How would you fish this?

[Smirak]

Background - kayak only place. Slough off Tennessee river/Wheeler Lake near Decatur, AL. Whole place never gets deeper than about 2ft. The pads follow each side a small navigable “path” that’s about 4’ wide. Caught a couple small LMs (1-2lbs) here on a magdraft, but I know there have to be donkeys living in amongst all that crap. Very muddy bottom…know from experience the mud is about 8” deep and you can lose a digital scale in it. Full of fat gar all around. Some small bait balls here and there, Garmin doesn’t see anything. 
 

Tried a MB big gabot frog this morning without much success. Had one bite while I was on the phone with my daughter and another missed bite when I figured out my drag wasn’t set tight enough. Other than that, nothing. I fished it alongside the edges of the pads, but that was about it. I didn’t see (at least what I thought) a way to throw the frog up into the pads they are so jumbled. 

 

Advice?

[padlin]

Wonder if lunkers would come out from the weeds at night.

[Smirak]

2 minutes ago, padlin said:

Wonder if lunkers would come out from the weeds at night.

They might, but I would not want to fish that area at night! Hi gator activity area…not to mention most likely the KKK still hangs around the area I’m sure!!!

[casts_by_fly]

Unless I was sure that there were either lots of fish or big fish hanging back in there, I'd probably just fish the edges and cuts.  Fishing the edges and cuts would tell you if there are fish in it.  If you want to proceed, then there are a couple options.  You can try a frog or weightless worm on top, a spoon worked through it, or a texas rigged plastic punched through it.  Its going to be a lot of work to get a lure in and out of it, and you'll want an extra heavy rod and 50+ lb braid for that type of pads.  That's why I'd only do that if I was sure it was worth it.  Just straight pads often don't produce on their own unless they are the only thing around.  Straight flat mud bottom isn't going to attract much either under it.  Gar tell me there is probably low oxygen in there.  If it were me, I'd look at another area.

[Smirak]

Thanks casts…that’s the exact information I was looking for. It’s a beautiful area that screams big fish, but I just don’t think it produces like that. I fished the edges and cuts this morning with only the aforementioned two bites. One tree line separates this area from the actual TN River which I know produces. After paddling the entire area over a couple of trips, there’s not much “infeed/outfeed” to the main river. So, my assumption is that while not stagnant, it’s a stagnant area that doesn’t have a lot of turnover in the area as far as water and wildlife go. If you want to see a blue heron or an egret catch a fish, this place is awesome though! Osprey and eagles too…

[Swamp Girl]

Two feet or less in Alabama? Wouldn't that be the temp of a hot tub? Would bass thrive in water that warm?

[Kyle S]

6 hours ago, Smirak said:

Background - kayak only place. Slough off Tennessee river/Wheeler Lake near Decatur, AL. Whole place never gets deeper than about 2ft. The pads follow each side a small navigable “path” that’s about 4’ wide. Caught a couple small LMs (1-2lbs) here on a magdraft, but I know there have to be donkeys living in amongst all that crap. Very muddy bottom…know from experience the mud is about 8” deep and you can lose a digital scale in it. Full of fat gar all around. Some small bait balls here and there, Garmin doesn’t see anything. 
 

Tried a MB big gabot frog this morning without much success. Had one bite while I was on the phone with my daughter and another missed bite when I figured out my drag wasn’t set tight enough. Other than that, nothing. I fished it alongside the edges of the pads, but that was about it. I didn’t see (at least what I thought) a way to throw the frog up into the pads they are so jumbled. 

 

Advice?

Padfields like that are plentiful on the rivers around my area. Most of the time they are very unproductive. If I were going to spend any amount of time fishing pads that thick, I would seek out a smaller completely isolated pad field or target any sort of pieces of structure/cover within said pad field.

[Sasquatch]

Wait, since when does Decatur have gators? 

[Blue Raider Bob]

16 hours ago, Sasquatch said:

Wait, since when does Decatur have gators? 

He meant mosquitos, they look like gators that fly!

[TnRiver46]

19 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Two feet or less in Alabama? Wouldn't that be the temp of a hot tub? Would bass thrive in water that warm?

They sure do.  I camp in S Alabama every year and catch them all week out of 90+ degree water. Just think about FLA, you won’t find much water without bass in it 

[Smirak]

1 hour ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

He meant mosquitos, they look like gators that fly!

Ha! I grew up in central MS where the state bird is mosquito ?

[Swamp Girl]

58 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

They sure do.  I camp in S Alabama every year and catch them all week out of 90+ degree water. Just think about FLA, you won’t find much water without bass in it 

 

^Just^ shows how little this Yankee knows. Thanks for the info.

[Bankbeater]

I'd hit along the outside edge.  I'd also look for thin growth or a bare hole on the inside of that mess. If those didn't produce any bass I would move on.