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Bass Fishing TIPS


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I don't get it. Was out on O'dowd in Shakopee today and the lake is plumb full of weeds. How do you find the bass. The only top water option is a frog, and you need to be totally weedless with a jig. Are they really down in the weeds??

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I noticed the same thing on a large portion of Otter Lake.. pads and weeds SO thick.. the only possible solution was a big old floating frog. Maybe something that sank straight down might have worked.. did get 1 bass though!

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IF the weeds are that thick, the best thing to do is float right over an opening (could be the size of a man hole, could be the size of a plate....drop that heavy jig-n-pig down to the bottom and jig up a bit/let it sit. The best way to fish those thick weeds is to do just that....find small openings and work slower presentations.

Takes patients thats for sure.

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There are big boys in there if you can get to them and then get them out of all of that slop when they're hooked. I've had success with power slugs in the small open spots otherwise a moss boss or weed walker works good too.

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steamboatbay, i have fished o Dowd every day since opener with great success. All my fish have come off of one thing, a yum wolly hawg craw. just texas rig it weightless and let it slowly sink through the weeds. Fishing around the islands and in the little bays have produced big time for me using this technique this past weekend.

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Many of our lakes this time of year get a very healthy crop of Curly Pond weed.. yes it can be difficult to fish.. but they are deffinatly in there. Weightless worms dropped into the pockets like said before is the best way to catch them.. My best bait is a wacky rigged Comida(senko type bait).

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I also fished O'dowd on opener and was frustrated by the weeds. I found one presentation that produced a fair number/size of fish and was still quick enough to keep me from getting bored was to use shallow running cranks (12 inches or less)and start the retrieve with the rod tip high to keep the bait even closer to the surface. As of opener, there were still many places where the weeds were a couple inches below the surface. Also, the cranks I was using had a very wide wobble and appeared to deflect of the few taller weeds instead of hanging up. The only problem I ran into was having to clean the occasional slime off the bait. Blazing the crank over their heads that morning sure seemed to call them up.

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I've been on both Orchard and Crystal lake (Lakeville and Burnsville) and they are both like that. So very thick. Then, to make matters worse, weed harvesting boats come by and tear everything up so that now there is a lot floating on top too.

Its very anoying, but I've still done ok, I've caught about 7 total in the last few days. All I was trying to do was find some areas where I had room to swim a grub with a mushroom jig head and not get hung up too much. Took pretty short and accurate casts but it worked pretty well. Also, takes a pretty stiff rod, medium to medium heavy to tear through the weeds when you make contact. Although for casting under docks, most of the time the weeds were just too thick.

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Thanks for the tips...Hey FISH, let me know if you ever need a partner for a day out there. Usually head out by myself in the mornings and evenings. I live in Shakopee, nice short drive!!

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So Dietz says weightless, and Captain BRK says heavy Jig n pig...those recommendations seem to contrast. What works better? The lake I fish has lots of this type of cover.

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Tout the answer is both.. I had a tournament last night on a lake that is nasty with curly pond weed. I fished Exactly as I said to.. .weightless got more fish, However there were a few areas where the weightless wouldnt fall threw into the holes. .too much weeds, so I had to go with a jig...

I took 3rd and had 2nd place big fish. Not bad, should have done better..

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