a pond i fish at all the time has really, really thick, slimy, mossy weeds around the banks.  i've been trying for the biggest bass out there, bought a few big swimbaits and such.  no luck with those, but yesterday i was reeling the swimbait in really fast around the weeds (so it wouldn't get stuck) and not 5 feet from the bank a giant bass jumped out of the weeds/water to try and get the swimbait i was reeling in so fast.  it didn't get the bait, unfortunately, but i just got to thinking what the heck should i be fishing in those weeds?  obviously fish are there, i just don't know what to fish. i've tried frogs but that doesn't work.  i've tried to drop in jig/pig, but that just gets caught in all the weeds.  suggestions?

Ya may have been fishing your swimbait to slow!

11 minutes ago, Catt said:

Ya may have been fishing your swimbait to slow!

man, i thought the same thing!  i tried fishing it fast after that with no luck.  but i'm talking really really fast, like so fast i wouldn't think a big fish would go for it.

Thread a 5" Kalin Grub on a 1/2 oz Johnson Weedless Spoon.

Cast the spoon into the best cover, then keep it coming steadily back to the boat with a moderately fast retrieve.

If vegetation knocks your spoon around into an erratic, unpredictable path, your retrieve speed is correct.

 

Roger

Two ways to fish heavy vegetation

Punch through it

Make the bass come up through it

 

Down here we call it speed reeling & we do it with various lures.

 

Johnson spoon is very effective, I put a Zoom swimming chunk or spinnerbait skirt on one.

 

I also speed reel a big worm like a Rage Anaconda or Recon worm.

What swimbaits you throw in there? You may try a rof 0 weedless HudGil. I like to fish them over matted thick grass. I'll add a little lead tape  to the harness turning a floater into an extremely slow sink. 

Sometimes you can figure out a pattern or locate fish reeling in as fast as you can to make another cast. If it happens really close to the boat or your feet, it can scare the crap out of you and then you miss it since you forget to set the hook.

 

Good thing is you found the fish. I would go back and use the same swimbait, or any buzz style/Paddle tail soft bait on the Weedless spoon. Slime can be an issue, sometimes fishing over it is the  best way with a speed worm type bait since it will slide over it. Just try to avoid weighted hooks in slime when swimming through or over it. A heavy guage straight shank/offset hook seems to add enough weight and not get slime, that is why I like a thinner bait so I can use an Offset hook and not an EWG.

 

Zoom Horny toads can be great in slime, especially because you can work them as a wake bait or as fast as you can reel and kill it if needed to let them sink. Big Senko fished like a fluke works well in those situations. I fish alot of slime in the summer and love a 7" Stick worm fished fast on top and killed, skipped..Catches bigger fish and noboby really uses them in that way which I think helps. You can walk it as fast as you can and watch them come up and inhale it some days.

 

Biggest fish I have landed this year was by accident while reeling in a Torpedo as fast as I could to make another cast to the big fish that missed it. THe big fish followed it right to the boat and slammed it a few feet away. Lucky I had treble hooks or I would have never made the swing in time,  but I was reeling as fast as I could on a 7/1 reel and the fish had no issue "Finding" it. There is a you tube video of a guy catching a 9lb bass reeling a hollow frog in as fast as he could and fish leaps out of water and inhales it perfectly. Bass can move super fast and often that can trigger them.

 

One of my favorite videos, this guy does some amazing work if you check out his channel.

Whew!!

I would have passed out right there!

 

 

Mike