Fishing in milfoil

[Boomstick]

Something I thought about when I was on the water yesterday. Does anyone have luck with areas where milfoil comes to the top of the water column?

 

I rarely have luck in such situations. If I'm fishing in say 6 feet of water and the bottom 3 feet is milfoil, then that's pretty much ideal but  I believe I have only caught one fish throwing directly into the milfoil - although I've caught a few by targeting the edges.

[Team9nine]

Flip/pitch/punch right into the stuff. Bass will sit right down in the shade/holes on sunny days. Will just take a couple of bites to open your eyes and make you a believer ? 

[Boomstick]

8 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Flip/pitch/punch right into the stuff. Bass will sit right down in the shade/holes on sunny days. Will just take a couple of bites to open your eyes and make you a believer ? 

Yeah, that's what I'm generally doing.

[Teal]

I've had luck fishing in and around milfoil.   But what I have found, if you have hydrilla, or elodia, fish seem to prefer it over the milfoil especially if they are close in proximity.   

 

Like team 99 said, pitch and punch around it, find the holes,  but looks for high percentage areas, like ambush points, current breaks, milfoil that is close isolated emergent grasses or wood cover.   

[Boomstick]

24 minutes ago, Teal said:

Like team 99 said, pitch and punch around it, find the holes,  but looks for high percentage areas, like ambush points, current breaks, milfoil that is close isolated emergent grasses or wood cover.   

Yeah, what I'm trying to say is I never have luck throwing straight into it when it covers the entire water column. I've pulled out some nice fish throwing around it and in larger sized holes.

 

I'm pretty sure throwing in it is generally good target, especially when the water warms up a bit more. Maybe part of the reason why I have better luck fishing milfoil that covers maybe half the water column is I can hop my jig around and cover more water quickly and don't have to deal with changes in current as much when I'm trying to stand on my kayak and pitch or flip, which can make it hard.

[Team9nine]

Yeah, every water is different, but we do really well around here flipping the milfoil once it has matted over (on the few lakes that have it left - they like to treat it heavily). It is typically a post spawn/early summer through fall deal. We do Traps and spinnerbaits slow rolled early over the grass as it starts greening in the spring...oh, and some lakes here are great frog lakes over shallow thick milfoil.

[Mobasser]

11 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Yeah, every water is different, but we do really well around here flipping the milfoil once it has matted over (on the few lakes that have it left - they like to treat it heavily). It is typically a post spawn/early summer through fall deal. We do Traps and spinnerbaits slow rolled early over the grass as it starts greening in the spring...oh, and some lakes here are great frog lakes over shallow thick milfoil.

I got back into using frogs a couple of years ago for this reason. A weedless frog with  upturned hooks are perfect for working over thick milfoil.

[Catt]

@Team9nine Where ya live?

 

You're describing what I do in Texas/Louisiana waters. 

 

I like Milfoil, Hydrilla, & Coontail Moss or a combination of 2 or more.

[Team9nine]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

@Team9nine Where ya live?

 

You're describing what I do in Texas/Louisiana waters. 

 

I like Milfoil, Hydrilla, & Coontail Moss or a combination of 2 or more.

 

Indiana - a lot of our reservoirs used to be filled with milfoil, and a few still have it. Got used to fishing it when it was so prevalent. Coontail is still around here and there, too. I almost won a state Federation tournament (got 2nd) years back when I found some submerged coontail with my depthfinder in a creek that wasn't visible. Never had much in the way of pads, but we had lotus in our largest reservoir which is almost identical. Great summer pattern. Water willow is the other veggie we see a lot of here. It's emergent, but very fun to fish also. And cattail is also found on a few of our reservoirs. 

[padon]

all 5 of the lakes i fish have alot of milfoil. it basicly controls a75% of our patterns. the edeges can be good as you know. points turns cuts in the wedline. but learn to punch and flip it. seth feider has a great youtube video on punching and flipping milfoil.for me the more sun and hotter the better the flipping bite is.

[Boomstick]

1 hour ago, padon said:

all 5 of the lakes i fish have alot of milfoil. it basicly controls a75% of our patterns. the edeges can be good as you know. points turns cuts in the wedline. but learn to punch and flip it. seth feider has a great youtube video on punching and flipping milfoil.for me the more sun and hotter the better the flipping bite is.

Yeah, that is something I want to succeed at this year. Not too many places with milfoil that grows the full water column, but there's a few.

[Catt]

Probably the biggest mistake anglers make is not fishing the structure under the grass. 

 

Structure is the cake...grass is the icing!

[fishingtx]

18 hours ago, Catt said:

@Team9nine Where ya live?

 

You're describing what I do in Texas/Louisiana waters. 

 

I like Milfoil, Hydrilla, & Coontail Moss or a combination of 2 or more.

I live 45 min from Sam Rayburn unless I catch the bridge sign wrong then it turns into 1 hour 15-30 min

[TnRiver46]

I pull a paddle leg frog across it or let a fluke sink slowly down the edge 

[padon]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

Probably the biggest mistake anglers make is not fishing the structure under the grass. 

 

Structure is the cake...grass is the icing!

exactly. thats one of the things feider goes over in the video. you still fish the structure the grass is the bonus sweet spot. you still look for high spots, drains, sharp breaks right outside the grass. the look fot the thickest greenest grass  in that area. and dont expext to load the boat right away. you may have to flip for 3 hours with nothing, then you hit that one little spot the size of a bathtub and catch 4 or 5 good ones in 6 casts.