That is what it seems like im doing when ever I tie on any bait that dives to a 2-3feet depth. The lakes where I fish is all weeds and leafs on the bottom. So when I use a lure like a rapala x-rap its very hard to fish it without picking up some garbage. I don't understand how you guys fish these deep baits. Do your lakes have rock on bottom and thats all? How do you avoid picking up the weeds/leafs? It really gets to me too because this time of the year shallow baits stop working well and im forced to "clean the bottom" with x-raps and suspending jerk baits. Is it just me going through this? Or is it something you just have to deal with? And its not like it happpens rarely, it happens 6 out of 10 casts, what am I to do!? >

Well to make you feel better theres roughly 10-15 lakes near me within a few hours, and maybe more than 10 of that 15 are quite shallow and i have the same problem, if you are fishing a shallow lake there are certain crankbaits and deep divers that are suitable for deflecting off the weeds, the lips at the front of the lure indicate if they might bounce off or not, if its impossible and all modifications aren't working, you then can use the deep running lure and make sure it rides right above the weeds and or cover, like the slow rolling a spinnerbait over weedy bottoms, hope this helps some

Modify your approach to fit each specific lake. If you pick upweeds at a depth of 3 feet, use a minus one crankbait or switch to a spinnerbait. For LI, you really don't have anything to worry about. I rocked that place for years and never really had any issues with vegetation fouling up my baits. Just fish it a little differently.