My first outfit was a fiberglass rod, and Zebco 33 spincast reel. I spent hours casting in the backyard with a practice plug.                               If I missed my target with the casting plug, I could always reel it in and cast again.                                                  My big brother was a much better caster than I was, and, a much better fisherman also. Fishing from a flat bottom boat on farm ponds, which had a three ft rim of moss around the edge.                     My problem was I always cast too hard, and would end up hung up in the moss edge, wasting a cast. We knew nothing about weedless baits at the time. The only things we had were old surface plugs from our dads and grandpa's tackle box. I always used a black Arbogast Hula Popper. My brother stuck with a small, frog colored South Bend Bass- O- Reno.                                   His instructions were always the same. " When you feel the rod load up, ease up on your forward cast. Bass fisherman need accurate casting, not always a long distance cast".                                    Eventually, I got the hang of it, and could drop the Hula Popper within inches of the moss edge.

        So in many ways, casting to a moss edge with a treble hook lure made me a much better caster.                           Later, we bought a small 4 pack of Creme Scoundrel plastic worms, and learned to t rig them. This was a HUGE thing for us, and changed our fishing from then on.                                      Now, we have so many weedless baits that can be cast over moss. But, it wasn't always this way. Casting to a moss line  with a treble hook lure will teach you to be a more accurate caster.             It can be a good way for a novice to learn accurate casting. And, with all the new techniques and baits out there, accurate casting is still a very good skill to learn.                 Do your lakes have much moss? How do you fish it?

                           

Not moss but chara algae . I  catch lots of bass from it and casting accuracy is key . Spinnerbaits and buzzbaits dropped in key spots like openings , points or wood mixed in is the way to do it . Underhand tosses are a must . I see people all the time throwing the same baits with high arcing overhand lobs and they dont catch many .  Toads and frogs can be retrieved over the top and  accuracy isnt as crucial then . My spinnerbait rod has a sweet spot . A 1/2 ounce lure can be tossed with greater accuracy than 3/8 or 3/4.

Don’t know about moss but oh heck yeah casting accuracy is important for me. On another thread I said that the less I retie, the better I do. Some of this has to do with the fact that I get into a rhythm with casting with a bait and the more I use it in a day or weekend, I can place it in increasingly tighter places. I’m not one of those anglers that can pick up another rod and bait and immediately cast directly on target. I don’t fish enough for that. 

3 hours ago, Mobasser said:

Do your lakes have much moss?

 

First ya gotta explain "moss"?

 

I've fished the entire Gulf Coast from Brownsville TX to Ocala Florida. Got a little experience with "moss".

21 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

First ya gotta explain "moss"?

 

I've fished the entire Gulf Coast from Brownsville TX to Ocala Florida. Got a little experience with "moss".

Catt, mine is most Chara weeds laying on the surface, very thick. I know there's lots of different types. As a kid I'm not sure what it was, but thick and slimy moss. Fishing baits would hang up very quickly in it.

30 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

Catt, mine is most Chara weeds laying on the surface, very thick. I know there's lots of different types.

 

Chara: muskgrass, stonewort, or skunkweed, it's actually an algae.

 

Regardless of the type of vegetation it will teach you accuracy. I also fish a lot of timber & brush which teaches you roll casts & skipping.

 

Might have something to do with me loving offshore structure!

This stuff usually takes over the flats from late May to Mid July.  If you can drop the bait into the right hole with the right rate of fall then you'll catch some bass.

I'm no expert in equatic vegetation and only know a few.

Hydrilla would be one that I prefer to fish around and the outer edges of cattail.

 

We have what I refer to as slime and that stuff doesn't care what bait you throw, it simply rides down the line and attaches itself to bait.

 

I've never tried punching through Moss mat, prefer to cast to openings with Senko's, flukes or drag a frog across the top and let it settle in an opening.

Moss is up there with grass when it comes to agreeing what it is. All aquatic plants have stems, leaves and roots, algae doesn't. 

Tom

1 hour ago, WRB said:

All aquatic plants have stems, leaves and roots, algae doesn't. 

 

Chara has stems & plant structure resembling a weed.

 

@Mobasser Could you post a picture of what your "moss", Google it.

59 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

Chara has stems & plant structure resembling a weed.

 

@Mobasser Could you post a picture of what your "moss", Google it.

Catt, mine is Chara for sure. Just like scaleface. We've got lots of it here in Missouri. It is more a weed with stems, then grows long and lays on the surface. Mostly shallow, but can get deeper also.                  Like scaleface says, casting accuracy is key. Weedless spoons can work. Better for me is a light or weightless plastic worm. I slowly reel it across the thick parts and let it fall into any openings. Any treble hook baits are hard to fish,  but the bass like to hang around in this stuff. Lots of guys around here avoid it, and won't fish around it. Bass  hang around the edges, and where the Chara forms a shape like a small point. I don't really like it, but have learned to deal with it as best I can. I wasn't sure what it was until a couple years ago, a local conservation officer told me what it was.

Well this is really cool. I know an area on a lake around here that has some algae. I kinda avoided the area because I thought it was bad for fishing. I'll see if I can get a photo of the algae when i go there next time

We have a bunch of this very dark green goop. It’s an algae, I reckon. It wraps around the line somehow, and it’s hard to get off. It gets on all the baits, regardless of how weedless they are. The bass seem to hate it as much as any of the others. 

 

Chara is very similar to Coontail Moss. Coontail is often confused with chara.

 

One distinct difference between chara & coontail is the odor or lack thereof. Chara emits a very strong odor when crushed, but coontail does not. 

 

22 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Chara: muskgrass, stonewort, or skunkweed, it's actually an algae.

 

Regardless of the type of vegetation it will teach you accuracy. I also fish a lot of timber & brush which teaches you roll casts & skipping.

 

Might have something to do with me loving offshore structure!

Chara is an advanced form of algae, had to look it up.

Tom

On 4/7/2022 at 10:08 AM, Mobasser said:

Do your lakes have much moss?

 

How do you fish it?

 

Everything I fish has grass (moss), lilies, & reeds, if various types.

 

Y'all should already know where I'm gonna start.

 

Structure 

 

How many times has someone posted a map & asks us for probable structure?

 

Here's what ole Catt is gonna do. Tomorrow morning I'm gonna go over to that structure & look at the grass.

 

I'll usually start a little farther than casting distance from the visible grassline. Work this area with moving baits.

 

I'll gradually work within pitching distance & then on to flipping-n-punching.  

21 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

We have a bunch of this very dark green goop. It’s an algae, I reckon. It wraps around the line somehow, and it’s hard to get off. It gets on all the baits, regardless of how weedless they are. The bass seem to hate it as much as any of the others. 

 

This is what I deal with and a proper definition for it.....goop.

Not a single bait can avoid the stuff.

It hangs on grass, hangs on wood, it floats and suspends.

 

5 hours ago, Catt said:

 

I'll usually start a little farther than casting distance from the visible grassline. Work this area with moving baits.

 

Not letting this nugget go by without noticing, this is one of those offhand comments that pops up around here that might change your fishing meaningfully. This is a good bit further back than I would think to start. 

The very active bass that are most likely to strike a lure are roaming and hunting the outside weed line breaks. 

Catt is quietly targeting those potential bass 1st. The bass located deeper. In the cover on structure are less active fish but still catchable by putting a lure in the strike zone.

The less active bass need a lure dropped on their nose, Catt does that last after already targeting lower hanging fruit.

This is exactly how to bass fish.

Tom

23 minutes ago, txchaser said:

Not letting this nugget go by without noticing, this is one of those offhand comments that pops up around here that might change your fishing meaningfully. This is a good bit further back than I would think to start. 

 

There are actually two outer weedlines. One you can visually see & one you can see with your electronics. 

 

Exactly like @WRB mentioned the bass maybe farther from the "mat" but still under the grass. Think ripping a Rat-L-Trap 

 

It's what we call bonus fish

 

 

33 minutes ago, WRB said:

The very active bass that are most likely to strike a lure are roaming and hunting the outside weed line breaks. 

Catt is quietly targeting those potential bass 1st. The bass located deeper. In the cover on structure are less active fish but still catchable by putting a lure in the strike zone.

The less active bass need a lure dropped on their nose, Catt does that last after already targeting lower hanging fruit.

This is exactly how to bass fish.

Tom

 I agree 100% with this. Plus if you are targeting the easier bass first, you're not dragging them past another group of fish and scaring them.

 

If I'm fishing from the bank, I always fish close to the bank then further out for that reason.

On 4/7/2022 at 9:37 PM, N Florida Mike said:

We have a bunch of this very dark green goop. It’s an algae, I reckon. It wraps around the line somehow, and it’s hard to get off. It gets on all the baits, regardless of how weedless they are. The bass seem to hate it as much as any of the others. 

 

Smells god-awful, too?  We get that here, too.  I guess it has died off, but seems dark most of the year.  Funny, it is in same places, year after year...I always wondered why....since all the grass dies off at some point....never gave enough thought to how it is different when alive.  I catch fish in it, often good ones, but sometimes doesn't seem worth it.  I use weightless Rage Bug or senkos, usually.   Perfect pich or cast to visible cover....because you don't get to hop, drag, or swim it back....one shot and clean again....

3 hours ago, Choporoz said:

Smells god-awful, too?  We get that here, too.  I guess it has died off, but seems dark most of the year.  Funny, it is in same places, year after year...I always wondered why....since all the grass dies off at some point....never gave enough thought to how it is different when alive.  I catch fish in it, often good ones, but sometimes doesn't seem worth it.  I use weightless Rage Bug or senkos, usually.   Perfect pich or cast to visible cover....because you don't get to hop, drag, or swim it back....one shot and clean again....

I haven’t noticed any odor with it. Bass seem to avoid it like the plague. I cant see it because it’s usually near the bottom . 

17 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Everything I fish has grass (moss), lilies, & reeds, if various types.

 

Y'all should already know where I'm gonna start.

 

Structure 

 

How many times has someone posted a map & asks us for probable structure?

 

Here's what ole Catt is gonna do. Tomorrow morning I'm gonna go over to that structure & look at the grass.

 

I'll usually start a little farther than casting distance from the visible grassline. Work this area with moving baits.

 

I'll gradually work within pitching distance & then on to flipping-n-punching.  

Catt, my light line fishing is fun and effective, but around this Chara I use a stout line and rod. Med/hvy casting rod and 15lb Big Game. If you hook one and he dives once and moves even 6" to the left or right, he'll have you so wrapped up in this stuff you'll have to go in and get him out. Then you've probably spooked any other fish out of that spot. Stout tackle is a must have around these weeds.

We see it (Chara) in many of the ponds around here, but one in particular is entirely ringed with it. It is usually a short, stubby mass along the bottom, typically a foot or less tall. I only see it mat in the extreme shoreline shallows. My best producing bait for fishing it is a light Ned rig. It’s fairly “crisp” and easy to rip a bait through most times, and the light Ned does a great job of fishing over and on top of it. It is also very cold tolerant, so it’s great early winter habitat for bass snce it is often the last remaining ‘green’ weed around, and usually at slightly deeper depths.