Searching for active fish in very vegetated lakes 2025
Pickle_Power reply :
I live on a 800 acre glacially formed dishpan type of lake. It is an average of about 7' deep, with one small 14' hole. Drop-offs/ledges are non existent, a very slow taper from shore to max depth of 6-8'. It has a mostly muck/mud bottom with some shoreline areas containing man placed rock and beaches. It is a popular pleasure boat lake with lots of docks and boat hoists. There are a few small rock piles here and there.
The forage base is predominantly bluegills and fry of other game fish. Very few shad or rough fish.
There really isn't much of a distinct weed line anywhere. The vast majority of vegetation is a stringy grass that breaks easily and clings to and wraps around nearly everything, even Texas rigs. It breaks off and floats around in small clumps, making it really difficult to run anything that isn't an offset worm hook or topwater frog.
Unfortunately, topwater patterns don't prevail, even during peak bite periods. I try them every time out, mostly because it's one of the few options that doesn't get completely inundated with salad.
I know I can pick likely areas apart with Texas rigged plastics, and that is what I usually resort to. Chatterbaits and spinnerbaits get through cleanly maybe once every 10 casts, and do get bit when I can run them in an area. Enough to keep me trying them, at least.
Does anyone have any other ideas on baits/tactics on how to attack a place like this, with relatively aggressive/searching techniques? I hate fishing slow. Should I just fish somewhere else, or am I forgetting some options?
A-Jay reply :
I'd fish at night - especially no moon, mid-week night.
Single bladed Spinner bait (Colorado or Oklahoma Blade) in the open water areas and in the not so open areas, I'd throw either a lightly weighted skirted Texas rigged plastic (Craw) or a lightly weighted 10 inch worm of your choice. Any & all bottom baits would be fished pretty slow.
A-Jay
Beetlebz reply :
Hmmm... bubba shot into the shallow cover I'm thinking. 7 feet deep probably won't be deep enough when the sun is directly overhead, they're going to be in shade. Second would be a swim jig, 1/4oz fished fast near the surface. That would be my first round picks.
Bankbeater reply :
Dusk, Dawn, or at night I would fish a popper around those floating grass clumps.
Drew03cmc reply :
Frog...toad...jointed wake baits like the Mini Slammer if there is adequate open water.
CroakHunter reply :
Butt weighted worm around any significant structure or cover. I like the reaction innovations pocket rocket with a 3/16 ounce voss screw in weight into the tail of the worm. 4/0 g-lock ewg hook and 50lb braid or 17-20lb fluorocarbon depending on wood and rocks and clarity. It should slip through and vegetation and come out cleaner than a normal Texas rig in my experience.
fishwizzard reply :
Maybe 3-4" paddle tail, with a pegged weight to act as a nose-cone to let it come through the weeds cleanly?
flyfisher reply :
All the ideas above are good ones. I will also add that any type of soft plastic you use, slather it up with something like mega strike as it seems to help the grass stay off the bait and for it to slide through the grass more easily.
Brew City Bass reply :
If it's anything like one of the lakes I use to fish, the weeds are way too thick to throw any moving bait.
I basically resorted to jigs / t-rigs in pockets and any open water. It wasn't fun, but it worked and won me a few small tourneys.
I stopped fishing that lake because I am a power-fisher and just can't stand throwing t-rigs or jigs for 8 hours at single pockets. I spent more time looking for pockets than I actually did fishing.
Wildbillb reply :
Skip docks? Open areas from prop was by docks? Edge of swimming areas early and late when no one is using them.
TOXIC reply :
I guarantee you that in 800 acres there are weed edges somewhere. It's hard to believe that a body of water that big is only 7 feet deep throughout with 1 14ft hole.....Even with it being 7 foot deep, there has to be "holes" in the grass. Throw a frog in the thick stuff, T-Rigged plastics on the edges, Jigs on the rockpiles and Dropshot in the deepest water if it's only 14 feet.
Pickle_Power reply :
On 7/25/2018 at 11:19 AM, Brew City Bass said:If it's anything like one of the lakes I use to fish, the weeds are way too thick to throw any moving bait.
I basically resorted to jigs / t-rigs in pockets and any open water.
This is pretty much what I've ended up doing.
On 7/25/2018 at 6:59 PM, TOXIC said:I guarantee you that in 800 acres there are weed edges somewhere. It's hard to believe that a body of water that big is only 7 feet deep throughout with 1 14ft hole...
Well, it is in fact 7-8 feet throughout. If it weren't for dredging, it would be 4 feet. Have you ever been to farm country? ????
The natural lakes here are like giant mud puddles.
moguy1973 reply :
Is the weed sort of suspended in the water where most of the weed is towards the top with there being an area under the weeds that could be less weedy and more root stems? If so you could try punching it with a heavy 1oz weight to try to get some reaction strikes of fish waiting under the weed mats.
TOXIC reply :
Yep, I lived in Fremont Iowa (between Ottumwa and Oscaloosa) and my grandparents/relatives owned farms in Castana, Iowa, Turin, Iowa and Morehead, Iowa. My father owned restaurants in Missouri Valley, Iowa and Modale, Iowa. I grew up in Nebraska as well so I'm pretty well versed on puddle lakes. 
Pickle_Power reply :
Right on. I live in Lake View. Black Hawk lake is just a mess. It wouldn't be so bad if it we're coontail or cabbage, but it's just nasty, stringy stuff from bottom to top in most areas.
The town has a "weed harvester" that is supposed to clear areas for pleasure boating, but it isn't very effective, kind of like trying to mow a football field with scissors. I think this is the cause of a lot of the severed clumps of weeds floating around.
I've come to the conclusion that the only thing I can stand to do consistently is to burn a buzz toad there for the rest of the summer. If I get desperate to really catch them, I'll travel a bit!
Thanks for the tips, guys.
CJE reply :
Super fluke with a EWG hook or a weighted EWG twist lock hook.
FishDewd reply :
On 7/25/2018 at 8:57 AM, flyfisher said:All the ideas above are good ones. I will also add that any type of soft plastic you use, slather it up with something like mega strike as it seems to help the grass stay off the bait and for it to slide through the grass more easily.
When in doubt... lubricate!
Brad in Texas reply :
Super fluke mentioned above is a good idea. It'll come slithering through most vegetation.
I'd only add that weightless worms and Keitech shad-like baits can be good lures where you cast them and let them slowly fall through the water column, then pop or jerk them back in. The "injured" or dying fish look.
Brad
Koz reply :
We have some lagoons like that around here and I know that they are a pain in the butt to fish. One thing that has worked for me in those conditions is a Teckel Sprinker frog. It glides over that stringy stuff well and doesn't get gunked up like a treble hook bait.
Sure, you could throw a plain old frog or a popper, but sometimes that paddle tail action on the Teckel is what the fish are looking for.
Pickle_Power reply :
I need one of those frogs. For now, the next best thing is a buzz toad.
On a side note, a MUCH less fertile, rockier lake near me has been producing good catches on big bucktail jigs I tie. I'm going to try and tie a big one on a jig with a weed guard and see if that won't work for me in the thick stuff in the weedy lake.
IgotWood reply :
I fish a lake very similar, except my lake is loaded with standing cypress, which makes it easy to find structure. However, during the late and early seasons, the fish don't always seem to relate to the trees as often. When they're not on the trees, I have the same trouble you have. The grass is so thick that there are few baits I can fish without pulling up 10lb of salad on every cast.
when the fish are roaming around in the grass, I like to look for holes and openings in the grass. Not necessarily openings in grass mats. I look for openings that reach the bottom, and of course the weed edges, which there are few of. Fish very light, plastics unweighted, or with 1/8oz weight. This of course dictates your speed, which will likely be pretty slow. I am an impatient man, so this style of fishing drives me crazy. but once in while I get dialed in with this technique and have had plenty of good days doing it. Don't be afraid to simply drop a big unweighted ribbontail worm in these openings either. I can even get away with fishing very light jigs in the grass too, like 1/4oz. The jigs, can usually be fished a tad faster, which may help you deal with the boredom. If you try a jig, use a beefy trailer to slow the fall even more. You don't really want your jig to be able to sink into the weeds.
Another good bait which I forgot to mention is a fluke. Early morning, and at dusk, try fishing an unweighted fluke or rig one on an 1/8oz keel weighted hook. You can fish these as fast as you want. You can even let it sink into the grass and then rip it out, and hold on.
BaitFinesse reply :
On 7/25/2018 at 8:45 AM, fishwizzard said:Maybe 3-4" paddle tail, with a pegged weight to act as a nose-cone to let it come through the weeds cleanly?
This. I like a 4 inch Yum Swimming Dinger and an 1/8 oz pegged conical sinker or spider head. Cast it out and slow roll over the weed beds as long as they are not emergent. It also works well swam along the deep weed line.
scaleface reply :
I never have fished a lake like the one you described but it sounds tailored made for my favorite lure , the buzzbait .
Pickle_Power reply :
On 7/28/2018 at 6:47 AM, scaleface said:I never have fished a lake like the one you described but it sounds tailored made for my favorite lure , the buzzbait .
It sure is, but as I mentioned, there just doesn't seem to be as good of a topwater bite as I experience in other waters.
Some of my favorites are poppers, ploppers, buzzbaits, frogs, and toads. The best have been a 130 Whopper Plopper and a buzz toad but anything with a treble is totally out of the question now. The buzz toad is my only option aside from working something slower than I'd like.
fishwizzard reply :
On 7/28/2018 at 5:35 AM, BaitFinesse said:This. I like a 4 inch Yum Swimming Dinger and an 1/8 oz pegged conical sinker or spider head. Cast it out and slow roll over the weed beds as long as they are not emergent. It also works well swam along the deep weed line.
The t-rig swimbait let me down today big time, spent about three hours throwing it and couldn't buy a bite until tried pitching it in the holes, but I couldn't hook up with anything. I'm heading back tomorrow to see if a weightless worm or a craw will turn them on.
Arlo Smithereen reply :
On 7/25/2018 at 10:40 PM, Pickle_Power said:Right on. I live in Lake View. Black Hawk lake is just a mess. It wouldn't be so bad if it we're coontail or cabbage, but it's just nasty, stringy stuff from bottom to top in most areas.
The town has a "weed harvester" that is supposed to clear areas for pleasure boating, but it isn't very effective, kind of like trying to mow a football field with scissors. I think this is the cause of a lot of the severed clumps of weeds floating around.
I've come to the conclusion that the only thing I can stand to do consistently is to burn a buzz toad there for the rest of the summer. If I get desperate to really catch them, I'll travel a bit!
Thanks for the tips, guys.
I fish Lake View every. single. week. Too many recreational boaters for me, I fish Arrowhead and the pits. Caught my pb there.
Pickle_Power reply :
I go to those places too.
related Fishing Tackle topic
© 2025 - fishing.qciss.net. All Rights Reserved.