Going Weedless?

[hatrix]

There is a local pond I like to fish often but the problem is that it is basically covered in curly leaf pond weed. This really limits what i can throw to things like any thing T rigged or a jig. For the most part any hard bait unless its top water is out of the question even if it only runs 1-3'. I have been thinking about replacing the hooks on cranks with weedless hooks. I have never tried to put weedless hooks on a crank bait so this would be new to me. I have looked at both singles and trebles and it seems like singles would offer the best option for weedless. I think trebles might work but when I rip it it seems like the guard might just bend and it will grab the weeds any ways so I am not sure that is the way to go. Like I had said the pond has some serious heavy cover and any pointer on how to make hard baits more weedless would be much appreciated. On a side note just messing around I took all the hooks of a lipless crank just to SEE what I been missing and they where nailing it. I even caught one with no hooks. Somehow it got it wedge sideways just right in its mouth so that I got it all the way in and actually had to pop the bait out. It was pretty cool to catch one with no hooks since that was a first for me and probably a last.

[Hooligan]

If the growth isn't to the top you can capitalize on that. running baits over the top of the weed bed can be really awesome. Dragging a spinnerbait through the slop is excellent, too. Get your self a 3/4oz NorthStar and grind away. In this instance a single willow is what I've found to work best. Many say that a single CO blade is the most weedless, I disagree. If there are any lanes at all, run a rattle bait in them.

[hatrix]

I do use spinners there every so often since they are basically weedless and I do agree that willows seem to deflect more weeds for me then my colorados. I already run baits over the tops of weeds(flukes kill it) but if its not weedless and you touch that pond weed its going to grab a ton of it and it becomes really hard to shake it no matter how much you try. For some reason fish wont bite a lure with 2 pounds of pond weeds hanging off it so I am trying to make some of my other baits as weedless as possible so I can actually use them there. I don't always fish with what is the most productive lure at the time. Sometimes I like to fish how I feel at that time. I am not always in the mood to use slow moving weedless baits. Some times I just want to make a lot of casts and use baits that cover more water even though it might be less productive if you know what I mean.

[webertime]

http://www.***.com/Sworming_Hornet_Sling_Blade_Flutter/descpage-SHSF.html

You can use these with just about any fluke/swimbait. You get a bit of flash and they are very weedless. I tossed a Keitech Fat Impact with one most of the day Sunday and only got weeds (a VERY weedy pond) after I missed a hit and the hook got exposed.

As for the weedless trebles I've always had them catch weeds anyway.

Try twitching a floating rapala along the surface?

[kayakfisher]

try the sebile flatt shad snagless

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120640992816#vi-content

[repper]

Have you tried frogs? or toads? Or weightless worms, with the hook buried for weedlessness? I've got worms that really do float, and would be great for this spot.

[fishnabarrel]

Cranks will always catch weeds, weedless hooks or not. This is the same problem I have at a local stomping ground. A switch to soft plastics may be the only thing to do, and you should pull fish out when fish go into their beds

[bman310]

I fish a few very high pressured & small city lakes and I love fishing the one with the weed growth best. I used to always fish the senkos and other plastics weedless. Now I've been going Tex-Exposed and working my plastics on the outside weed edges and on top of them too. It really allows me to work at different depths in the water column too. I've learned to use the weed growth to my advantage.

Keep an open mind and keep trying different techniques and presentations and remember it takes time. You don't want to know how much time I've had to put in at my lakes.

Brian

[Fat-G]

I can only hope you will take this advice:

Keel-weighted Rage Tail plastics.

[USMCSANDERS]

I would say use a spinner bait also. I fish a small lake that has parts that has heavy covering, and a spinner bait will just rip right through it. take a look at the booyah spinner bait pond magic series either a 3/16 oz or 1/8 oz. they work great!

[Chris]

try a floating rattletrap