green stuff = no topwater?

[FatBoy]

Some of the ponds/lakes around here are covered with this floating green stuff (sorry, don't know what it's called).  It's little green specks that gather together all over the surface, sometimes just near the bank but other times all over the place.  There's a couple of pics of one such pond below.  I know it's poor quality, but hopefully you can see the stuff on the surface (not the scum in the foreground).

My question is, will bass hit a topwater bait through this stuff or not?  It's not really a barrier to them, but I wonder if they can't see a bait on the surface or if they just don't want to come through it?

[senko_77]

ABSOLUTELY!!  

check out my post from a few weeks back

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1155872482

the fish came through the same stuff in your pic to hit my sammy.  

[Shakes]

Hell yes they will. I've fished ponds that actually look like sess pools. Completely covered in those small bb-looking green balls. I'll throw a hollowbody frog like a Spro or River2Sea, something weedless and catch fish. If you drop a worm with a fat weight and get it through the green stuff, you can pull em out that way too.

Good luck

-Aaron

[Shakes]

hey Ryan, you fished your Sammy THROUGH that green stuff? No troubles?

[senko_77]

No, it usually just leaves a green film that coats the bottom of the sammy, all the line, and the reel.  Its real annoying but I dont care if im catching fish.  It also makes it hard to grip the reel handles when you get it on your hand because its really slippery.

[GeneinTX]

Bottle me up about 3000 gallons of that please!!!! those that fish in clear water miss it and want it!!!!

Iused to fish in KY and NY and loved when the surface would cover with that!

[bow3022]

That green scum is great for topwater baits man. Throw a senko out there and reel it in the top, a buzz bait, or better yet a jitterbug. That green scum i think creates shadows for the bass, and when they see its disturbed, there are more chances of them striking. I know that when i fished a senko on scum like that, it would be the best topwater action.

[FatBoy]

Alright!!  I'll keep trying then.  I've been there twice recently, once in the evening and yesterday early morning, and couldn't get a hit on topwater.  I tried buzzbaits and horny toads.  I caught 3 nice ones yesterday - on a senko, a fluke, and the horny toad.  But the one on the horny toad came on a cast up onto the bank and the bass hit it just as I yanked it off the bank into the water.  I've also tried casting the toads onto the thick scum, jerking it around, and then pulling it off into the water, but nothing on that either.  Hmmm...

[BassHunter266]

:oHello, any frog will work?!

[BD]

Turn over.......the question.......heck yes!!!!

Frogs baby.

See links, same type of conditions.

http://mighty-hero.panicnow.net/Fish/7.5lber.JPG  grass with the fish inside it!!   http://mighty-hero.panicnow.net/Fish/7.5lber_Grass_1.JPG

http://mighty-hero.panicnow.net/Fish/6lber.JPG   notice the same type muck?

These fish were from the same day...

Good luck.

[Avalonjohn44]

Salad spoon or scum frog time.  Even a weightless texas rigged worm will work dragging across the vegetation.  I love fishing that crud.

[BucketmouthAngler13]

That stuff is perfect for Scum or Spro frog.

and if there are no weeds, run a tripple bladed buzzbait nice and slow.

[tfisherman]

On of the biggest fish I ever hooked was from a pond that looked like split pea soup.I worked my spook in the shallow cove and BLAM!

he shot straight up like a rocket with the bait laying sideways in his mouth,I set the hook in mid air.he fell back down and fought for a couple sec's and was loose.Worse place to hook a fish,sideways in the mouth!

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

If that's an algal bloom bass could be having a very tough time getting oxygen, making them lethargic, barely existing, and possibly suffering from toxicity. If duckweed and/or watermeal there will be a problam getting enough sunlight into the water to support submersed plants. Individual duckweed plants are pea sized and slimy feeling, while watermeal is more the size of a grain of lentil, feeling gritty. In moderation duckweed enhances the fishing experience, but if left untreated can destroy the bass community beginning with the largest fish that require more oxygen. That pond would be better off with a variety of aquatic plants occupying bottom to surface and above surface.

If using a topwater lure without fouling I'd be amazed. A T-rigged plastic worm would be my choice, worked across the green until falling into open water, even a tiny hole. A good hole would be next to a wood stickup where the plants get separated from the wood by wind or current. A good topwater lure would be a grass frog. Lures with treble hooks are prone to harvesting duckweed with every cast to the point a bass would only see a glob of weed. Watermeal encapsulates a treble lure, coating it so that a bass might only react to moving weed.

Algae can be much different. Filamentous algae will load a treble hook up like floating strands of hydrilla, only less likely to be shaken off, not as resistant to water, so more likely to be brought into the boat. Some algae plants are microscopic in size, the beneficial phytoplankton species, good in moderation. A pond properly stocked with plant eating fish moderates it.

Jim

[FatBoy]

Thanks, Jim.  I think this stuff must be watermeal since it definitely feels gritty.  It covers a large portion of the surface, but it doesn't seem to be hurting the underwater plants.  This place is absolutley FILLED with milfoil (or coontail, not sure which) that comes to 3-4' of the surface.  The place looks like bass heaven to me.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Try a Horny Toad as well. When you get that green crap all over your gear, its easier to throw away a plastic frog than it is to clean a $20 topwater bait...

[nboucher]

I'd also suggest a super fluke in that 3-4' space between the green stuff and the plants.

[CrazedL.IFisherman]

I second the salad spoon, but my favorite for that stuff with out a doubt would be a moss boss

[RoLo]

(sorry, don't know what it's called).

It's called "Duckweed"

For the scientific oriented, duckweed is a floating, unrooted plant. Since it's not rooted in the bottom

duckweed has no depth constraints but prefers stagnant, fertile water where floating mats

can completely shutout the sunlight. There are three forms of duckweed:

GREATER DUCKWEED

(Spirodela polyrhiza)

Shaped like tiny seashells up to 1/8 diameter Each plant has several dangling roots

LESSER DUCKWEED

(Lemna minor)

Leaves shaped like tiny insoles averaging 3/32 inch across Each plant has a single dangling root

WATERMEAL

(Wolffia columbiana)

Appears like floating green grain about 1/32 in diameter, has no roots

When I lived in Georgia, I had a backyard pond that was infested with greater duckweed.

I never bothered to eradicate the duckweed only because emergent vegetation along the shoreline

had a head start on the duckweed. Eventually, I believe the duckweed would have overtaken my pond.

Roger

[SPEEDBEAD.]

RoLo, Great description...nice avatar by the way.

[RoLo]

Thanx!

[skumfrog]

scumm froggggg!!! holy cow you will have fun!!!!

[Pa Angler]

A Zoom Horny Toad works on it I fished Black Lake, NY in stuff like that and the explosions on the bait were incredible. 8-)