Covering water on large thick grass flats

[casts_by_fly]

Hi all

 

i have a local lake that is basically one big grass flat of 150 acres. The depth is 4’ for 90% of it. There are no depth breaks- it’s a big, gradually sloping soft bottomed bowl more or less. Early season it is patchy and low enough that lipless crank baits, jerk baits, and various other moving lures can work big areas. At present the grass is 6-12” below the surface so if you catch a day where they are feeding up you can fish topwaters and cover water. The grass is thick enough now that a spinner bait or chatter bait will be catching a lot of weed through most of it and is borderline inefficient, but if you find an edge you can get it through and the fish are there. Trebles are out of the question now.  You might ask why you’d fish it, but it’s one of my locals with a good ramp and dock, and it consistently puts up volumes of 4-5# bass in tournaments. The challenge is they are spread over 150 acres of grass. I’ve never seen a concentration there. 

 

what other sub surface lures or techniques can cover large expanses of grass flats when the grass is up like this?  A paddle tail on a weighted belly hook gets through it.  I’m thinking a fluke worked just above the grass is an option. What about bottom based techniques?  I was thinking it’s too thick to get a Carolina rig through it. If the suns up you might be able to work a swim jig through the lines or pitch to the bases of the weeds. 
 

thanks

rick

[WRB]

Weedless spoon.

Tom

PS, TW has a clearance sale on Bagley weedless spoons?

[softwateronly]

If it's not that filamentous algae, I'd throw a swim jig w/ a paddle tail.  I fish a 90 acre lake that has about 45 acres of a 2-4' shelf.  3/8oz swim jig does loads of damage for me there.

 

scott

[scaleface]

I fish a lake choked out with chara algae a lot  with a spinnerbait . Sure the lure gets bogged down in it often  but I have caught limit after limit with one.  Short accurate cast at the edges and lanes  presents the lures to a lot of bass and not much wasted water on the retrieve.

[Catt]

7 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

What about bottom based techniques?

 

Flipping-n-pitching a Texas Rig or Jig-n-Craw 

[Pat Brown]

Maybe a heavy weight pegged on some braid and a beaver style creature bait.  The old punch rig.

[Zcoker]

Gambler Big EZ goes through grass well. I use them here in south Florida when the hydrilla starts topping out. The frog bite on an early calm morning also gets a big nod. boom! 

[casts_by_fly]

10 hours ago, softwateronly said:

If it's not that filamentous algae, I'd throw a swim jig w/ a paddle tail.  I fish a 90 acre lake that has about 45 acres of a 2-4' shelf.  3/8oz swim jig does loads of damage for me there.

 

scott

There is some, but its relegated to the dead stuff right now and only in parts of the lake, mainly the edges.  I think the pondweed and milfoil tend to block it  some from coming into the main grass beds.  A pointy nose swim jig gets through the grass and is one thing I have tied on usually.  I should have mentioned that originally.

 

 

2 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Flipping-n-pitching a Texas Rig or Jig-n-Craw 

 

To the holes?  I was trying to find a way to cover more water.  I have another lake where the grass is thicker and more concentrated to areas and do this all the time, in fact come May I have a rod dedicated to it pretty much.  But I wouldn't call it a way to cover a lot of water unless I'm missing something.

 

2 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

Maybe a heavy weight pegged on some braid and a beaver style creature bait.  The old punch rig.

 

Its not thing enough to require that just yet.  I was pitching a 1/4 oz and beaver last night with no issue, so no need to go to the big stuff yet.  I was trying to find something to cover more water though since the fish are spread over the full lake and there is a lot of lake to fish (about 150 acres of grass flats or more).

 

[softwateronly]

10 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

There is some, but its relegated to the dead stuff right now and only in parts of the lake, mainly the edges.  I think the pondweed and milfoil tend to block it  some from coming into the main grass beds.  A pointy nose swim jig gets through the grass and is one thing I have tied on usually.  I should have mentioned that originally.

 

 

 

Makes sense.  I also like a gambler burner worm for shallow grass.  I had success with title shots last year before work got too busy, I think they could make a nice fast bottom contact option.

 

scott

[galyonj]

What's the bass forage situation there?

[TOXIC]

Weedless, weightless Senko or if there’s holes in the grass add a nose weight.  Yamamoto DShad weightless, weedless. Can work it in the area above grass and let it fall in holes or along weedlines. Heavier than most all other fluke style baits.

[wdp]

Wakebait burned above the grass. 

[Pat Brown]

Wacky worm, floating worm, buzz toad. Sounds like you got a weightless soft plastic sort of spot.

[Jar11591]

Even if the weeds are thick, don’t be afraid to cast a heavy spinnerbait, let it sink a bit and then rip it through the weeds. I fish my spinnerbaits in heavier weeds than I think most guys do, and it’s really successful for me. Especially on an expansive flat. 

[galyonj]

A swimming worm might be nice in grass, too.

[A kid from Canada]

I'd keep using the weedless paddletail like you've been doing, it's one of my favourite ways to fish.  

[casts_by_fly]

20 minutes ago, galyonj said:

What's the bass forage situation there?

 

bluegill and perch, some shad/alewife, the occasional trout this time of year.

 

14 minutes ago, wdp said:

Wakebait burned above the grass. 

 

I was doing that with a hybrid hunter jr (2-4' depth) last night and a high rod tip to keep it in the 1-2' range.  It wasn't bad for catching grass and is something I'll do again.

 

7 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

Even if the weeds are thick, don’t be afraid to cast a heavy spinnerbait, let it sink a bit and then rip it through the weeds. I Fishing my spinner baits in heavier weeds that I think most guys do, and it’s really successful for me. Especially on an expansive flat. 

 

That's what I was doing last night with a 1/2 oz spinner bait and a 1/2 oz chatterbait.  In some places where it hadn't thickened as much you could get it through, but there wasn't much of that and it got to be hard work after a while everywhere else.  If the fish were actively feeding (I pegged them as neutral last night) then burning it across the tops would have been my first choice.

 

3 minutes ago, FryDog62 said:

I'd try 2 different things:

• 1/4-3/8 oz swim jig - just pull it through the weeds near the top of the water column at a consistent speed... going deep as you can without getting too fouled up. I like the the 6th Sense Divine jig with the screw lock for the trailer and it doesn't slide off as you pull thru weed cover.  
• ToadZ along the top with a 5/0 Mustad KVD Grip-pin hook.  It floats unlike other toads, so you can go slow or fast in/around dense weeds depending on what the fish want. Can efficiently cover a lot of water this way...

 

 

These are my usual ways to approach it.  I fish 3/8 and 1/2 swim jigs mostly and like you said.  If the sun is up you can see the holes and drop them in, though it gets tougher when its grey.  Topwaters are no problem for me, that's my bread and butter when the fish are looking up.  I fish the zoom, rage, and Zman (goatz) depending on situation.  I was hoping for alternative solutions.

 

[Darth-Baiter]

Tex rig weightless worm

 

[Fat Ika]

10 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

Hi all

 

i have a local lake that is basically one big grass flat of 150 acres. The depth is 4’ for 90% of it. There are no depth breaks- it’s a big, gradually sloping soft bottomed bowl more or less. Early season it is patchy and low enough that lipless crank baits, jerk baits, and various other moving lures can work big areas. At present the grass is 6-12” below the surface so if you catch a day where they are feeding up you can fish topwaters and cover water. The grass is thick enough now that a spinner bait or chatter bait will be catching a lot of weed through most of it and is borderline inefficient, but if you find an edge you can get it through and the fish are there. Trebles are out of the question now.  You might ask why you’d fish it, but it’s one of my locals with a good ramp and dock, and it consistently puts up volumes of 4-5# bass in tournaments. The challenge is they are spread over 150 acres of grass. I’ve never seen a concentration there. 

 

what other sub surface lures or techniques can cover large expanses of grass flats when the grass is up like this?  A paddle tail on a weighted belly hook gets through it.  I’m thinking a fluke worked just above the grass is an option. What about bottom based techniques?  I was thinking it’s too thick to get a Carolina rig through it. If the suns up you might be able to work a swim jig through the lines or pitch to the bases of the weeds. 
 

thanks

rick

I have a similar situation at 1 body of water in Northern Illinois. I'd imagine you're experiencing rollercoaster of spring fronts in NJ with similar seasons. On warm fronts/low pressure trends/decent wind, varying cadences with a swim jig and even burning a swim jig has produced for me........like you said, when the suns up you can truck a swim jig through the grass and get aggressive reactions. I think the same with the weedless swimbait and fluke as well. The swim jig just seems to cover water a little quicker with easier hooksets. 

[Mobasser]

A fluke or similar soft jerkbait. Lightly weighted if you need to.

[Cbump]

4 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Flipping-n-pitching a Texas Rig or Jig-n-Craw 

What I came to say. 

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, galyonj said:

What's the bass forage situation there?

So often over looked.

But can usually be at least part of the answer. Any water that supports "volumes" of healthy plus sized bass will have the food to feed them.  Find that.

A-Jay

[Derek1]

The bigger rage cutR worm on light weighted belly hook. You can drop it in the holes. Swim it fast or slow. A great option when things to weedy. 

[BustedSwimbait]

In the early morning/late evening times I'd probably be throwing a wake bait or buzz bait. Any other time, would be a swimbait of some sort.

[Mike L]

“Why would I fish it”

Down here that’s gold!

 

*Swim a weightless Magnum Speed Worm or standard size Rage Cut R over the top or depending how thick it is, add a 3/16 and go through it.
*Frog as far back as you can reach.
*Pitch a craw style bait in every hole or thinning area.
*Swim a Skinny Dipper, Big EZ or a Fat Max ribbon around the edges. 
 

 

 

 

Mike