what's the trick to fishing in the weeds?

[commie]

I am still a fairly new fisherman, mostly going for Bass's...Having some success by using soft plastics with jigheads..(grubs, worms, senko's, gulp minnows,etc...) in the edge of weedbed.

 

but i can't seem to figure out how to fish inside the weedbeds. Every cast, and I retrieve my hook/liine gets lots of weed...Tried texas rigging, or using weedless hooks, and I still get tons of weeds, and don't get the fish?

 

What is the trick to fishing in the weeds, without pulling weed out or managing to catch fish?

[markiemark70]

Never tried the weedless hooks myself, but when fishing inside weeds I usually go for a texas rig WITH a skinhook (im sure there is a videa on the web, but basically it is just burying the point of the hook back into the plastic slightly)

 

Also find that weights or the knots where I tie on a leader can catch weeds if I am not careful, so I usually go weightless with Senkos in the weeds.

[Greencoachdog]

Never tried the weedless hooks myself, but when fishing inside weeds I usually go for a texas rig WITH a skinhook (im sure there is a videa on the web, but basically it is just burying the point of the hook back into the plastic slightly)

 

Also find that weights or the knots where I tie on a leader can catch weeds if I am not careful, so I usually go weightless with Senkos in the weeds.

 

 

The same here, except I prefer a big plastic Lizard rigged weightless and "skin" hooked. I also use the 30 lb test green spiderwire, because when you catch a big fish in the weeds you're usually going to have to haul in just as many weeds as fish... 5 pounds of fish and 5 lbs. of weeds!

[Beans]

Until the zebra mussels made the water very clear, there was an Italian group at Rice Lake that had great success for many years catching pickerel and bass using long poles and vertical fishing bucktails in openings in the weed beds...

[Sawyer]

Hi Commie,

 

All the techniques that folks have mentioned thus far will work in the weeds and needs to be accompanied by patience (lots of it). You will get hanged up quite a bit but with persistence will pay great dividends.

 

-Sawyer

[jediangler]

Sawyer's right, PATIENCE. Just keep pulling those weeds off and casting back in again.

[dheitzner]

Another consideration is the action of the rod that you're using. A soft rod will not pull a bait through the weeds as readily as one with a stiffer action. With a stiff rod you can kind of rip through the weeds. If you are texas rigging or using a flippin' jig, go heavier than you would when fishing just the edges: the bait needs to get down into the strike zone quickly.

[ChrisK]

I guess it all depends on what your going after ?? I use spinnerbaits in weed cover when angling for bass,pike and muskie due to the single upright hook on the bait which makes it slip through the weeds easier.You can add a single stinger hook to a spinnerbait as well to increase your hookups if they are hitting short..Now fishing for walleye in heavy weed cover is a little different...There is a method called rip jigging..

Heres the link just in case your interested..

http://www.ontariofishing.net/news/nov2006-2.html

 

Cheers !

[Tdel]

When looking for bass use a Moss Boss. Found it great in the weeds. Drag it across lily pads slowly and let it drop off. You can put a lot of erratic action into it to by twitching the rod.

 

Tom.

[johnnyb]

When fishing thick weeds, you're either going to take weeds off your hook, or a fish My approach is to just work the spot that my lure lands in...if I'm using a texas rigged worm, I let it sink right down in there...twitch it a bit here and there, but mostly leave it and wait for something to pick it up. If nothing happens, and I can't pull it out without hanging up on a pile of salad, I just rip it hard, hoping to get the weeds off. I've caught walleye in the middle of a sunny summer afternoon doing this...they like to bury themselves in there. And you'll get lots of hits as your rip the lure free...as mentioned above, a relatively stiff rod is a big help in this situation.