5 Tips for Catching More Bass in the Weeds
Summer’s heat has largemouth bass hunkering under any shade they can find—and one of the most consistent options is a thick grass mat. When aquatic weeds like hydrilla top out at the surface and lay over, the resulting aggregation provides a cozy canopy for bass.
The fish still have to eat and plucking frogs from the surface is one of their favorite meal options. Here’s how tell if you’ve found a promising mat.
1. Baitfish
Food sources in a mat — shad and crayfish — are like adding a vending machine to a waiting room. The bass aren’t going anywhere, but they’ll pack in tighter when chow avails.
2. Tracks
Pulling a frog across a mat leaves a linear trail or track. Previous fishing effort guarantees noting, but if a mat has multiple frog tracks, then it had to have appealed to someone.
3. Blow-Up Holes
The only thing better than a frog track is a frog track with a well-defined hole at the end. There’s often a reason — a stump, a cavern in the mat — why the fish attacked at that point, so try to bring your bait through every hole you see. Don’t think of it as fishing used water. It’s fishing a verifiably productive spot.
4. Inner Lagoons
Large areas of open water provide gathering spots for shad, and therefore, targeting spots for froggers. To avoid spooking the spot, avoid pulling your bait across the center during high-sun periods. Wait until the fish start roaming the center at low light.
5. Rice Krispies
Kinda like the breakfast cereal, bluegills smacking aquatic bugs from a healthy, vibrant mat make distinct snap, crackle, pop sounds. Active mats will be alive with this constant panfish predation.
What’s that mean to the bass seeker? Plenty. Specifically, it means the mat’s holding lots of bluegill, which is primary bass forage. Distracted bream are easy prey for lurking largemouth, so the more activity, the better.
Bass looking for a bream to ambush won’t pass up a frog moving overhead.