Deep water hydrilla

[Brian_Reeves]

How do you locate, mark, and effectively fish deep hydrilla weedbeds in the heat of the summer?  I'm having complications staying on the weedline and picking up strikes.  I know that 9 fishermen out of 10 here at Stillhouse use brown or green jigs so I went with a watermelonseed hulagrub on a stone jig head to show them something a little different, but I can't seem to get bit.  Should I be fishing the jig vertically next to the boat or making short casts to the weedline (once I get some marker bouys to mark the weedline)?  I'm at a loss.  

The water here is as clear as you can get and the depths range from 6ft-30ft along the weedlines.  Thanks in advance for any help.

[Matt Fly]

Still house off the little island is deep and the most effective way is vertical presentation.

[Brian_Reeves]

Matt, you talking about the east/south side of the island with the roadbed, rebar tree, and submerged bridge?  If so, I've vertically fished that sucker until I couldn't stand it anymore.

What are some techniques that get those jigs into the strike zone?  How far out do you cast or do you just drop it overboard?  Do you constantly troll or bump and go or just drift?  How long do you keep the bait in the water before you re-cast?  Do you fish the weedlines or the grass beds?

Sorry I'm asking so many questions but I can't seem to get this right.   Thanks for the help.

[Randall]

I fish jigs on deep weedlines by using a combination of feel and my depthfinder. I have found that most people dont have the feel I do to stay on the edge when fishing with others who have never fished this way. The feel just comes from experience. I use braid or fluro and a jig heavy enough to tell if I am in the weeds or not. I make a pitch just a short distance from the boat and lift and shake the jig feeling for weeds and a bite at the same time. I can usually tell when I am on the edge by feel and move my boat in and out as I move down the weedline adjusting to stay on the edge keeping the boat a short distance (10-15 feet) from the edge. I dont leave my jig in one spot very long but lift and shake it a time or two and then make another pitch. I use it as a search bait looking for fish that will bite. I only slow down or stop when I catch a fish. The easy place to learn to do this is on the edge of a well defined channel since the grass will often grow to the edge of the channel but not in the channel allowing you to have a better feel of where the grass ends and you can tell by looking at your depth finder if you are over the channel or not. Another way to learn this and get more strikes while learning than with a jig is to fish a four inch senko on a Spot Stalker head. I think the website is www.bassstalker.com. You will get more strikes in most cases but its the same technique.