That's a bunch of "Bull---- ! "

[silvercliff_46]

Bullrush that is

I watch all these bass fishing shows, including the tournament shows. Rarely if ever do I see anyone fishing bullrush, wild rice, or cattails (some Florida shows maybe). I don't know why. These always seem like money spots to me. They are the first place AND last place I will fish. There always seems to be something in there.

So as it is said today "SUP WID DAT"

[Beale_Bass]

I guess it's just the way you fish growing up!

Cattails are a cover I'll fish, but I can't walk away from rock piles in ANY body of water, no matter what I'm fishing for.

[avid]

Your right about bullrushes and bass in Florida.

They are often very productive.

I have caught bass off of bullrushes or whatever it is looks like them,  when all other spots were skunk holes.

[HAMMER23]

Just something to think about, I was recently running a airboat in a nearby waterway just playing around in the marsh, I ran the airboat up in the cattails and parked it. After a few minutes of talking i noticed movement in the cattails " tree frogs" and I mean a lot of them, for some reason there were green tree frogs gathered on the stems of the plants , other than cover this could be a reason fish hold to this type of cover. It could also be a food source. JUST A THOUGHT ?

[silvercliff_46]

Just something to think about, I was recently running a airboat in a nearby waterway just playing around in the marsh, I ran the airboat up in the cattails and parked it. After a few minutes of talking i noticed movement in the cattails " tree frogs" and I mean a lot of them, for some reason there were green tree frogs gathered on the stems of the plants , other than cover this could be a reason fish hold to this type of cover. It could also be a food source. JUST A THOUGHT ?

Your right those areas are rich in food sources, my question I guess, is why you don't see many guys on the shows fishing there.  They fish wood, pads, grass, docks, but it just does seem like they hit the rushes and cattails much????

[bigtimfish]

How bout the king of private ponds and cattails MR. BILL DANCE !! fishes them all the time.

[CWB]

My home lake had a huge expanse of bullrushes poisoned last year by a group of homeowners even though it is against local law to remove emergent vegetation. I almost cried when I pulled up to find a bare bottom where there used to be a goldmine of bass habitat. Used to be my never fail spot.  :'(

[DINK WHISPERER]

I hardly ever fish cattails on my lakes! I have found them to be quite unproductive. I will beat the crap out of the bullrush though. I would say that 90% of my fish come from bullrush all year long!

[silvercliff_46]

I hardly ever fish cattails on my lakes! I have found them to be quite unproductive. I will beat the crap out of the bullrush though. I would say that 90% of my fish come from bullrush all year long!

After spending a couple of years on Mayport Naval base, and seeing the growth; I bet your cattails are just about thick enough to build on. Come to think of it, I think some guys tried to sell me a couple of acres of it. ;D

[Chris]

I grew up fishing grass(anything that is a weed in the water) and there is a little technique to it that makes it productive. You also need to understand that the bottom line for most of the shows on TV is that they are paid to sell you the idea that what they are using is something you can not live without. Now how many lures can you use in grass and how many of those lure companies are going to dish out the cash for them to sell the idea to you. It is more "pro" to use lure xyz then lure abc or technique xyz than abc. Look at who sponsored the show and then you understand what lures they are selling you and why those lures work in the areas they fish and why they don't use them in the grass because they foul up. TV shows have changed in many ways from teaching you how to fish to buy this because it catches more fish. They either lack the teaching aspect or they override it with the marketing aspect. Now lets teach you something. When you fish grass key areas that hold fish are: when two different forms of grass meet (or many forms), a change in depth, points of grass, cuts in the grass or depressions, thick areas, where the grass lays down to form overhead cover(broken by wind), where hard cover meets grass, change in bottom like a transition of sand and mud, break lines where it is to deep to grow because of a drop off, new growth, places where the grass is free floating and pushed into an area because of wind, old growth that has topped out and formed overhead cover.

[Sam]

Just something to think about, I was recently running a airboat in a nearby waterway just playing around in the marsh, I ran the airboat up in the cattails and parked it. After a few minutes of talking i noticed movement in the cattails " tree frogs" and I mean a lot of them, for some reason there were green tree frogs gathered on the stems of the plants , other than cover this could be a reason fish hold to this type of cover. It could also be a food source. JUST A THOUGHT ?

Your right those areas are rich in food sources, my question I guess, is why you don't see many guys on the shows fishing there. They fish wood, pads, grass, docks, but it just does seem like they hit the rushes and cattails much????

Because it is too difficult for the divers to hook the bass on the bait in the bullrushes, etc.???      

[Fishing Rhino]

The pond I regularly fish has a shoreline of thick viney emergent vegetation in most places.  Against these vines, in the slightly deeper water is a band of thick water hyacinth.

This area teems with life, insect and aquatic.  From this thicket comes the constant slurping and splashing of fish dining on bugs and probably small frogs.

Swallows and other insect eating birds flock to these areas in the summer, feeding on the swarms of insects attracted by the blossoms of these plants.

Most of the fish are small, but occasionally you will see the water hyacinth parting as a larger bass bulldozes its way through as it pursues a meal.

A canoe can wedge its way into the hyacinth, but the viney vegetation is absolutely impenetrable.  

A natural hiding place for fry and minnows, it is a veritalble smorgasboard for small, hungry bass.

The majority of bass are caught right against the edge of this thicket.

[silvercliff_46]

Chris you have hit on something that I am sure is "TRUTH" relative to all wildlife.

As I have said before I am a life long hunter and was in the commercial trapper/wildlife control business. I learned from older trappers that the productive areas were the "Ecotones" This is a term that old trappers wouldn't use if they knew what it meant, but they knew what it was.

Ecotones are those areas where two or more different covers meet, that are not made up of either type of cover. :-? :-? :-?

As an example; you have an alfalfa field meeting a corn field and a woods, that narrow area between the corn field, and alfalfa field. The area between either field and woods, you will find a narrow band that has different qualities then any major cover around it. These are ecotones.

Two track roadways, fence lines, Ag ditches, tiny creeks in woods or field, et al are ecotones, and are highway areas for BOTH prey and preditor.

Another bit of advise I got from an old trapper was to visualize the area you wanted to trap (or hunt) filled with water, then pull the plug. Watch how the water runs out of it, those will also be keys to the travel routes of your game. When you match the flow of the route to an ecotone, and your in fat city.

Maybe I am wrong, but it seems when your hunting, your trapping, and when your trapping your fishing, and when your fishing your hunting, and so goes the circle.

But that's just one old guys opinion :-/

[Raul]

I have a love-hate relationship with bullrushes, I love them cuz I know there are fish hiding there, I hate them because they overrun and choke to death the ponds. In my nearby lakes they don 't grow, the slope and bottom composition deter them from growing, but the ponds are another planet, they can ruin bass/bluegill ponds pretty fast.

[Matt Fly]

You don't see them fished alot in Texas lakes either.   Thats not saying there isn't fish in them or around them or bullrushes are not found in Texas.  They are.

   Its just not the dominant shoreline vegitation in Texas.   Another thing in Tx,   we are now a very heavily populated state.   Our lakes and resorvoirs are being pumped hard every day to support demands.

   Alot of times, when a lake gets below pool, those areas are no longer in the water for months, maybe years in some areas in TX.

   Remember, part of Tx was in a drought for over 10 years, and lakes 20-65 feet low, thus that vegitation didn't survive.