Summer Salad Days
07/17/09
There's one thing that bass and anglers face much more of in summer - aquatic weed beds and dense stands of shoreline-ringing vegetation. Indeed, many small, shallow bass waters top off with weeds each summer, looking a lot like overstuffed salad bowls. The weeds can grow so thick and the fields are so expansive that they choke out the shallows so completely that you can't even find any open water to fish!
Summer salad fishing can be both a blessing and a curse since vegetation holds many fish but it is almost impossible to catch anything in areas that instantly drape your lures and line in green on every cast.
Our story this issue will instruct you how to pinpoint some of the best hotspots within these vast aquatic fields of green - and equally important, how to eliminate unproductive expanses of weeds that may all look the same. The grass is not always greener on the other side of the lake, as you'll soon learn.
So grab a salad fork, and let's dig in, shall we?
There's one reason why bass hang around weeds all summer. No, actually, there are two. First, just look at a bass, either a largemouth, smallmouth or spotted bass. They're basically shades of green (in the smallmouth's case, brownish green) with non-descript bars and mottling on their sides and backs that let them blend in perfectly into weedy environments.
The second reason, and why Mother Nature painted bass bodies that way is because weeds make a safe haven for small morsels of many kinds - tiny fish, nymphs, amphibians or crustaceans can crawl, swim or slip through dense weeds easily, and they effectively disappear in the concealing drapes of green weeds that they bury within. The thick weeds of summer are often the nursery grounds for anything born that spring; the year's new life tends to embed themselves en masse in the weeds all summer. These dense weeds offer an inner sanctum to many creatures that a bass would greedily eat, if it could only grab them. It doesn't much matter what kinds of weeds either. It's pretty much the same scenario with dense weed beds of all kinds. Bass know the bait is in there somewhere, but can't go into or feed effectively within the very thickest sections or layers of weeds where the hiding bait can lurk. It's mostly a stand-off. Bait can slip deep into the inner recesses of the weeds, and stay there all summer long, where bass can't easily get at them. The bait can't risk coming out of the weeds, and the bass can't effectively go in after them. Still, there is so much bait of all kinds in lush weeds during the summer months, that weed beds often make the best places to hang around if you are a bass or an angler who wants to catch them.
What kinds of weeds are best? A good bet is several kinds of weeds growing together in the same area. So first and foremost, seek out several beds of different weed kinds adjoining each other. That's often a good place to catch fish. Weeds don't necessarily comingle or mix indiscriminately like a tossed salad, but you will tend to see loose transitions in the area alternating from one section of weeds to the other. The more kinds of weeds in one area, the better. That is, an area where three or four kinds of weeds grow will likely be better than an area with two kinds of different weeds, but two's still better than just one kind. Different types of weeds may grow better on different bottom compositions. Some weeds may thrive on softer bottoms. Some establish themselves best on sandy bottoms and so on. Some weeds grow better in water only a few feet deep whereas others can thrive best in relatively deeper water. Point is, several different kinds of weeds growing in proximity to each other often indicate a varied bottom composition, and a fertile one at that. Often, different critters live in the different kinds of weeds. For example, it's classic for frogs to be found especially around lily pads. Aquatic nymphs, such as dragonfly larvae live underwater up to several years. When they are ready to metamorphose into adults, they need to climb up onto taller vegetation that emerges well above the waterline, such as reeds, where they dry and crack open their aquatic exoskeletons in order to unfurl their wings and fly away to mate. Some creatures like fish can hide better when tucked into underwater weeds that are very leafy, thereby obscuring a predator's vision. Other creatures would rather cling closely onto underwater weeds that offer more stems and stalks to clutch onto. So keep in mind that different creatures gravitate toward different weed types, and when you see several different kinds of weeds growing together, it is a fertile area, often with varied bottom composition and fluctuating depth, that tends to be populated with a wider variety of creatures. Those places draw bass. If you do nothing else this summer, seek out those kinds of areas and fish them with confidence. You shouldn't go unrewarded.
Another surefire sign to look for, and that are easy to spot, are dinner plate sized holes in the weeds, made by bass that have boiled up to the surface to eat something there, leaving a hole blown in the weeds by all the commotion. Often, you will see 3, 4 or more of these holes within a few yards of each other, and this is a solid sign that a bass may be living right there under that swatch of grass, simply waiting patiently until it detects something moving across the green canopy above it. Then it's time for the bass to explode! Toss a lure on top of the grass in this area, move it a hair, and get ready for the weeds to part beneath it as a bass wells up to clobber you. Of course, you can’t see these feeding holes on windy days, but on a calm day or even from one calm day to the next, these holes persist. Even if they sort of close over, once you know what to look for, you can still spot that a bass had been feeding there recently, and is most likely still sitting underneath the weeds there.
Overhanging shade trees are also some of the very best spots, and often the biggest bass will claim the water under a shade tree as their territory for the summer. The productive trees are easy to spot. Just look for a carpet of endless green weeds growing thick along a shoreline, except where a good shade tree hangs over the water. The shade will block sunlight from penetrating the water underneath the tree, and without any sunlight, no weeds will grow beneath its limbs. Finding a big, old overhanging tree like that is akin to finding the end of a rainbow. A treasure trove of big golden-flanked bass, often several of them, may be waiting to be discovered there.
Another high percentage spot that's easy to find, and often holds above-average size bass, is any isolated patch of weeds of whatever kind. Just look around you. Overlook the long expanses of weeds. You're looking for the needle in the haystack, that one clump of weeds all alone, or that one clump of a different weed species that's all by itself. Look for what's wrong in the weedy picture before you, and you'll start to see weeds, little patches of them that are isolated by themselves amidst other kinds of weeds, or even out in the open water away from the rest of the weeds. As we know by now, these isolated clumps of weeds are probably not there by chance. There is probably something about the bottom it's rooted to that's different than the rest of the area, and bass love those kinds of different places. It gives them something to call their own, call their home if you will. As we mentioned about the shade pools under overhanging trees, bigger bass will claim those territories under the trees. Bigger bass will likewise claim those isolated clumps of weeds as their own. It really doesn't need to be much. Just enough for a big bass to hang out there for the summer. With a little experience, it's very easy to see these isolated places.
Okay, you can say we've saved our best salad fishing tip for last, because actually, it doesn't happen until the last days of summer. In many places, the end of August or early September signals the start of the autumn storm season, including hurricane season in the coastal states. But what we describe here next happens everywhere there are water weeds. At the tail end of summer, often triggered by the first early autumn rains, the vast expanses of weed beds start to shrink and collapse in on themselves. Sections that were completely topped off with weeds as far as the eye could see, areas that were unfishable all summer, these green expanses start to recede back into clumps, and they start to sink, forming sunken pools of weeds amidst the weeds. Be alert for a heavy rain to come through, it may even be a downpour that could raise the water level an inch or two. The hard rain water is not going to be what the weed beds really want this time of year. The hard rain changes the chemistry of the surface of the water for the worse at this time of year, which absolutely debilitates the weeds. Look for sunken weed bowls to develop, which are slight depressions in the tops of the weeds that provide fishable bowls of water in the weedy expanses. Now you may finally fish the vast expanses of weeds that were impractical all summer. Cast up onto the far side of the weed bowl from you, hold your rod tip high, engage your reel and start cranking the handle before your bait even hits the water. If you don't, your bait will bury right into the weed canopy, and you are wasting your time. But if you did it right, your bait will land a few feet back into the weed canopy, and you just burn it over the weed rim, into the slightly deeper bowl. It's almost as fishing a small pond or pool of water, only a foot or so deep that has suddenly sunken, since the rain, into the surrounding weeds. Expect to see a bass materialize out of nowhere and slam your bait as it clears the weed rim entering the little deeper pool. If not, expect to get hit again just as your bait reaches the near side of the bowl's perimeter. Just an instant before your bait plows head-first into the thick weed bowl rim, expect a bass to come dashing out and trounce it! These are fish that no one has been able to effectively fish for all summer due to the thick weeds topping out on the surface - until now.
It gets even better though, as the summer salad continues to shrink back and sink, it also starts to clump up into almost bush-like or shrub-like structures of weeds, while the rest of the surrounding weeds weaken, falling toward the bottom. As the thick aquatic vegetation beds die off and shrink back, they expose the vast populations of young-of-year as well as adult creatures that had hidden in the plant growth all summer. Coverless and vulnerable to heavy predation now, this overabundance of bait has nowhere to hide now except in the last-remaining clumps of vegetation. All you need to do now is cast close to almost any one of these weed clumps, and catch bass after bass that had been previously inaccessible under the vast weed expanses all summer.
We've picked apart the weeds for you here today, and we've gotten you focused on some of the best spots to concentrate your fishing - where several varieties of weeds coexist in one place, where you spot holes blown in the weeds by feeding bass, wherever overhanging shade trees harbor big bass beneath their low-hanging boughs, and anywhere that isolated clumps of weeds stand out or apart by themselves, those are big bass locations. The best happens last, the sunken bowls that form within the weeds and the last remaining clumps of weeds. All these spots that we've described for you are only a very small percentage of all the weedy areas in any body of water. However, they are very easy to find now that you know what to look for. Simply and confidently ignore the rest of the weeds. Concentrate on the kinds of spots we've given you, and see if you can't up the quality and quantity of bass you catch in the green, green fields of your home waters this summer.
Fishing the Tall Grass |
Does this scene look familiar? It should. More often than not, there is at least some tall grass somewhere on most every body of freshwater. Whether you call them cat-tails, bulrushes, pencil reeds, phragmites, maidencane or tulles, all tall grass is a haven for bass. Tall grass grows tight together in colonies or communities. Shorelines or island edges in shallow water typically a few feet deep is the domain of the tall grasses, which may grow above water to a height of 5 to 10 feet tall or more. The pad or rim of shoreline where the tall grass colony ends is called a berm. The outer edge often indicates a depth break and/or change to a different bottom composition. It is at this break or beyond that other aquatic vegetation meets the edge of the tall grass. Tall grass berms provide great bass habitat year-round, and in the spring time, any protected little indentions, open holes and channels provide bass with sheltered spawning sites in and around the tall grass.
Spots to seek out in the tall grass include:
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How to Rig Up for Grass Fishing
Braided line is often ideal for fishing heavy grass patches, and you don't need to attach a leader to the braid in grass. Just tie the hook direct to the end of the braided line. Use anywhere from 20 to 60 lb test braid matched to a suitable rod and reel, and of course, matched to the size of the fish, the toughness of the grass beds, and the size of the lake or pond you plan to fish. Everything is relative, and the size/strength of the rod, reel, line, hook quarry, the vegetation and the body of water need to be in concordance.
We so often hear or read of cases where heavy tackle is required for grass fishing, but on an 8 to 10 acre pond, small stream or other small body of water, relatively lighter tackle is more appropriate, even for fishing in grass, even decent spinning gear with braid can work here.
First, you will need to slide your sinker and rigging components onto the line, starting with one or two rubber sinker stoppers. If you are going to use a light sinker, one rubber stopper may be fine. If you are planning to use a heavy sinker, opt for two rubber stoppers. These go on your braided line before anything else.
Then thread a bullet-shaped sinker on the line. Sinker sizes of 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 or 3/4 ounce may be needed, and up to 1 to 1-1/2 ounces may be required in the worst matted conditions. Needless to say, smaller, lighter sinkers are suited to relatively lighter tackle, sparser grass, shallower and smaller bodies of water. Big, heavy sinkers are for big, heavy tackle on big bodies of water where thick mats have grown to the surface in deeper water.
Next, follow your sinker with not one but two brightly-colored plastic beads. I always use two bright beads in grass, for double the clacking noise as they bang against each other and the sinker. I prefer plastic instead of glass beads which can fray braid, or can crack and cut the line.
I like the bright beads because all sorts of small fish will peck at them, and that creates a crowd of small fish and feeding activity around your bait. It's like your own personal food chain, starting with the beads that attracts baitfish that naturally attract big bass over to your bait!
Also important while you're trying to break your bait through the grass, the bright beads serve as visual indicators as to where your bait is as you try to jiggle and work it down to break through the crusty, difficult top of the grass. When grass grows tall enough to reach the surface, it lays over and begins growing and matting sideways across the surface, which is often the thickest and hardest part of the grass bed to get a bait through. It might not seem like a big deal now, but much of the rig - your sinker and worm, can disappear into the greenery. The only thing you may be able to see many times are the bright beads like laser dots shining amidst the grass You will end up focusing on where the beads are in the grass, and watching the beads as you try to break through the canopy - not watching the sinker or the bait.
It's time for the hook now, and either Gamakatsu's Superline EWG or Standard EWG (Extra Wide Gap) hooks are great for fishing grass. The neck bend will hold a worm securely in grass, but the neck bend is not so sharp or angled that it catches and clutches onto grass. Instead, it slips through. Ideal sizes shown here are 3/0 and 4/0 for fishing in grass.
The Superline and Standard EWG are both the same size and shape except that the Super Line (shown bottom) is of thicker wire diameter and stronger than the Standard EWG (shown top). So you may use the Superline EWG with heavy baitcasting tackle and braided line up to 50-65 lb test in the heaviest cover for the biggest bass. On the other hand, uou may use the Standard EWG hooks with 20-30 lb test braid on small lakes and ponds, where smaller bass are found, or with medium/heavy spinning tackle.
How to Tie the Knot with No Name for Braided Line
Step #1: I came up with the knot I use for braided line many years ago. I don't think you'll find it in any book (unless someone copied it off me). I'll try to show and tell you how I tie it now. To start, thread the braid through the hook eye. Tie a simple overhand knot. leaving about 6-8 inches of line on the tag end. Slip the overhand knot down to the hook eye, drawing it tight. This completes the first of two knots you will tie.
Step #2: To begin to tie the second knot, press your left thumb and forefinger together, effectively pinching a loop of line with the hook dangling approx. four inches below.
Step #3: Stick the tip of your right middle finger in the end of the loop, and keep light tension so the loop won't twist or turn. Then, using your right thumb and forefinger, wrap at least six turns of the tag end line around the loop. After looping at least six turns, insert the tag end through the middle of the loop above your middle fingertip.
Step #4: Slowly and carefully take your right middle fingertip out of the loop. Let go of the top of the loop with your left fingers, but do not let go of the main line. You are going to start pulling in two different directions: 1) to the left with your left fingers on the line, and 2) to the right with the hook and your right hand. The knot will start to slide down and then pull tight. You need to ensure it doesn't foul and doesn't jam until it starts to pull tight against the hook eye, as shown below.
Step #5: Tighten up in three different directions now, tightening in the direction of the main line, in the direction of the lose tag end, and in the direction of the hook (carefully).
Step #6: Clip the excess tag end off, but not too closely. You have now tied two knots - first, an overhand and second, my clinch knot with no name. Both knots work with and against each other so neither one will slip.
I first developed this knot when I fished mostly at night, since it is easy to tie by fingertip feel alone, without looking at it or even being able to see it without any light in the dark. You can tie this knot with fluorocarbon or monofilament too, just omit step #1 - the initial overhand knot, since the line crossing over itself will cause mono or fluoro to cut itself. But with braid, the initial overhand knot is key, since braid can't cut itself like mono or fluoro, and braid is so slick, it my slip out of a clinch knot without the initial overhand knot to prevent that slippage.
Okay, now go practice that knot until you can tie it perfectly every time in the dark with your eyes closed!
Baits to Use in Grass
For thick grass, slender, straight baits work best. Straight baits will slip down beneath thick matted vegetation whereas baits with twisty tails or stubby, protruding appendages will get wrapped around or caught on the vegetation, and not slip down beneath the weeds to where the bass are waiting.
Some of the straight, slender Yamamoto baits that slip easily through vegetation are shown above, including from top down:
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Fat Baby Craw ~ #3FS series ~ color #236
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Medium Craw ~ #3M series ~ color #544
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5" Crawdad ~ #3 series ~ color #904
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4" Senko ~ 9S series ~ color #918
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5-3/4" Kut Tail Worm ~ 7C series ~ color #922
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5" Senko ~ 9 series ~ color #543
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6-1/2" Kut Tail Worm ~ 7X series ~ color #324
How to Texas Rig a Bait
Step #1: Hold the hook stationary in your left hand, Push the worm down onto the entire length of the hook point dead center into the nose of the bait, with your right hand. This may seem a little further or deeper into the bait than you usually go, but the extra distance that the hook is embedded into the plastic will help prevent the worm from being bumped and slipping down off the hook as it constantly bangs and rubs its way through thick vegetation.
Step #2: Still holding the hook stationary with your left hand, work the hook point out what you want to be the "bottom" of the bait with your right hand, making sure the point comes out perfectly centered on the "bottom" of the bait.
Step #3: Next, slowly slide the worm all the way up along the straight shank of the hook. The tricky part, and where many anglers mess up, is when you start to work the worm over the bent neck of the hook. As the hook bends, you need to roll the worm this way, then that way so the thin channel cut within the center of the bait does not get torn or stretched out. So you are effectively rolling the worm the same way as the bend of the hook goes, in order that the "channel" cut within the worm will not get stretched out. Likewise, where the hook exits out of the bottom of the worm, you want to roll the exit hole over the bends in the hook so you never end up tearing, stretching or "hogging out" the hole, as I call it. Care at this step is critical so you don't start out with a worm that's torn and loose on the hook before you even cast it. The hole channeled within the worm by the hook needs to be as thin and tight as possible and not stretched or torn in any way.
Step #4: Lay the hook point alongside the worms body, and visualize exactly where the channel through the worm will need to be when the hook point is pushed inside. If you do not measure and visualize this first (every time), chances are you will be off the mark, have to do it over, and risk wrecking your worm before you even fish it. By the way, you see the hook eye has ended up embedded a little deeper than usual, and that helps the worm stay seated more securely as it constantly bumps up against thick grass in the water.
Step #5: Now hold the hook stationary in your left hand again. With your right hand, scrunch the worm's body forward, which is going to put stress and stretch on the worm where the hook eye is buried, so be careful that the nose of the worm doesn't tear or "hog out" at the neck hole while you scrunch the worm forward. Then insert the point and pull the worm back along the channel exactly where you had visualized the hook point needs to be buried.
Step #6: Still holding the hook stationary in your left hand, continue pulling the worm all the way back with your right hand, in order to slice a channel inside the worm with the hook point, exactly where you visualized it in step #4. Pull the worm all the way back so it is perfectly straight with no kinks or bumps or bows in it.
Step #7: The worm body should lie loose and relaxed on the hook - not stretched taut.
Step #8: Now slide the rigging components and the sinker back down the braid. Position the rubber stoppers where you want them to be - either slide everything up almost against the worm head (just don't jam everything down as tight as possible), or leave 1-2 inches to as much as 5-6 inches of line play for the sinker and beads to slide on the line and make noise.
A few inches of line play is usually good since the freedom for the sinker to shift back and forth as you jiggle the rod helps the rig work through the canopy quicker. Once the rig hits bottom, those few inches of line play also let the sinker and beads click around more.
In a scene from the classic movie, Cool Hand Luke, played by actor Paul Newman, is a prisoner on a chain gang constructing a new road. For calls of nature, the prisoners are allowed a little privacy to duck behind a bush, but they have to keep shaking the bush so the guards know they haven't run off into the woods to escape. Shaking a bush or a thick clump of weeds is also a good thing for you to do once your rig has hit bottom. Simply keep shaking it and shaking it, boss. Shake the rig as well as the bush it is lodged against in a way your instincts say is a fish-attracting manner - then pause, which is when you'll get bit.
Gee, I don't know what else there is to tell you. Take everything you've learned here, go find some good grass, and land some good bass from now through summer's end.