Grass/weeds

[spaghetti_bassin]

I would swim a horny toad over the tops of the weeds. Then again, I’d always throw a horny toad...

[Sam]

Jonas, it is beautiful. Just beautiful. Thanks for the picture.

 

Suggestions:

1.  Throw an unweighted trick worm (green pumpkin, Junebug, pink, white) on 8-pound mono with a medium heavy spinning rig. Move the trick worm like a snake over the grass and you can let it fall in any holes you want.

 

2.  Throw an unweighted finesse worm with a curly or ribbon tail rigged like the trick worm above.

 

3.  Frogs can do well but you have to know how to set up your frogs and the presentation is crucial to a good hookup. So give your frogs a try. White, black or black/yellow colors. Take two pliers and spread out the hooks a little. Tie directly to the frog with no snap. Use a popping frog or if possible or an Academy Sports H2O frog. Use a heavy rod to be able to set the hook. Count to three before setting the hook, if possible, when the frog gets hit.

 

4. Toads. Tie a toad onto your 17 pound mono on a medium heavy baitcaster and cast it out and reel it in. Check out the Rage Tail products for other options.

 

5.  Creature baits like brush hogs, lizards, crawfish, etc. and fish them like you did in 1 and 2 above. You may want to use a small 1/8th size lead bullet weight if necessary.

 

With the grass you showed us you need to "call" the bass to your bait by vibration. Once they feel the vibrations they will start looking for it.

 

No treble hooks or spinnerbaits or Chatterbaits. Just throw what you can on top of the grass using monofilament since mono floats.

 

Let us know how you do and post pics of what you catch.  Good luck.

 

 

[Jonas Staggs]

1 hour ago, Sam said:

Jonas, it is beautiful. Just beautiful. Thanks for the picture.

 

Suggestions:

1.  Throw an unweighted trick worm (green pumpkin, Junebug, pink, white) on 8-pound mono with a medium heavy spinning rig. Move the trick worm like a snake over the grass and you can let it fall in any holes you want.

 

2.  Throw an unweighted finesse worm with a curly or ribbon tail rigged like the trick worm above.

 

3.  Frogs can do well but you have to know how to set up your frogs and the presentation is crucial to a good hookup. So give your frogs a try. White, black or black/yellow colors. Take two pliers and spread out the hooks a little. Tie directly to the frog with no snap. Use a popping frog or if possible or an Academy Sports H2O frog. Use a heavy rod to be able to set the hook. Count to three before setting the hook, if possible, when the frog gets hit.

 

4. Toads. Tie a toad onto your 17 pound mono on a medium heavy baitcaster and cast it out and reel it in. Check out the Rage Tail products for other options.

 

5.  Creature baits like brush hogs, lizards, crawfish, etc. and fish them like you did in 1 and 2 above. You may want to use a small 1/8th size lead bullet weight if necessary.

 

With the grass you showed us you need to "call" the bass to your bait by vibration. Once they feel the vibrations they will start looking for it.

 

No treble hooks or spinnerbaits or Chatterbaits. Just throw what you can on top of the grass using monofilament since mono floats.

 

Let us know how you do and post pics of what you catch.  Good luck.

 

 

Thanks for the informative post. 

 

I was thinking vibration would be good but no trebles so that only leave a beetle spin or spinnerbait. I also have a cream lures rig lizard with the the propeller in the front it's got weed guards on the hooks.

 

In regards to vibration and calling the fish do you think a heavy bullet weight on top of the grass would be a good way to call attention to the bait?

 

My first trip there I caught about a 1-pound bass on a 4-inch lizard Texas Rig with a 1/16 ounce bullet weight. I also lost one on the Pocket Frog. I have never caught anything on a frog and I was so amazed that something hit it he spit it out before I got a chance to set the hook.

 

My second trip I threw a 9-inch lizard on a half ounce bullet weight but did not catch anything. I also tried a hollow-body frog but did not get anything. 

 

The place is amazing, and very unique, it's pretty much a lake in a skid row tent city. The city does not maintain the lake, hence all the weeds and all the trash from the homeless brings a lot of insects. Lots of fish hitting insects off the top but I think the frog is too big and I don't have any top water insect baits. I recently read that the small hula popper is good for mimicking insects. The place has massive ducks and squirrels all well fed off the trash. d**n duck tried to eat my frog. There's tires and stuff dumped in that provide cover. It's similar to a landfill ecosystem.

 

Its beautiful in its own way. Here's some crappy pictures of the place. People are catching pacu here too btw!

 

 

 

[Sam]

Go weightless. The movement of the plastics on top will create enough vibration. And the addition of the propeller is great as long as it does not pick up a lot of grass.

 

Go to your local tackle store and look at the Crappie baits and hooks, etc. Also use the finesse worms in lieu of the trick worms.

 

Keep the bait on top of the grass unless you stop it and let it fall between the grass.

 

Good luck.

[Sam]

Jonas, if possible, try a Chatterbait or a bladed jig near the top of the water.

 

You may make it through the grass without snagging. If you do snag, at least you have a good bait for other bodies of water you will fish.

 

Also, if you can find some "weedless hooks" use a #1 and rig up a green pumpkin stick bait (Senko, YUM, BPS Stick-O) for wacky rig fishing and drag the Senko across the grass and then let it fall into the open areas.

[Catt]

Perfect example ?

 

While y'all are going on top of the grass...I'm to the bottom where big momma lives.

[J Francho]

You need at least an ounce weight to punch through all that garbage.

[Jonas Staggs]

11 hours ago, Catt said:

Perfect example ?

 

While y'all are going on top of the grass...I'm to the bottom where big momma lives.

Ok perfect, this refers back to my question, how deep are fish tangling themselves up in that grass?

[Catt]

6 minutes ago, Jonas Staggs said:

Ok perfect, this refers back to my question, how deep are fish tangling themselves up in that grass?

 

On the bottom!

 

Oh and by the way they ain't tangled up in it. Despite what you see on the surface there's caverns & tunnels under the grass on the bottom.

 

It's their house...they know their way round. ?

[txchaser]

The nasty stuff floating on top and piling up on the downwind end of the lake creates cover. No different than a lillypad, except for the police tape  . Chuck a fat ika or something else compact through it that has a slow fall. Then try something with a fast fall. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that presentation in that part of the lake is pretty rare. 

 

Yep, you are punching the trash in the lake. There. I said it.

 

[Jonas Staggs]

On 9/1/2020 at 8:04 PM, Catt said:

 

On the bottom!

 

Oh and by the way they ain't tangled up in it. Despite what you see on the surface there's caverns & tunnels under the grass on the bottom.

 

It's their house...they know their way round. ?

 

 

so i think the weeds are the elodea. If I am getting this right.......your saying I can catch fish, by punching into these really thick weed/bushes? I was thinking they were too dense for them to be in the middle of it. And more like they would hide under, around, etc. I was thinking the stuff was just too thick and dense for them to be "in" rather than, under, around etc. Kinda like the equivalent of limited shore access due to overgrown brush.....or hiding behind the bush, rather than in the bush, if you get what im trying to say. While were on this subject, what about the tulies and reeds....how far back in that stuff are they going? Even my 1/2 oz bullet weight, was still pretty much resting on the top of the weeds, rather than punching through. I could swim the lizard over the weeds, and stop it and let it rest on top of them with 1/2 oz

On 9/1/2020 at 8:46 PM, txchaser said:

The nasty stuff floating on top and piling up on the downwind end of the lake creates cover. No different than a lillypad, except for the police tape  . Chuck a fat ika or something else compact through it that has a slow fall. Then try something with a fast fall. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that presentation in that part of the lake is pretty rare. 

 

Yep, you are punching the trash in the lake. There. I said it.

 

 

 

thats a good idea. I get it, the concept is the same, whether your punching through matts/trash on the top, as once you make it through the top, is "open" underneath. I have another lake im going to fish this week, that is clean, and has a nice healthy green matt on the top, only way to catch them is to punch through. I usually get them on the inital punch/fall.......but Im going to try some frog action this on top of the matts this week. 

 

Where I am a bit confused still, is punching through dense underwater weeds/bushes? it seems like it would do nothing but get you tangled because there is no opening/clearing on the other side of the weeds, just more of them. 

[Catt]

@Jonas Staggs You may need to go up in weight 3/4-1.5 oz or heavier. Down south punching is do almost year round.

 

When fishing thick vegetation you still need to fish structure under it to determine where the majority of the fish will be.