Heavy Lilly pads

[Run2jeepn]

Going to hit the Lilly pads in the Morning. 6am till when ever. Have about everything listed above with me. Except a weedless Spoon. Tried finding one at Walmart on my way into work tonight. Going to have to hit up Academy or BassPro for those. 

[the reel ess]

I fish the pads a lot with some success. But they won't grow thick in deep water. So I'm usually fishing a shallow flat. Fish won't always be in a shallow flat. So it's possible they just aren't in there in numbers. But if the entire pond is less than 10, mostly under 5', it's a much more likely location. 

[BustedSwimbait]

My go-to for pad fishing is either a weightless senko/creature bait skimmed across the pads, let sit on a pad for a second and drop it into the water. Or, spinnerbait slowly along edges, points, any openings it can fit.

[Run2jeepn]

Well only pulled 2 bass from the pads. I haven't been on this lake since last year. The Lilly Pads are not very thick yet. Pulled the first bass out on a Dark Blue Senko and the 2nd with a square bill just on the outer edge.

 

 

[Bankbeater]

What are the water temps like around the pads?  I have noticed that when the water warms up the bass will move out into deeper water, or around vegetation that gives off more oxygen.

[Choporoz]

Lots of good info above.  Only things I would add are that as I move into a big pad field, my eyes are biggest asset.  Move in to a good looking spot with holes in pads nearby, or different weeds among the pads.  And then sit quietly for at least a 3 or 4 minutes.  Just watch intently.  Two reasons; you will see where big fish are, and they will get over the disruption of you crashing around. Sure, I do end up chasing some carp, but bass are in there, too. Flipping will get it done.  Spinnerbaits and chatterbaits anyplace you can.  Also when frogs and toads don't work,  some days a buzzbait will.

[Run2jeepn]

16 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

What are the water temps like around the pads?  I have noticed that when the water warms up the bass will move out into deeper water, or around vegetation that gives off more oxygen.

Water was 65 degrees. The huge majority of this lake is only a few feet deep. The channel that winds through it gets up to 18ft deep. 

[Catt]

6 hours ago, Run2jeepn said:

The channel that winds through it gets up to 18ft deep. 

 

Fish the structure under the "vegetation".

 

Regardless of the type of cover look at the structure first.

 

[Mike L]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

 

Fish the structure under the "vegetation".

 

Regardless of the type of cover look at the structure first.

 

Exactly right

What you see on top is just a good looking area with promise. 

 

 

Mike

[Catt]

6 minutes ago, Mike L said:

Exactly right

What you see on top is just a good looking area with promise. 

 

 

Mike

 

Structure is the cake, cover is the icing!

 

The cake got your attention, the icing made you say, I want that.

 

Same with the bass, the structure got em there, the cover made em say, i wanna be right there.

[Jsher19038]

On 6/6/2022 at 6:42 AM, Catt said:

Mind explaining what you added on to these? They look awesome 

[Catt]

22 hours ago, Jsher19038 said:

Mind explaining what you added on to these? They look awesome 

 

Top one is Zoom's Swimming chunk

Bottom is a spinnerbait skirt

[papajoe222]

One of the lakes I fish in another state has lillypads so thicl you'd think you could walk on them and they extend 15-20yrds out from the bank. Every one that fishes that lake for bass is off the water an hour after sun-up because the bass disappear from then until just before sun-down.  I catch them all day punching the pads and the ones I catch are almost always in the 3-4lb. range with an occasional 5+lb one.  I've targeted deep structure on this lake and caught fish, but most were under 16in., so I stick with punching until the sun goes down.

[MichaelN]

On 6/6/2022 at 5:42 AM, Catt said:

 

Love fishing the pads.  Gotta try the added spinnerbait skirts to the silv minnows. Never occured to me to do that. Thanks, Catt. Fished all my life, but I'm really learning a lot from you guys on this forum.  Great stuff! 👍👍

[Glenn]

51 minutes ago, MichaelN said:

Gotta try the added spinnerbait skirts to the silv minnows. Never occured to me to do that.

Then this will blow your mind 😁

 

 

[Jsher19038]

10 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

One of the lakes I fish in another state has lillypads so thicl you'd think you could walk on them and they extend 15-20yrds out from the bank. Every one that fishes that lake for bass is off the water an hour after sun-up because the bass disappear from then until just before sun-down.  I catch them all day punching the pads and the ones I catch are almost always in the 3-4lb. range with an occasional 5+lb one.  I've targeted deep structure on this lake and caught fish, but most were under 16in., so I stick with punching until the sun goes down.

What’s your preferred setup for punching ?

[papajoe222]

13 hours ago, Jsher19038 said:

What’s your preferred setup for punching ?

For that lake, 3/4oz. tungsten punch weight- brown/black skirt-5in. craw tube. I stuff a packing peanut inside the tube to slow the fall rate.  I go a little lighter, 1/2oz. early in the season when the pads aren't as thick and skip the peanut.  When it starts sitting on top of the pads, I switch to the heavier weight.

[MichaelN]

22 hours ago, Glenn said:

Then this will blow your mind 😁

 

Excellent video, Glenn.  After watching your video through twice, i dug my Silver Minnows out from my tackle bag. Honestly haven't used one in...i don't know when.  Can't wait to get out on the water (perhaps tomorrow), skirt one up and see what happens. Thanks again.

13 minutes ago, papajoe222 said:

I stuff a packing peanut inside the tube to slow the fall rate... 

I've heard some soak their peanuts in PowerBait (or similar)  attractant to scent their tubes. Ever tried that? Think it helps?

[papajoe222]

11 minutes ago, MichaelN said:

I've heard some soak their peanuts in PowerBait (or similar)  attractant to scent their tubes. Ever tried that? Think it helps?

Not for punching, but I have used some CB's Hawg Sauce in my tubes when using a dragging presentation.  My thoughts are, it couldn't hurt, so why not.

[WRB]

My 1st lure was a Hawaiian Wiggle #3 weedless spoon, phenomenal lure.

I have fished Johnson Silver Minnow spoons with some success. My compliant is the dull hook needs to be sharpened and doesn’t hold a sharp point long.

Tom

[Hogs_n_Logs]

T-rig big creature bait  is my go-to for pads, but unlike most I go light(1/4 oz) and instead of trying to punch, I cast past were I want to fish then drag the bait into a gap till it falls, then "hang" my line on a pad and work it, rinse repeat. Theyll also hit when you drag it across the top, they usually miss but in that case you just let the bait fall and they almost always hammer it again. A jig with a big trailer works good for this too, but were I fish a t-rig catches less of the pad adjacent vegetation.

 

  I typically use a big creature bait that has alot of visual and water displacement impact, if you get their attention they will typically eat it. Were I fish pads, the bottom usually isnt good, the fish seem to feed up or lateral, so with punching heavy weight T-rigs I feel like you have to pinpoint crash it down really close to the fish to get the reaction strike or nothing, were as with the method above you can draw them in keeping the bait in the strike zone or when dragging across the top. 

 

My absolute favorite lure for this is the Nories Big escape twin, but they are hard to find and pricey in the states, honestly any plastic with a large profile will get the job done. Almost every year my biggest, healthiest fish are out of pads.