Where I fish I have to deal with the triple whammy of excessive weeds, standard Lily pads, and leafy plants standing above the surface. Pockets in and around these spots are prime bluegill bedding areas where bass wait in ambush. They're also super tough to get a jig with a weed guard through, or much of anything else where weight is biased at the head. Weeds alone are typically doable using those types of baits, but where the weeds are draped with filamentous algae it just doesn't work. Even if I make a perfect pitch into a hole with nose weighted baits, it'll come out with a 5lb green wig of algae. This pretty much spoils the fun.

 

My solution to this has been to throw plastic creature baits rigged on belly weighted hooks in these spots. They do not penetrate as deeply as I'd like, but I'll take what I can get, especially because they come through the muck far more cleanly. I've tried a bunch of different baits combined with different weighted hooks with mixed results, but I think I've found a combination that's pretty versatile, and it works for more than just pitching to gaps.

 

I really like the Owner Twistlock Light 6/0 3/32oz weighted hook for my slender profile 5" paddle tail swimmers. One of the last creature baits I tried on my list for the rigging explained above is the Bandito Bug. I'm not sure why I ignored it, other than that I viewed it as strictly a trailer. Instead of rigging it on my usual choice of a beefier small swimbait hook, I rigged it on the aforementioned Owner 5167W-706. What I ended up with is something pretty special, IMO.

 

This bait rigged this way comes through just about anything that's green. It picks up little to no muck, and slides through pad fields great. I've been getting most of my bites by swimming it over pads, then letting it drop into holes and gaps, but I've also gotten bit by swimming it just outside of pad lines. The swimming action is what separates this bait from some of the others I've tried, and I believe this is due its shape and this particular hook.

 

Depending on retrieve speed, this bait/hook combo will swim in a number of ways as its attitude in the water remains horizontal, meaning it falls flat on the pause and doesn't nose down. When it falls on the pause, it does it slowly, and the appendages flap subtly. This offers a lot of control over my presentation whether I'm using a steady retrieve or a jerk-jerk-pause. One bonus is that it can be fished as you would a subtle buzz toad. Another is that due to it's shape, and when combined with this hook, it's also a really good finesse skipping bait.

 

Perhaps there are other baits and riggings that may perform just as well, and in as many ways, but if you already own this bait, this is worth a try.

 

I do the same thing with Biffle Bugs, except I put the weight in the cavity of the bait.  It seems to work best this time of year when the fish are guarding fry.