Whats the go to or any tips on fishing the bottom of the water column in areas that are 10-20feet down but have HEAVY matted vegetation(i think its mostly eurasian milfoil) thats matted on the bottom?

 

I've been fishing this lake my whole life, recently more seriously, and I do well but know im missing fish in this part of the water. I've gotten some of my biggest fish just letting a weightless senko drop down there but this technique is not efficient. I have tried t-rigs, c-rigs, dropshot, jig,  neko, i cant build up any confidence with them, especially since they pull up a wad of veg every other cast even 15 feet deep. I see guys kill it with those things on youtube etc but most seem to be fishing deep areas that have sparse or no veg compared to the stuff that builds up way deep in these crystal clear northern natural lakes. 

 

I'm going to keep trying to refine my technique with the dropshot and neko, as in theory they are perfect for this, but I'd like to hear what others that fish stuff like this have to say. 

To clarify, I'm mostly referring to fishing dropoffs and dropoff points, were the depth goes from grass flats which are 5-8ft, then drops off to 10-20 ft fairly rapidly, but the bottom is matted with vegetation throughout, even on the contour.

Plenty of Eurasian Milfoil here in Minn… I like using 1/2 and 3/4 oz AT Grassmaster jigs to get in/out of the junk and to open areas and pockets.

4 hours ago, Hogs_n_Logs said:

've gotten some of my biggest fish just letting a weightless senko drop down there but this technique is not efficient.

You’ve gotten some of your biggest fish that way, but it’s not efficient? 

 

Like the previous poster said pitch a 3/4oz grass jig around or pitch a Texas rigged creature bait around with a 1/2-3/4oz weight. Fish the edges and pockets

Dropshot. Adjust the bait up and down as needed.

I fish 'northern natural lakes' and many I get on also have deep bottom weed.

Clear water and light penetration may be contributing to that.

However, as I move deeper, at some point the weeds stop.

Bass like 'edges'.

Consider finding those 'edges' and fishing the cleaner bottom area immediately adjacent 

to the weed bottom edge.

Especially in the warmer summer period. 

The very bottom of a deep weed line - especially a sandy bottom, can be killer if the winds right.  Often I'll need to get very close or even go into the weed (coontail for instance). 

 Boat position is key as I need to drop a jig or Texas rig into the first few feet of weed, get it to the bottom and work it out onto the sand - usually 8 - 20 ft deep we're talking here.  Bass will take it when it comes out into the open. 

 Another sneaky deal is to switch that around 180 degrees.  Sit back over the weeds. Cast into open water - work the bait back along the bottom and pull it right into the bottom of the weed line - bass will stalk it and eat it often right before or right after it goes into the weeds  ~ I guess 'before it gets away'.

 And finally something worked parallel to that same weedline - doesn't always have to be deep but sometimes it's best - but unless the 'weedline' is long & straight or you can see it clearly - it's hard to work anything with trebles along there without getting a bunch of salad every cast.  But if you can or if they are willing to pop out of the weeds and strike as bait goes by -   Swim jig w/ craw or paddle tail, vibrating jig, a standard jig & craw, Just about any Texas-rigged plastic, a plain old grub on a jig head - when there's too much weed action.   And any mid-depth or deep crank if the opportunity presents itself.   (dig it into the bottom the whole way - it's like magic - even on super calm days).

Good Luck

A-Jay

 

 

 

This is the exact type of lake I spend a majority of my time fishing.  I throw a lot of jigs, t-rigs, title shots (as a shakeyhead), beast hook swimbaits, mojo rigs, and have just discovered how effective the free rig is.

 

I like to play around with as light of a weight as I can do (sits on top) and as heavy of a weight as my rod will fish (punches in/out aggressively).  The right rod matters a lot to me in this, I usually like to get slightly hung up, then use my rod to shake, bounce, slither my way out of it all while under control, seems to draw strikes.  Other times, I like to be more aggressive and pop it pretty hard so that I'm getting up off the bottom quickly and free fall back down.  Most of the time, I combine these retrieves and change the ratios based on how the fish react.

 

scott

 

Yesterday's 3/16oz free rig rage mag menace popped up and 1/2oz Zorro booza jig w/ d-bomb slowly worked through.  Both on the deep side of a break in 13-16'

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Appreciate the detailed advice. 

 

Based on the responses, seems like as I suspected my positioning and technique is just bad. I've mostly been blindly dragging or lightly hopping the bait along the dropoff break which just tends to accumulate grass on my lead. Seems like the key is to be mindfully positioning the cast to then pop it out of/through the weeds to trigger strikes. 

 

A-jay, will definitely keep in mind to try further out from the dropoff break as well. 

 

 

 

 

12 hours ago, Lmbasshunter said:

You’ve gotten some of your biggest fish that way, but it’s not efficient? 

 

For the first 15 years of fishing this lake I ONLY threw weightless senkos on $30 walmart combos that lived in the garage of the family cabin up there. Since getting more seriously into bass fishing a couple years back I've found other techniques like jerkbaits, soft swimbaits, and topwaters that cover more water and also in some conditions catch more/bigger fish. I've been struggling to do the same on deep bottom, hence this thread. 

 

The senko is still my go-to and always tied on though, like for many other bass anglers I assume.