For a few years, I've been fishing a few ponds in north FL. I've caught tons of fish on t-rigged senkos and worms up to 12" but never anything big. Every big fish I've gotten ate a chatterbait, buzz bait, or whopper plopper. There are tons of junk weeds, and the water's very stained. I can't fish a jig on the bottom, because it will get covered in weeds. Are there any other baits that anyone can recommend? I'd like to target big fish. Thanks.

Weedless Huddleston 68 - Spinnerbaits - Topwater frogs - Swimjigs - weedless rigged swimbaits.  

 

None of them are perfectly weedless, you have to pick and choose your targets and sometimes you will have some weeds on the lure when you rip it through the grass, but it can entice big reaction bites especially with stained weedy water.

sebile magic swimmer, the soft plastic one 

Frogs and toads

Chk out the Heddon Moss Boss. There are a few vids on YouTube also. If you have ever dragged lures across solid mats and have bass explode on them you will be addicted. However any size fish will bust this lure on top of a mat

Huddleston Gill top hook & Megabass Magdraft Freestyle

On the Potomac when the beds get so thick you feel you could walk on them you have to go to popping big worms across the top, or paddle leg toads, or plain frogs.  If an opening can be found it is a big creature bait with a 1/2oz pegged slip sinker in to the opening.  With a nice edge on the bed, any thing popped in plastic to the edge and then let it drop down and wait.  In a weedy pond like yours use a paddle tail large worm with a slip sinker and just throw it out and reel in the worm through the weeds with that tail making a ruckus.  Zoom makes a nice one and so does Strike King.

Big bass eat soft plastic worms. Your problem is figuring out how to present the weedless soft plastic to the bass without it covered with weeds. You had success using treble hook top water lures and faster moving lures is more open water areas which begs the question why not soft plastics?

Without knowing more about how you rig your soft plastics and where you fish them it's only speculation why they are ineffective for you.

When we look at weeds/grass from our perspective the looks like it's covered top to bottom with a mass of vegetation. From the bass perspective the weeds/grass isn't a solid hedge of growth, it has open water areas under and within the vegetation that offer easy access for the bass to hunt prey. As anglers we need to find the openings where the bass hunt. The punch technique forces the lure through the thick areas of vegetation into open places where the bass are located. The mat of weeds/grass with open areas visual on the surface we cast to and let the lure drop down towards the bass waiting for prey. Weed/grass break lines are similar to fishing the edges of a hedge, the most common presentation.

Lighter weight tends to slide through weeds/grass in lieu of burying into them, unless you are punching through the canopy into open water tunnels or passages in the vegetation.

Worms with straight tails in lieu of curl tails go though vegetation without the tails greeting hung up for example. Ribbon tails are compromise to that can swim without hanging up as much as the curl tails.

3:16 Mission Fish is a good weedless Swimbait for big bass in weed/grass areas, if you have the correct tackle.

Tom

Mag fluke Texas rigged weightless 

Megabass Magdraft Freestyle w/Owner Beast 6/0 weighted hook.

There are so many types of vegetation out there , a lot depends on what type you're dealing with .I have Chara algae to contend with . It looks like a weed , instead  its a complicated form of algae . It has no root system to keep it anchored  .Texas rigs are all but useless in it . Spinnerbaits and buzzbaits can be used with great results around the edges and over the top when the algae doesnt reach the surface . Stanley Ribbetts can go over the top of mats  and draw outrageous strikes. This stuff chokes out the back of coves making it difficult to get a boat back there . I go ahead and fight it because it does keep the fish shallow and I have it   to myself . 

18 hours ago, Nelson Delaney said:

sebile magic swimmer, the soft plastic one 

Big yes on this bait - first day on the big O 7+ lbs - it comes through stuff wonderfully and can be manipulated for all kinds of action - that and frogs and toads are  made to order for your situation.

17 hours ago, WRB said:

Without knowing more about how you rig your soft plastics and where you fish them it's only speculation why they are ineffective for you.

The lack of success with soft plastics/finesse is very surprising to me. Before I started fishing in FL, they were always my go-to.

 

Mostly, I texas rig my baits (worms, senkos, and creatures) with no bullet weight. The weeds are very soft and stringy, so it's rare that I can move a bait more than a few feet across the bottom before it gets fouled. 99% of the time, when I get bit, it's on the initial fall. The deepest areas are probably around 5 FOW. I bet I've caught at least 100 fish on soft plastics, but no big ones. Any advice?