Need advice - how to fish lakes full of vegetation
Hey guys, I am hoping some of you can help me out! I moved to an area where the only fishing is in lakes. Known fish are bass, catfish, panfish, and some pickerel.
I have no boat so I only fish from shore. All of my tackle consists of spinners, crank baits, minnow baits, and other Rapala type lures. Every single casts results in instantly getting stuck in the "seaweed" and reeling in a huge hunk of vegetation.
The areas I can cast from shore range from to 5 to 15 feet deep.
Can you guys give me some suggestions for fishing these areas? I am unsuccessful because every cast gets caught in junk as soon as it goes below the surface...
I've tried floating lures like frogs and poppers - luckily those don't get stuck in stuff, but I haven't had any luck with them yet.
Thanks in advance, it means a lot.
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by alrashid2
Carolina rigs
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by BigOslick
"weedless" rigs. texas rigged senkos for example. go out of your way to pay extra for the fine tipped bullet weights. The blunted ones will still likely be somewhat problematic in your situation if its that bad.
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by walterh3
Texas rigged plastics.
I know you don't want to hear "frogs" but "frogs". It's not a luck thing, it's a putting in the time thing. Start youtubing, it's a dark art.
Another option is trying to stay shallow water - Rebel's Crayfish crankbait is good at staying ~1 foot below the surface and makes a bunch of vibrations for bass to notice.
Another option is to replace your crankbait hooks with single J or circle hooks(make sure to get the ones with the eye twisted 90 degrees). They grab way, way, way less vegetation than treble hooks.
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by RandomPantsAppear
Worms, worms, worms, plastic worms with no tails. Rig them Texas style (weedless) and cast on top of Lilly pads and other vegetation. Use different colors based on weather, and water color. I prefer Gary Yamamoto stick baits. They come in a wide variety of colors, and have a bit more weight to them then other worms, which improves casting distance.
Good luck!
Straykatzscrap wrote:
Worms, worms, worms, plastic worms with no tails. Rig them Texas style (weedless) and cast on top of Lilly pads and other vegetation. Use different colors based on weather, and water color. I prefer Gary Yamamoto stick baits. They come in a wide variety of colors, and have a bit more weight to them then other worms, which improves casting distance.
Good luck!
If you are going to be fishing there regularly my suggestion is a steel rake head and a brick. Clean out a few lanes for yourself for the future. When they see and hear those new lures rolling past you will have some serious fun. If you don't want to put the time in, the texas rig is what you want.
fishrmans
Loc: Waushara Cnty Wisconsin and Port Charlotte Fl
Take a regular steel rake. Drill a hole at the end of the handle big enough to put a nylon cord through it and have about 25-30 feet of cord. Put a loop in it to tie around your wrist. Toss it out as far as you can and pull in the weeds. Takes a little time the first time but it works. I do this in the channels in Florida all the time. A bonus is that the bass like to check out those open areas. Still use a little heavier line cause they like to head for the weeds when caught and you still have to pull em out.
fishrmans
Loc: Waushara Cnty Wisconsin and Port Charlotte Fl
I mostly fish for Oskar and Mayan cichlids in the channels down here but same principle.
We had a lake with a severe agricultural runoff weed problem that it would clog up the wooden slatted 2x6 dam spillways and need to be cleaned out. Taking the boards out and encouraging the weed to wash through was the only solution. It was a three foot thick mat. We put a kid up front in a Jon boat, gave him an oar to stick in, and pushed. It worked fine until one day the driver revved the engine and flipped Butch right over into the morass. He wasn't a terribly good swimmer, but I doubt that mattered.. Two of us fished around, got hold of him and hauled him and a good 50 lbs of weed back into the boat. He looked like the creature from the black lagoon, draped in six inches of weed, head to toe. We used takes tied to a car after that.
Butch, if you are reading this, glad we got you out buddy!
That was takes, not takes.
FS Digest wrote:
Hey guys, I am hoping some of you can help me out! I moved to an area where the only fishing is in lakes. Known fish are bass, catfish, panfish, and some pickerel.
I have no boat so I only fish from shore. All of my tackle consists of spinners, crank baits, minnow baits, and other Rapala type lures. Every single casts results in instantly getting stuck in the "seaweed" and reeling in a huge hunk of vegetation.
The areas I can cast from shore range from to 5 to 15 feet deep.
Can you guys give me some suggestions for fishing these areas? I am unsuccessful because every cast gets caught in junk as soon as it goes below the surface...
I've tried floating lures like frogs and poppers - luckily those don't get stuck in stuff, but I haven't had any luck with them yet.
Thanks in advance, it means a lot.
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by alrashid2
Hey guys, I am hoping some of you can help me out!... (
show quote)
Hi al
Getting stuck in weeds is part of the art. I like to use plastic baits on a Carolina rig, you will still get weeds but if you wait for the bite, you will also bring in some fish. I also like to use top water baits, whether they are spinners, Rapalas or poppers all produce at their appropriate time of the season. Don't give up they're out there waiting for you to present the right bait.
I like the weeds myself, fun bouncing across them and watching the water explode when they hit, but damn! what a great idea!!! I have a few old rakes laying around anyhow! Time to put them to use! Thank you for the suggestion!
Raking is a great idea as well as texas rigs and top water lures with weedles hooks. Don't forget to put on heavy line to horse those big ones out of the weeds!
Garry
Loc: Wellborn, Florida
I use a Mossboss lure, You won't believe It will work to look at it, but it will always land with the hook up.
Work it slow with a slight jerky or trimbley motion stopping and making it trimble at the edge of any open spots before sliding it into the hole. Be ready fore an explosion, when you get it count "one thousand one" and set the hook hard. You may have to wade to fish, use heavy line.
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