Weedy and shallow Lake Baits

[Catt]

@N Florida Mike

Speed Worm - Mr Twister Buzz Worm Fluke - Mpack Shad

Baby Brush Hog  - 6th Sense Hogwalla

 

Different profiles 😉

[Johnbt]

"like to cast their worm out and light a cigarette and they don't even move it till they're done smoking the first 100 mm."

 

I used to catch more fish that way - bass, catfish, pier fishing, surf fishing, boat fishing, everywhere. Lures, nightcrawlers, minnows, cut bait, whole fish, everything.  And then I quit smoking about 15 years ago.

 

Maybe there were more fish back then?

 

P.S. - a largemouth will pick a spinnerbait up off the mucky, swampy bottom after it's been sitting a minute or three. Maybe it was the grub trailer that attracted them, but they ended up in the boat.

[little giant]

South Florida here. One of the small lakes I go to has a lot of eelgrass and some big bass live there.Its 10' or less, eelgrass not on the surface now. I use a gambler fat ace, xmas color, weightless, 4/0 circle hook, cast it and leave it alone for at least a full minute, sometimes longer, they find it or I reel and twitch very slowly.

OR, same bait T rigged 5/0 Tru-turn hook, (remember those?) , 1/8 pegged weight.

OR 1/2 oz dirty jig swim jig, bluegill w/ z man 4" diesel minnow white ish.

OR T rigged weightless reaction innovations beaver, green pumpkin.

Slow is the key to all these setups.

7+ lb bass is the norm, but just 1 or 2 in 3- 4 hrs

[woolleyfooley]

On 1/3/2025 at 5:27 PM, Jigfishn10 said:

When I was in FLA for a week, I had a 4 hour window and went out with a guide. Kind of a last minute thing. As a fair warning, he said that the fishing had been terrible. I fished with a swim senko, T-rigged with an 1/8 oz sinker. 
 

Long casts, just swimming the bait and dropping inTo pockets. Must have caught closed to 15 in that 4 hour window. He said it was the best 4 hours he had with a client in a week.

 

So ok, swim senko  

 

On 1/3/2025 at 5:28 PM, wdp said:

I fish 3-4 shallow weedy lakes, with bunch of lily pads too. I always fish topwater, usually Ribbit and Horny Toads swimming frogs. I added another to the rotation this past yr - the Zoom swimming frog that floats and made outta foam. You can pause it plus it’s a loud swimmer. 
 

Other good baits to use are weightless flukes & zoom ultra vibe speed worms. Love buzzing a speed worm over shallow grass. The magnum worms cast well and will slow sink in the gaps of grass & pads.

 

 Sometimes I’ll use a small 1/16 oz or 1/8 oz t rigged trick worm or magnum speed craw if grass is sparse enough. Wakebaits work great in sparse grass too & along weeds edges.

 

Oh yeah, and as mentioned, weightless senko seems to always catch em. T rigged weightless doesn’t get hung too bad even in thick grass. 

What color for the worms? June bug I’m guessing?

[Jigfishn10]

20 minutes ago, woolleyfooley said:

 

What color for the worms? June bug I’m guessing?

Ding ding ding, we have a winner

[wdp]

1 hour ago, woolleyfooley said:

 

What color for the worms? June bug I’m guessing?

Yep, Junebug works well for me in Spring when water is more stained. Early summer when water clears up, I do really well with Zoom’s watermelon magic color. But I’m in Mississippi. My understanding is Junebug is the deal in FL year round. 

[wdp]

@N Florida Mike One lure you might try is a Gambler Flappin’ Shad. It’s kinda a hybrid of a fluke style bait. Don’t know if you’ve ever tried em. You can cut a downward slit at an angle in the paddle tail and it’ll buzz kinda like the Zoom speed worms. They’re easy to keep on the surface and outta that slimy algae you mentioned. I call that stuff snot grass. 🤣 Hate fishing in it. Frustrating, especially when it gets really thick. 😬

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Gambler_Flappn_Shad_Soft_Jerkbaits/descpage-GFS.html

 

[N Florida Mike]

@wdp June bug works good all year, but best in the winter and spring when the water is stained ( just like you said). In the summer and fall , watermelon red on sunny days, and watermelon seed on cloudier days. I’ll pull out the junebug the last hour or so of daylight in summer and fall…

I’ll try that gambler flappin shad. 
 

 

 

[VolFan]

Take the colors you just mentioned and get some RageTail Space Monkeys. You can buzz it like a toad and then let it fall in holes like a beaver/craw. It is a ton of fun to fish.

[Mr. Aquarium]

On 1/3/2025 at 4:53 PM, woolleyfooley said:

@Mr. Aquariumany particular brands/models you would recommend?

DS customs! It’s not cheap, but it’s a niche bait. It will float or rig it to make it suspend in super shallow water or sink ultra slow.  It shines where other glide baits will get hung up because they sink.     You can fish it like a big jerkbait, just slowly twitch and pause. I love slow reel bumps. I’ve caught some really big New England bass on this bait in pre spawn. 8lbs 2 ounce, 7lbs 5 ounce and 7lbs 1 ounce in my first month of fishing this bait between March and April. Also had a lot of smaller fish sub 7lbs fish on it too.

[N Florida Mike]

@Pat Brown 

On 1/4/2025 at 9:17 AM, Pat Brown said:

weightless trick, worm or even a finesse worm from Zoom

I use these regularly. I don’t use braid much, except on my heaviest combo. I usually use 10 or 12 pound mono . I don’t remember ever having a fish break it off in the grass. I do concentrate on the edges because the grassy areas are generally less than 3 feet deep, and I can’t get too close without spooking fish. 
Fishing a worm slowly is a less known technique. I used to anchor in deep holes and throw out a manns jelly worm. I once caught a 6 pounder after letting it sit for 15 minutes!! Thanks for the reminder!

 

[woolleyfooley]

7 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

DS customs! It’s not cheap, but it’s a niche bait. It will float or rig it to make it suspend in super shallow water or sink ultra slow.  It shines where other glide baits will get hung up because they sink.     You can fish it like a big jerkbait, just slowly twitch and pause. I love slow reel bumps. I’ve caught some really big New England bass on this bait in pre spawn. 8lbs 2 ounce, 7lbs 5 ounce and 7lbs 1 ounce in my first month of fishing this bait between March and April. Also had a lot of smaller fish sub 7lbs fish on it too.

Sweet! I’ll have to check it out! Thank you!

 

Edit: I’m assuming you mean the shad glide? I see an 8 inch or a 6.5 inch. Are they both good?

[papajoe222]

Quote

Quote

 

You've likely done this before, if not, give it a shot.

A 4in.-6in. tube Texas rigged, with just enough weight (pegged) so it will fall into any openings, but light enough to keep the tube on top when reeling it in.  It will get blow-ups like a frog, but sink when paused over an opening. Sometimes a flippin' hook is just enough weight.

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

4 hours ago, woolleyfooley said:

Sweet! I’ll have to check it out! Thank you!

 

Edit: I’m assuming you mean the shad glide? I see an 8 inch or a 6.5 inch. Are they both good?

I fish both but I prefer the 8 inch glide 

[woolleyfooley]

20 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

I fish both but I prefer the 8 inch glide 

Man they’re heavy! I guess I have a reason to get a new rod. What do you throw yours on?

[primetime]

Easiest way to fish and most fun imo is buzzing a swimming worm, paddle tail swimbait, toad on top or throwing any topwater lure. However, fish will not always be willing to come to the surface or react to anything near it.

 

Why I like the Swim Senko or speed worms, or I will fish a creature bait on top with the same action like a rage craw or menace and then let it fall....I tend to use 1/8 to 3/16 the most pegged, but if you find a productive area you can go heavy and let a bait sit on bottom in the holes and often times you get bit on the fall or lifting slowly, shaking etc....     

 

If you can get a trap or chatterbait through it and rip it out, usually works well....Also try not pegging your weight, when the weight gets stuck, rip it out and repeat. 

 

hard to give an exact answer since so many variables but hard to beat soft plastics weedless and you can essentially throw any bait you have confidence in. More compact creatures and stick worms will get through weeds easily and if muck, I avoid a bobber stop and EWG hooks, I like to use the rubber pegs and I find EWG hooks just get more junk on them and a straight shank offset worm hook with bullet weight is easier to fish in heavy weeds. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

19 hours ago, woolleyfooley said:

Man they’re heavy! I guess I have a reason to get a new rod. What do you throw yours on?

A Dobyns 806 and a Daiwa Luna 253 on 20lbs Big Game. Yea it’s a big bait, I love it cuz it shines where other glides struggle. I fish it in super shallow water, where jerkbaits, cranks, other glides get hung up.  It calls out fish and is super natural!    You can crawl the bait like a big jerkbait in cold water or burn it!  Rig it anyway you want by changing the hooks out. Donald Sanders, owner,  posts a lot of IG and Facebook. Great guy too! 

[Mr. Aquarium]

On 1/7/2025 at 5:50 PM, woolleyfooley said:

Man they’re heavy! I guess I have a reason to get a new rod. What do you throw yours on?

For the record, I’m not sponsored by him, I just love his baits. 

[TriStateBassin106]

can't go wrong with a weedless senko or a pegged texas rigged creature bait, what kind of grass are we talking about?