More Grass Fishing
Plastics
When fishing Carolina rigs, use mojo style weights. These are
the long cylindrical weights that look like a hot tamale, as they come through
the grass better. A longer leader will help the lure stay free of the
grass. A leader length of 48" is not uncommon. For Texas rigged
worms, peg the weight and be very aware of the slack line that you allow the
lure to have. You will need more slack or free spooling line so that the lure
doesn't pendulum as bad and can fall vertical instead of at a swooping angle
through the grass.
With plastics especially, try to use slim line worms and baits that don't
have a ton of arms and legs. Ribbon tail and straight tail worms work through
grass much better than lizards and freak baits. Also...tube baits rigged tex
posed with a pegged weight are great in grass. There's just not a whole
lot there to snag anything. But be sure to rig it tex posed with the tip
of the hook pushed just under the back of the plastics skin. Senkos or any
other stick bait are awesome in thick grass. They have a straight design
that will fall right through any openings, and the natural action of the Senko
is what catches bass. You don't have to do anything to get bit. Just
cast it into open pockets rigged weightless and tex posed with a 2 or 3/0
Gamakatsu EWG Superline hook. Let the bait fall until the line twitches
with a bass or it hits the bottom. Then pick it up and let it fall back down again.
It is that simple. You can also work them over the top with twitching motions
like a soft jerk bait, but Senkos have a much more erratic action that I find
draws more strikes.
For jigs, many offer a "grass jig" but basically what that means it that the head is pointed and has a different placement of the line tie. Usually it is just positioned vertical. or at a sharper angle
Spinner Bait
For spinner baits a double willow leaf blades are #1 in grass.
They will pull through it much easier and shed grass much better as the rotation
of the blades is not a large circle but a tight spinning action. Also, if
it is really thick grass, use a spinner bait that has the twisted angle like
this....> where the line tie is instead of the R bend that almost all have today.
The regular R bend line ties will wrap around the grass strands and load the
lure with grass. There are a few custom spinner baits that have the
twisted > line tie for those extreme thick grass situations. But some R
bend spinner baits with double willow leafs will still be fine in heavy grass.
The Yamamoto double willow leaf spinner baits have a unique head that will shed
grass a lot better then many others. And it super duper thick crappy
grass.....use braided line and a rod with softer tip action than you would
normally use. The braid will saw through the grass letting the spinner bait
stay clean of tangles and clumps. The softer tip action is more forgiving
so you don't rip the hook from a bass's mouth since braid has no stretch.
