My two best fishing spots are tricksy. Both are streams off of ponds, so they're narrow, and both have reeds, bushes, and other flora. Both are shallow too. Here's one:

 

 

Big bass hunker in both spots. Here's the kid with big bass from both spots:

 

 

I've caught dozens of four and five-pounders from these two streams, but I've lost dozens too. The kid has lost his fair share too. They don't break our line. They reach the reeds or woody bushes and wrench themselves free. Do you have a spot or two like these, spots favored by big bass, but spots where the set-up makes it hard to hook and hold big bass? If so, how do the bass free themselves?

My most frequented pond has only a couple deep-ish pockets where the bigguns hang out. Those pockets are absolutely choked with weeds and are at the limit of my casting range from the bank. You have to nail your cast accuracy and distance, dropping it into one of the few open pockets in the weeds, let it sink to the bottom, and hope they hit it, because that's you're  one shot at those spots. Once you start to retrieve, it doesn't matter what rig you're using: you're bringing back two or three pounds of vegetation, and have probably disturbed the area and ruined the bite there. 

 

It's how I caught my PB last year, and a couple 18"+ bass since. But it's tricksy. I'll see if I can find any pictures after work. 

Following winter rain runoff our lakes are filling to max pool flooding brush at the far backend of creek arms. The surface is clogged with floating debris and the only way back to where bass are+located feeding critters where running water is flowing is 4 wheel driving the boat through the debris. The glass bass  boaters avoid these areas and become close to virgin bass hideouts. 
Hollow body frogs using braid works or unweighted wacky rigged Senko’s cast into small open pockets get hammered.

Tom

39 minutes ago, WRB-2.0 said:

Following winter rain runoff our lakes are filling to max pool flooding brush at the far backend of creek arms. The surface is clogged with floating debris and the only way back to where bass are+located feeding critters where running water is flowing is 4 wheel driving the boat through the debris. The glass bass  boaters avoid these areas and become close to virgin bass hideouts. 
Hollow body frogs using braid works or unweighted wacky rigged Senko’s cast into small open pockets get hammered.

Tom

 

Tom, that sounds so exciting!

 

ICD, your spot is like mine. The casting is tight and unforgiving. 

I fish a lake that half of the lake goes dry for part of the year.  They pasture cattle on it when the water is down.  There are many barbed wire fences crisscrossing the cow pasture.  When the rainy season comes and lake fills back up the bass move out of the deep water structure and live in the shallow flooded flat.  When the lake is at full pool I have to deal with the normal willow brush, and grass that most other shallow water bass anglers fish around.  When the water is at mid depth, the bass like to hang around the flooded fence lines.  They can be anywhere from shallow enough that the fence posts stick up out of the water, or deep enough I can't see the tops of the posts and anywhere in between.

 

To make matters more difficult the wind blows 25 mph in the afternoon making it difficult to position my kayak.  I even flipped my kayak once when I ran up on a submerged fence post I didn't see.  A big wave lifted me up and dropped my back down on the post, and over I went.  When the bass are on the fence lines, the fishing can be great.  I have plenty of targets to cast to, and once I find the depth they are at it is easy to narrow my search to certain posts.  The problem is fishing line an barbed wire don't get along very well.  If I cast parallel to the fence line I can fish many posts with one cast, but it is very easy for a bass to turn back in to the fence after being hooked.  If I cast perpendicular to a post it increased my odds of pulling the bass away from the post, but takes more time to fish the fence line, and also runs my line over the barbed wire more.  I lose many lures to the fences, and have lost a bass so big it is painful to talk about.  Trying to get a lure back, or unwrap a giant bass that is tangled in the wire, post or both has caused me to break more than one rod.

 

I have fished many different types of structure and cover, and lost many lures and bass on all of them, but nothing compares to the frustration of fishing for bass tight to a barbed wire fence.  To make matters worse I recently discovered how effective a bladed jig can be for the largest bass on a fence.  It was bad enough when I would lose an occasional spinnerbait, topwater or soft plastic to the wire, but losing a $15 bladed jig really hurts.

 

For those that would recommend I fish heavy braided line, all I can say is barb wire shreds braid like a swarm of locusts goes through a crop of wheat.  Mono or Flouro fairs better, but is still no match for the posts and wire.

 

With all the difficulty of fishing the fences I still can't complain.  Even though I lose more than my share of bass to them, the excitement I get hooking a DD bass is worth throwing a bladed jig into even the worst corner, where more than one fence intersects.  I have to hook em to land em, and I can worry about the fight once the bass is hooked.

 

When I get to the lake in the morning and look at the water level, the only sound I hear is the Bait Monkey asking if we can fish the fences today.  I always reply maybe, but with a T Rig, and he always answers back, wait until the wind picks up and throw the bladed jig.  What are bests friends for?  

@king fisher: I can't imagine anyone surpassing your challenge. @Zcoker might be a close second. 

Last night I resorted to pitching heavy bullet weighted plastics into holes and gaps in the jungle.  It was combat-oriented fishing that I generally do not partake in.  But the patterns that have been producing since mid June aren't anymore, so this is what I did.  I caught 10 decent largies in locations like this. Stout MH bait casting gear with straight braid had the wenching power to haul them out.  One giant in particular was a real challenge.  It's my biggest largemouth of the season thus far.

 

 

Way to go, @gim! That's tough fishing, for sure, and a beautiful bass from such a challenging location means you get to add one inch.

No shortage of Salt Cedars, willows and Catclaws underwater here. I usually am able to horse them out with 15lb fluoro or mono, but I have been known to take them water skiing with the trolling motor to keep them from going in too thick.

 

Some of the best bass fishing in North Carolina seems to be in and around sunken or laydowns of massive loblolly pines.

 

If you've never seen a loblolly imagine an 80-100 foot tree with gnarly intersecting branches that make almost no angle safe for lures, cracked bark that devours fishing line, and sticky sap that is there just to make everything kind of hard and gross to deal with. Now imagine that there are so many of them, and the water has such low visibility, that the spot you're about to cast to has a good chance of hiding a submerged tree just under the surface.

 

My favorite tricky spot is chock full of loblolly cover, huge amounts of old fishing line tangled in said tress to eat your gear, and general detritus like old tires and coolers. It's an urban lake that sees a huge amount of public pressure as well. 

 

Now, that might sound terrible. But this lake produces 5-6 lbs LMB available from shore routinely if you know how to go get them. You need to have zero exposed hooks, a good knowledge of sunken obstacles, an ability to trek well away from crowds, and a willingness to lose tackle every trip. 

 

It's where I re-learned to fish as an adult and I think starting in a tricky spot really made me into a much better angler. Almost everywhere else I've been has seemed easier to fish as a result.

In the pictures below, the open water photos shows the narrow entrance to a canopy covered spot where I fish now and then. The second is what it looks like after you go through that tunnel and under the canopy.

 

It's actually a lot tighter than it looks. There are a few areas where you can cast, but it's mostly pitching and flipping. I also either have to weave all around or lay my rods on the deck so they don't get caught up in low hanging branches.

 

I wish U could say that this is a honey hole, but it's not. I have caught just a few in there. But it looks spectacular in person and it's a nice respite from the sun.

 

4 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

Do you have a spot or two like these, spots favored by big bass, but spots where the set-up makes it hard to hook and hold big bass? If so, how do the bass free themselves?

Yes. On Stillhouse Hollow the bass would hole thick in deep cedar trees. These trees have many limbs - making it difficult to free these bass from their homes. 

And here I was thinking I was the rare one who fishes thickets! Oh, I wrong I was. I've got plenty of company in the jungle.

Jungle? Waaaaaay up north? That's just a little thicket in Florida! And without teeth!

 

We have some really dense subtropical jungle around here and with teeth!

 

Swamp Girl, glad your surgery went well and eyes recovering, but put it on your bucket list to come on down to Florida one day and try some of our jungle teeth!

 

If the fish aren't biting you can always accidentally hook some gator tail and hang on! Put up a good fight! Hang on long enough it might even pull you back to the boat ramp or close.

 

The following video is seconds long, but do try and keep count of the handful of gators present. Just 1 or 2. And you know what they say about bass? Gators don't hang out where there is no food. So what does this tell you is in the water around here?

 

Try and keep count! This video was shot in central Florida due west of Cape Canaveral.

 

 

And if you are lucky you might get some of our water protector pets to play nice and jump through some hoops if ya catch a nice fish!

 

https://i.imgur.com/MmivmTc.mp4

 

Jungles without teeth are no where near as fun as jungles with teeth!

@gim Sweet post! I’d be really, really excited fishing that water. I love heavy cover and heavy tackle. I’m taking the kayak tomorrow with MH and H casting rods, 7” senkos and 10” worms and I’m going into the nastiest stuff I can find on my little river. This post gets me excited for it! That’s a d**n good fish my man!

2 hours ago, JonB2 said:

10” worms

That’s what I caught it on. Big plastic worm, pegged with a bullet weight.

 

I could see it being even more challenging in a yak. In my bass boat, I talon down on the edge in about 8 feet of water and then plink the lure into holes and gaps. Once I’ve covered the casting radius, I move along to the next location and repeat.

1 hour ago, gim said:

That’s what I caught it on. Big plastic worm, pegged with a bullet weight.

 

I could see it being even more challenging in a yak. In my bass boat, I talon down on the edge in about 8 feet of water and then plink the lure into holes and gaps. Once I’ve covered the casting radius, I move along to the next location and repeat.

Well I’m just learning my kayak game, but I like to use mine to mostly get around. A good area, I’ll beach it and go for the stability. I have an anchor and brush grabber too. I don’t like the idea of a fish/weeds pulling me out of position and into a spot, so I bring the hip boots for versatility. Your situation would take some thinking for sure lol

Any place that is hard to get to is usually worth the effort!  No place fer sissies!

@Lottabass: I like fishing the places that ain't for sissies too. The last time I fished northwestern Ontario for brown bass, one logging road was so rough that I sheared a rear view mirror, dented my Xterra in half a dozen places, and gave her countless scratches.

 

I see shiny off-road vehicles and think, "What a waste."

 

Owning such a vehicle to drive to McDonald's is like buying a plane to taxi around the airport.

1 minute ago, Swamp Girl said:

@Lottabass: I like fishing the places that ain't for sissies too. The last time I fished northwestern Ontario for brown bass, one logging road was so rough that I sheared a rear view mirror, dented my Xterra in half a dozen places, and gave her countless scratches.

Love it!  Many "bass fishermen" around here won't tow their metalflake rockets anywhere near a dusty road.

1 hour ago, Lottabass said:

Love it!  Many "bass fishermen" around here won't tow their metalflake rockets anywhere near a dusty road.

 

Its even worse in Florida. But kind of funny and we natives use it to our advantage same as the Seminole Indians did when the U.S. Army chased them into the Everglades.

 

The Indians used the geography of the land to hide themselves and they went into places where the U.S. Army could not follow them. Florida is one of the first places on the planet where federal government used special forces guerilla warfare learned from Indians and adopted the the same tactics as the Indians and even brought in canoes to follow them into those inaccessible places. The first use of boats in special forces right there. The Dragoons had arrived!

 

Heck half of Florida is named after those old army officers and presidents like Lake Monroe named after a president. Lake Harney named after the army officer who was an Indian killer. Lake Jesup named after another army officer. Its like they renamed everything as they rolled across Florida chasing Indians.

 

So us natives do the exact same thing. A good example is St. Johns river. It is dredged from Jax to Sanford roughly 150 miles. But from Sanford heading South on the river its all natural for the last 150 miles of river.

 

So when I take my boat to the river north of Lake Monroe those "metalflake rockets" are running all over us like Daytona 500 on the river. Boat etiquette is gone. I was taught to slow down passing another boat sitting still. Don't wake them! But those days are gone. Now a lot of guys are flying up and down the river full speed and could care less about other boaters as they fly by at 60mph 30 feet away. They don't get a wave that's for sure. Might get something else!

 

So a lot of us natives avoid "metalflake rockets" race tracks and head deeper into the jungle and to places those guys can never get to and won't because it might scratch something or dent something. We see the same mentality on rods and reels that look like new 10, 20 years later.

 

I'm with lottabass above. If it isn't scratched or dented it ain't having fun! Boats, trucks, rods, and reels.

 

We buy boats made for super shallow waters down to mere inches deep. Air boat guys don't even need water. My old aluminum boat would draft 3 inches without a motor. With motor I am at 6 or 7 inches draft at stern with motor raised.

 

So we use the land itself to shield ourselves from those metalflake rockets because those guys who love those types of boats can only go so shallow. So they have to stay in deeper waters and we like that! Even the Elite series does it.

 

Its like there are two Florida's. The one we see on TV with pro fishermen, the Florida the world can access. And then there is our Florida. Those places only the hardy can reach and do so to leave that other crazy Florida behind because its so crazy sometimes like north of Lake Monroe or on a chain of lakes on the weekend or during a tournament.

 

I can't tell you how many times I have put my boat into the river and headed South and come up on another one of those metalflake rockets stuck up on a sandbar going nowhere as I slowly slide on by. See ya! Want me to call ya some help? I got the boat rescue guys number on speed dial.

 

We have tried to get out in middle of river surrounded by gators and try and help push them off the sandbar but do you know not in all the years I've seen this I don't think we humans were able to push not one boat off the sandbars. Not a one. They really climb up on top with full weight of boat and no way we can push it off. Oh, well I'm going fishing where YOU can't! Ha!

 

The worst part of it is that a lot of the boaters who try and access our Florida do not know what they are getting into out there.

 

When traveling north on the river heading towards lake Harney, you can not just fly up the river and maintain that speed entering the lake. The river current has dropped thousands of years of sand right there when river loses current widening into a lake. So sand drops right there. There is a huge sandbar going right across the channel and islands all around. Sometimes you can see birds standing on top of the invisible sandbar in middle of river. If a bird can stand there surely there is a reason? Boats are suppose to take a 90 degree turn just before entering the lake. 90 degree right turn to slowly go around that sandbar.

 

A buddy and I were sitting in our boat just off to the side one day fishing when one of those newbies came flying up the river in one of those deep hull luxury pleasure type of boats. Dad and entire family and dog on board. 7 people and a dog!

 

We watched that boat going really fast heading right up the channel directly towards the sandbar. We natives have installed our own navigation markers out there on both ends of that lake to help boaters see the path. This newbie had no clue.

 

My buddy and I threw down our rods and stood up and both of us are waving like madmen to them trying to get their attention to slow down. All they did was wave back at us not slowing one bit. Seconds later they hit that sandbar and boat popped up and every human and dog in that boat instantly flew straight up into the air and boat came to a stop on sandbar and all of them flew forward across the sandbar and into the lake. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt. Bruised, shaken but alive and no broken bones.

 

It was like watching a slow motion movie scene as those people instantly popped straight up into the air and flew forward.

 

We asked the dad why he did not slow down when we waved at him and he said he thought were just being nice. Dude! We don't stand up and jump up and down in a boat waving like madmen to be nice and friendly. When we wave like that pay attention please! Well that boat was going nowhere for awhile.

 

Yes there are two Florida's and sand divides them! But... when you find places like Swamp Girl did up north down here in Florida, be prepared for some unwanted attention. This guy allowed his fish to splash. Big mistake.

 

 

 

Come on down and try out the other Florida Swamp Girl! Its more fun with teeth! Gators chase fishermen every day in this state. Its a give and take balancing act for sure.

 

28 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

Come on down and try out the other Florida Swamp Girl! Its more fun with teeth! Gators chase fishermen every day in this state. Its a give and take balancing act for sure.

 

It sounds exciting...and looks exciting in the videos, but I'm too old to travel that far anymore. I have paddled in the company of gators (and alligator gar and even sharks), but that was nearly half a century ago when I kayaked from northern MN to the Gulf. In Mississippi and Louisiana, I'd poke around the bayou and meet teeth. That trip began in mid-September, so I had to contend with cold too. I also did a summer Mississippi trip. 

 

If I were going to travel a long ways, I'd go north again. I've fished lakes where it was just me...and the wolves, bears, and moose. That's my bliss. 

 

Anyway, it's cool that you do a southern version of what Al and I love.

45 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

 

 

1 minute ago, GreenTrout said:

 

 

@FloridaFishinFool: You told some good stories, so I'll reciprocate. One morning I was fishing a wilderness lake. It was this lake and this morning:

 

 

I was camped on an island and awoke to wolf song that morning. You can see that I was facing the Sun in my canoe, so there was a lot of glare, but I could make out a beaver crossing the strait above. A BIG beaver. I'd see beavers everyday, but this beaver was the biggest of my life, so I paddled over to examine it. Surprisingly, it didn't slap its tail and dive, so I got quite close and realized it was a bear. I've seen a lot of bears in the wilderness, but that was the closest I've ever been to one. The bear didn't seem to mind my proximity. He just kept swimming, but he did give me a little side-eye.

 

FWIW, one of my all-time favorite lakes was beyond this one. I had to drag my canoe up four sets of rapids and cross a swamp too, but the next lake held 40" pike, 19" smallmouth, and 25" walleyes. The lake beyond the next lake was even harder to reach. And the lake beyond that....

 

^This^ is why you youngsters should use your youth to its fullest. The day is coming soon when you'll have to settle for local lakes. 

Ain't that the truth!

 

You fish in some beautiful remote places Swamp Girl!

 

I never really gave any thought to teeth behind me. They are always in front of me coming at me just like in the videos. Teeth in front. Teeth in back. It does add to the "enjoyment" for sure.

 

I've never seen a wild beaver. Seen plenty of bears but not around me fishing, and I never think about them either. Until now. Wolves? Glad we don't have those.

 

And to GreenTrout, that is big gator. A guy I know in central Florida who is a gator hunter and his recent catch on a spinning reel was 920 pounds!

 

Your gator was 14 feet and 800 pounds. This one out of central Florida was over 13 feet long and 920 pounds. Clearly Florida gators are more well fed! All that fat slows them down quite a bit. Well at least the big ones.

 

I should thank Kevin for taking this one out of my fishing waters.

 

 

Swamp Girl I got a place in central Florida kind of like what you described. Its a saltwater lake on an island along coast. I have to access it by intracoastal waterway and to get back in there is only like 12 inches of water and once there you gotta leave boat grounded and walk through woods to get to lake. It is completely landlocked and filled with snook, tarpon, reds and all kinds of fish in the 36 inch range give or take. Great fishing in there sometimes. This place is near Haulover canal where we put in at.

 

***A word of caution for anyone wanting to visit Florida and get out on the water is that for some reason gators are becoming more aggressive and attacks happening more frequently they say...