weed issues from time to time, but much easier to do than with other baits and if not getting into the messy stuff, often tough to produce unless on the easy active fish that slam the bait as soon as it enters the water.

 

I went out this morning in a pond where I live to try and replicate the same technique, and see it better closer to the bank, and in shallow water with heavy weeds, it worked better than a light 1/4 swim jig or 3/16 pegged weight etc.Same with 1/8oz darter head & fluke which is a good way to fish weeds and rip bait free.I am sure any bait will work, I find a round bend worm hook is more weedless, and a stiffer plastic that stays on hook easy may be best after 2nd try....I used a Gambler Burner Craw since they seem to hold a hook easily, and they crushed it..Plus you can swim a swimming craw like a frog and do just as well, better hook up ratios. Just my take. Sometimes weeds are too much for a mojo rig or treble hook etc...Unless weeds are sparce and cleaner.

 

Other proven method that is easy is a floating jerkbait or shallow suspender, and try to just snag the sparce weeds or snag just the tops and then rip....I still believe a Floating Long A gets bigger bites than a fluke or sluggo, in shallow water a Floating Rapala will work all year long as good as almost anything, just need to throw it on braid cause they are light, hard to land a good fish on 8lb mono. Long A you can throw on heavy line and be good, plus it casts better. You really don't need to get them snagged either, just twitch, twitch, pause for a good 3-5 seconds and repeat. It draws them up. They can hear it and feel it in stained water as well.

 

Weightless is the easiest way, but the fish see it all day every day, and the better fish are tough to draw up from underneath and punching through is tough fishing at times.

[skekoam]

Here is a better pic.  I'm not sure which brand/model, but I'm almost positive its a spinner.

 

I look forward to trying it out as its my first. 

 

 

[FishTank]

For me, I like a Lucky Craft Moonsault CB50 or a CB001.  Both have been great but these baits have become hard to find.

[Catt]

On 10/28/2019 at 5:32 AM, Mike L said:

Speed worm with a 3/16 weight. If they're there, you'll know soon enough. 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

I prefer an 1/8 oz ?

 

6th Sense Movement 80X can be waked just under the surface.

[Dens228]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

 

I prefer an 1/8 oz ?

 

6th Sense Movement 80X can be waked just under the surface.

The 80X was my favorite for a few weeks in early fall.

 

[Koz]

18 hours ago, skekoam said:

Here is a better pic.  I'm not sure which brand/model, but I'm almost positive its a spinner.

 

I look forward to trying it out as its my first. 

 

 

I've caught bass on $7 spinnerbaits and $1.00 Wal Mart spinnerbaits. It comes down to throwing one at the right place at the right time and sometimes with the right color. All white and chartreuse/white like the one pictured perform the best for me. In the spring I usually add a white Keitech Swing Impact as a trailer.

[MN Fisher]

My best bass this year (the one in my profile pic) was caught on a 3/8 oz Jawbone spinnerbait in Chart/White with a 3" Berkley Pit Boss in Skeet's Chartreuse Shad as the trailer. Ran it fairly shallow over the tops of the submerged weeds close to the edge of a patch of lily-pads. Don't know if the bass came out of the pads or up from the weeds...didn't matter as it was a good fish for me.

 

 

[skekoam]

So, when is it good to use a trailer on spinners or should you always do this?

[J Francho]

7 minutes ago, skekoam said:

So, when is it good to use a trailer on spinners or should you always do this?

You'll get a range of opinions on this.  The trailer I use is a trailer hook.

[MN Fisher]

4 minutes ago, J Francho said:

You'll get a range of opinions on this.  The trailer I use is a trailer hook.

I don't always use a trailer...just most times. I have caught bass without a trailer, but it's been in really dirty water with chop (<1' visibility) - if it's even semi-clear (2'-'3 visibility) then I'll use a trailer. My favorites are either a 3" or 4" Pit Boss or a Zoom Ultra Vibe Chunk.