August 24, 2018 by Cody Kelley
If you spend much time at all sampling different bass fishing venues you will undoubtedly find yourself faced with the task of finding bass in some type of vegetation. Most people either absolutely love fishing around grass, or can’t stand it. If you are one of the latter, use these quick tips to help find fish next time you find yourself in the thick stuff.
1. Green is gold
The importance of this can’t be stressed enough. ALWAYS look for the greenest grass on the lake. In general, it will be easier to fish and will almost always hold more bass. Sometimes you will notice that the grass looks “muddy.” Often this is because there has recently been high/muddy water in the area. There can still be fish in these areas, but if you can find clean and green grass you will most likely find cleaner, more-oxygenated water that the bass desire.
2. Stay on the move
One of the toughest parts of fishing grass is getting past the sheer amount of it. It’s not uncommon to find acres of grass with no apparent differentiating factors. Fortunately, there will almost always be a few key areas in there that hold a lot of fish. One of the best ways to find these areas is to stay on the move. I like to put my trolling motor on about 40 percent and fan-cast moving baits such as a swim jig, vibrating jig or spinnerbait. Once you get a bite, drop a waypoint and look for another quick bite in the area. If you catch another, it’s time to slow it down.
3. Take ’em to school
After you coax a few bites out of a small area it’s generally a good idea to slow down. That is the awesome thing about grass bass: They really tend to form schools in certain areas on the grass flats. Once you find them, the action can be on par with some of the best ledge fishing out there. To really exploit these schools, I like to use a few different tactics. A go-to is dragging a weightless soft stick bait through the area. If the grass is more matted or too close to the surface to effectively get a stick bait through, go to the top. It’s tough to beat a hollow-bodied frog slowly walked across the key areas.
Tags: grass -flipping -hydrilla -vegetation- fishing-tips-advanced cody-kelley
