Besides topwater. Needs to be weedless like  a senko, these pads are thick

I use pegged texas rigs and flukes/stickbaits mostly.  You either have to get through the top layer of pads or fish on top of them really.

 

Weightless flukes tend to come through the pads a little better if you can get them down through an opening though.  Many times i wil lswitch from a stick bait to a fluke becasue the stickbait keeps getting hung on the pad stalks.

Swim jig with heavy braid

Swim jig with heavy braid

20 lb braid enough? Its all i've got

Faced thick pads on two bodies of water recently.  Two different presentations with lots of hits on each, but both across the top.  Frogs - dozen hits and zero hook-ups.  Flukes skittered across the top and lots of hits and 90%+ hook-ups.  I wouldn't have even tried to get under the surface at either lake.  Even my most weedless presentations wouldn't have made it more than a couple feet successfully.

Faced thick pads on two bodies of water recently.  Two different presentations with lots of hits on each, but both across the top.  Frogs - dozen hits and zero hook-ups.  Flukes skittered across the top and lots of hits and 90%+ hook-ups.  I wouldn't have even tried to get under the surface at either lake.  Even my most weedless presentations wouldn't have made it more than a couple feet successfully.

Topwater hasn't worked here yet, the bass aren't quite ready it seems. And its chilly out 45 degrees

I'd go 50 min....20 would cause me problems in the FL pads I fish.

20 lb braid enough? Its all i've got

 

I'd go 50 min....20 would cause me problems in the FL pads I fish.
 

that's why im looking for a weedless lure

The problem with fishing pads is after the fish takes your lure, you need to go after him or horse him out. 20# in the pads is asking for trouble. You need heavy braid when fishing pads, no matter what you are throwing, IMO.

that's why im looking for a weedless lure

65 ib braid on my rig. I wouldn't even think about slowing down until u pick up a few on the swim jig. Not to mention heavy braid tends to cut threw the pads.

The problem with fishing pads is after the fish takes your lure, you need to go after him or horse him out. 20# in the pads is asking for trouble. You need heavy braid when fishing pads, no matter what you are throwing, IMO.

 

Would a senko on a jig work?

Tartan34 is correct. Getting them out of thick pads will require heavy braid and heavy rods. Flip 1/2 tungsten trigged and try and get em out quick!

Would a senko on a jig work?

 

 

YES.

 

A-Jay

YES.

A-Jay

How would you rig that ?

How would you rig that ?

 

 

I would just thread it on the jig like you would any other trailer.. the weed guard on the jig is what's going to keep you from fouling up, not the senko.  

Working any of these jig & trailer combinations through the pads is effective.

 

But be careful - you might get your arm broke.

 

 

A-Jay

 

Punch through them

Senko style bait

rip a swim jig through the pads.

Bobber stopper, punch weight, punch skirt, heavy straight shank, missile dbomb.

Drop it in and jiggle it yeah.

Yall think a 3/4 oz swim jig would stay under the pads on. Slow steady retrieve.

PM sent

In fishing from shore I use the saltwater thing we do with a boat when the blue fish or weak fish has the bait fish boiling up on the surface. We circle the schooling fish on the outside of the circle picking them off one by one. So we don't spook the fish to go deep. I do the with the bass in the pads I throw my spook 4' to 6' away from the pads and make the bass come out to get it. This was so I don't spook the other fish in the pads.

 

If the pads are thicker with no open water then I go weedless.

We had good success in pads swimming t-rigged senkos/swim senkos with a 1/16 tungsten screw weight - white turned out to be a killer in that situation, only time I ever had success with white stick baits. Braid of course.

50lb braid and a DIRTY JIGS SWIM JIG!

Swim jig with heavy braid

Just curious as to your setup because once pads form up here in Maine Ill throw a swim jig over a frog almost any day. I throw it on 65lb Power Pro without a leader. When I fish tournaments on lakes that have exceptional water clarity I have been adding a 3ft section of 20lb fluoro. Do you ever add a fluoro leader if the water is clear?

Everything mentioned will work, but my first choice would be a 1/2 oz. Johnson Silver Minnow. It's worked for me in these situations for almost 50 years. Be sure to sharpen the hook before using it. The plating process makes the hook dull. And add a trailer, either pork frog or some type of plastic (I mostly use a rubber spinnerbait skirt).

 

I can assure you, a JSM will catch some mighty big bass.

Everything mentioned will work, but my first choice would be a 1/2 oz. Johnson Silver Minnow. It's worked for me in these situations for almost 50 years. Be sure to sharpen the hook before using it. The plating process makes the hook dull. And add a trailer, either pork frog or some type of plastic (I mostly use a rubber spinnerbait skirt).

 

I can assure you, a JSM will catch some mighty big bass.

How are you fishing that? Swimming, jigging? I'll be the 1st to admit this is one technique I SUCK at. Jig, weigh and plastic, hard for me to tell whats going on with all the contact and pulling of pad stems. I'm accustom to a lighter more finesse approach, so this will be a challenge. Granted i haven't given it much time.