Fishing hydrella

[Glass_Man]

Hello again folks. I fished yesterday and had a good day, 6 lb bass and a few 2 to 3 lb. The water hase been lowered witch leaves alot of Hydrella (sorry about the spelling) I did the frog thing, the rat thing but nothing worked. How do I get down to the big bass ? I got alot of them on the edge with shinners but I want that big one. HELP

[JT Bagwell]

I don't know what kind of water depths you are fishing, but one thing I like to do in weeds is rip 3/4 oz Rat-L-Traps through them. I also like to swim jigs through the weeds.

JT Bagwell

[Glass_Man]

Water depth is frome 3 to 8 ft. A rattle trap would just float on top of it. This is HEAVY stuff.

[JT Bagwell]

If you are fishing the Really Thick business, try using a 1 oz jig or a Kreature bait with a 1 oz weight and flip the pockets.

The Rat-L-Trap is what I use more in sparsley populated weeds (or along the outter edges).

JT Bagwell

[Glass_Man]

Kreature bait ? What color jig ? I am guessing you cast out the jig and leave it in one place ?  Thanks for your help and paentice  

[Raul]

The problem you 're facing is not with what but how and to find out how you have to look closely what features the hydrilla has. First of all how much "free" water is between the surface and the hydrilla bed, if the hydrilla touches the surface move to another spot,  there 's nobody there, stand up and look at the hydrilla bed, a huge expanse of weeds of the same height is telling you that the weed bed is located upon a relatively flat surface, not a good place to look for fish either, but if you take a good look at it and even if the surface is big you will see "dark" spots, what those dark spots or openings are telling you is that the bottom is irregular, it has deeper places, now you have a breaking point, cast far behind those dark spots and reel in towards them, the momment your bait reaches the edge of the dark spot let your bait fall, normally fish are located in the cover right next to where the spot is formed. Avoid regular expanses of weeds, look for isolated patches. Isolated patches means that the bottom has different depths, isolated patches are irregular in shape, irregularities in the shape are what attract fish to them. Fish on the opposite side to where the sun is shining, bass prefer to stay in the shade, not because they are bothered by the sunlight, it 's because they can be seen by their prey so they will bury in the weeds but will stay close to where the weeds end and open water begins, opposite to where the sun is shining the shade will extend for several feet beyond the weed bed.

[Glass_Man]

Raul, Thanks so much for takeing the time to explaine in such detial. I saw the spots you were talking about. The fishing here is fantastic, but it will get better when I learn what I'm doing. Tight lines         Glass Man. P.S if your ever in pc e-mail me, I'll show you a few good spots  

[Chris]

If you can get on the lake in the winter or early spring take some time to map out the lake. Try to find a hard bottom, drop offs, or something that will hold fish to an area maybe a depth change. Alot of times its not whats on top that holds the fish but whats under the weeds. This is when you want to pitch a tube because it will get into the holes without hanging up. When the hydrilla tops out the bottom stems don't get sunlight and will create tunnels. Sometimes they will break off and pile up on a wind blown bank. In the spring when you have the first growth rattletraps work great or a carolina rig. In the summer fish the holes. Pockets and points of grass can be productive too.

[Fl._Flippin_Fool]

You can also flip a paddle tail worm with w one oz weight, the fish here on Lake Seminole Love the Black and Blue and june bug Paddle tails fished this way. ;D

[abelfisher]

Hey RAUL,  GREAT PIECE OF EXPLAINING!  THANKS FOR THE TIPS

[playmaker47]

Pitch a 3/8 oz black & blue jig into the pockets in the weeds. just pitch it in and twitch it up and down a few times, then reel it in and pitch it to another spot. also that same technique works great with a texas riged plastic worm. Ive had best results with a black zoom trick worm.