I think the pond i fish at has a very heavy vegetation on the bottom of the bottom/bed but i can't know for sure unless i dive down.  But in the shallower parts i can see a pretty heavy layer of some type of vegetation that is on the bottom.  Is there any way to know what the bottom of the lake looks like aside from diving down or using a camera?  I just don't know what else to do, and I feel like a lot of my jig/pig combos or texas rigged worms are just falling into the vegetation and disappearing in the weeds, and any bass nearby can't see them.  I've tried to carolina rig, but even then i don't know how much of a leader to use and wind up getting the weight all caught up in the weeds to.  I guess I'm kind of stuck and don't know exactly what to do!  Thanks for any help.

Run some crank baits over the top of it. Start with a square bill and if you're not dragging in weeds work your way down with a deeper one. Same could be done with a swim jig just vary your depth until you get a feel for how deep the vegetation starts.

Aquatic plant growth is rarely a solid mass the bass can't swim through, there are tunnels and open areas under the growrth.

Sonar can see through weeds and separate different soil types like soft mud versos harder sand, gravel and fish.

Tom

Lateral line: senses differences in water pressure & vibration

 

If a bass can find a black Texas rigged worm sitting on the bottom in 20' of water in Hydrilla at night, it knows your jig is there!

You can always attach an IBobber, Deeper, or a similar castable, portable sonar device and map the bottom of your pond.

 

I've done it on some lagoons with an iBobber and although it's tedious it has paid some dividends. I was able to find where some of the drop offs are and casting in those spots has led to more catches.

 

I can't speak for Deeper, but with the iBobber there are some limitations. For example, the range is only 100 feet or so. Second, if your pond is shallow you're not mapping a wide swath and the info it gives you is a lateral view of what the iBobber passes over. You also need to remember to take a snapshot photo of what it maps and save it's location.

 

It would be fantastic if you could stitch together top down views to create your own topo map using the iBobber.