I anticipate the usual jokes about when it outlasts the Twinkies - but I'm talking about grass on your treble hooks.  I was casting a Rat-L Trap last night and caught several nice fish and a few dinks, but I began to think about the grass that was getting hung on the trebles.  A couple of times, I had a fish bump the bait w/o getting hooked and threw back into the same area right away, but each time there was grass on the hooks (gorilla snot, not coontail, et.) and I wondered if this would keep the fish from striking?  What do you think?

i have always thought it wasn't good, thought being the key word. i don't know if it makes a difference or not. but i try to keep it cleaned off my hooks. i slap my bait in the water really hard and that gets most of it off. in bad stuff you'll have to do that pretty much every cast.

i've never seen a fish of any kind swimming around with a bunch of moss on him, so it's probably best to keep it clean.

I would probably clean the hook by hand or use anouther rod and bait if I had just missed a fish. Unless it was a stand or small amount.

Shad_Master do you know where Clatonia is?

I agree. I try to keep the hooks clean which can be tough while fishing in that type of grass. Sometimes I find that casting just a bit harder can get rid of some of the weeds.

Heck switch to a lizard while in the grass its a must...but if you were fishing deep over grass with a rat-l-trap its deadly.

a quick slap on the surface of the water will get off all the moss most of the time, if it's caked up on the line tie, it might take 2 or 3 pops. it's second nature to me, i only have to pull moss or other trash off with my hands maybe 5 or 6 times in a 2 or 3 hour trip, with hundreds of slaps during this time. if i'm fishing close to the cover i try to do it behind the boat, but i really don't think it bothers the fish.

yep,, keep em clean - however, have that second rod with a worm for that event and throw it right where you had the strike. Clean the rattle trap after you reel in the fish.

i have never in 38 years of fishing caught a bass on a lure with any weeds on it. ;D

Thanks for the replies.  First of all, Mudpuppy, NO, I don't, but it sounds like and STD .  As for the grass on the lure, I can tell you I have been testing this out and found that fish will bite if the there is a small amount of grass/moss/gorilla snot on the hooks.  See my upcomming post in another section.

When i was eating bass i did notice salad in the tummies?? They sure must take some in when feeding in the weeds. If the vegitation is that bad this is when i go to the weedless stuff there is plenty of weedless stuff made plus you can make any plastic worm type bait weedless too. Mepps Timber Doodle is another great bait for weeds don't ask me how it works it looks weird but the fish do go after it in the thick stuff. In my very first year of bass fishing when the places became weeded over i went into research mode for weedless stuff!!! For Weeds think weedless!!!

BigBill

We must overcome and adapt to continue catching bass in weeds its easy.

Salad in their tummies with my garlic scent??