Fishing in the weeds

[kiefer06]

I always see these bass fishermen casting way up to the shore into thick lily pads. And they always seen to catch the big ones in there. How do they cast into the thickest of weeds and not get snaged? Is this a technique or is it a type of lure, and where can i get one? Thanks for the replies!

[AWH]

There's lots of different lures that can be used in thick slop. I'm not much of a bass fisherman anymore. I used to fish them all the time until I was hit with the musky bug about 16 years ago. But I was more of a spoon guy when I fished slop (Johnson Silver Minnow, Jawbreaker Spoons, etc. But there are lots of other options too). Other than lure selection, you really need to beef up your tackle. Heavy duty line and rods are a must for horsing fish out of that slop.

Aaron

[Largemouthphil]

Aaron is right, to fish in the slop ie. pads, rice etc. you need a heavy action rod and high pound test line. I use a 7' heavy action baitcasing rod with 50lb spiderwire braid. A good baitcaster is a must as you will ruin cheap reels fast. As for lures, your have two options. Something to pitch into the slop and a topwater for running over the slop. For topwater lures, I use a scum frog (white and black)over thin cover and if the slop is thick, I use a moss boss or Northland's jawbreaker. Change your retrieve from fast to slow with pauses or twitches to see what the fish wants. Another technique is to pitch into the slop with jigs, tubes etc. This typically works best once you find fish as these lures are not good search lures. A couple weeks back I watched several pros in the Bassmaster's Elite 50 Tournament on lake Wissota in Wisconsin fish slop. We followed the top six around on the last day. They do it no different then all the tournament fisherman in this area. Both Tokamori and Zell Roland had on black/white frogs with two yellow skirts. I think they were snagproof tournament frogs. Hope this information is helpful

Phil