summer jiggin

[JamesJR]

every summer i fish a local lake in central texas, this lake has tons of hydrilla, I fish tournements 1-2 times a month on this lake and I always seem to fall short, the guys winning are throwing 1-1 1/2 oz jigs in the matted vegetation, so I spent entire days trying this technique, not a single bite, what am I doing wrong?

[JB]

It may be simply location, plus can you feel the jig penetrating the grass, does more line go through till it hits bottom?..keep trying!

[JamesJR]

what brands or styles of jigs work best in this type of presentation

[bassintom]

try something different..a 4"paca craw on a 3/4 or 1 oz jighead..or a 4 or 5"tube.

[lizardsrule]

LOL at Tom.

Grassmaster jigs are phenomenal in the thick stuff. I will be the first to admit, it takes ome getting used to going through the thick stuff, and realizing you had/have a bite. But practice will help. Look for actual changes in the mats/vegetation, and if there is a piece of wood sticking up hit it 4-5 times before moving on. I try to target holes in the vegetation if possible also. It's a good ambush point for the bass. However on the reverse of that, I love to hop soft plastics on the mats, hop-hop-pause, and wait for the explosion/hit.

Lizards

[imege8]

try really smakin the jig thru the matt. i do this in the summer at a local lake and i absolutely kill the big ones. try using a sweet beaver in a magic craw color t-rigged, smack it thru the matt and have fun.

[Rebbasser]

Welcome to the forum, James and Imeg!

James-is it Stillhouse you are referring to? Just curious.

Lizards gives some good advice-look for where 2 diffferent kinds of cover come together, like a stickup in the hydrilla.

I also like the Grassmaster jig-PnJ turned me onto them. Here's the link:


http://www.allterraintackle.com/products/grassjig.html

[JB]

I'll second that paca craw(nod of approval) ,
I hadn't even heard of it till lizards commented on them, man they are sweet!

[1FASTLASER]

Matted vegatation can be belittling but dont let it get to ya. What you have to do is find the sweet spots in the vast matts. You wont catch fish most of the time in all the matts. Find the differences in the matts. Be it a depth change,different weed type,front of the matt,back of the matt. There is something that you have over looked and you need to go back and maybe watch what the others are doing and try to duplicate.

[JB]

I need to figure out in the end of the season how to get fish to bite in super clear water, when you know they are laying deep in the vegetation, but can't see them. I guess I need a heavy jig to hit them on the ol noggin!

[JamesJR]

hey rebbasser, how did you know I was talking about Stillhouse? I have that hardest time at this lake in the summer, I can always start the day with a couple of keepers, but as the sun pops up the fish swim under the thick vegetation in about 12 to 20 ft deep,
On using a sweet beaver do I also peg a 1 oz weight to it?

[Rebbasser]

I figured it was Stillhouse since you are in Killeen. If you are pitching/flipping I'd peg the weight simply because of the thickness of the cover-what you don't want to have happen is the weight go down one side of a piece of structure and the bait go down the other. Pegging eliminates that.

[1FASTLASER]

Definatley peg it. I have been doing a little secret experimenting with a demon pegged to the line and a watermelon pepper skirt and a sweet beaver and I gotta tell ya the fish WILL bite. In heavy or sparse for that matter I always per. Keeps the bait falling correctly and helps on a hooked bass not throwing the bait as easily. Would use the rubber bands if I could see the damn hole in the sinker. LOL Hard enough sticking a touthpick in the hole. You outta see my thumb from missed shots.

[JamesJR]

what kind of trailer do you put behind a grassmaster jig, i ordered some 1 1/2 oz. i will let you know if i have any luck

[bass kicker]

i would definatly try flippen tubes they might produce

[Curado]

It could have been where you were fishing, but when you fish the heavy vegetation I like to jump the jig pretty high off the bottom.

[lizardsrule]

Originally Posted by JamesJR

what kind of trailer do you put behind a grassmaster jig, i ordered some 1 1/2 oz. i will let you know if i have any luck

I use a baby Paca Craw myself. But any kinf of craw type trailer is usually what I use, I used to use the Yum Craw before the Paca's.

Lizards

[1FASTLASER]

Originally Posted by lizardsrule

I use a baby Paca Craw myself. But any kinf of craw type trailer is usually what I use, I used to use the Yum Craw before the Paca's.

Lizards

I'm with Lizzy on this one. A Craw imitation is for me the best trailer. Since the intro of the paca craw I have just about used them exclusively. Also I give the jig and craw of whatever I am using a real good dose of scent be it spray or a concotion I have made. It does help to an extent to let the jig slide through the grass without hanging up and the added appeal of smelling like an Italion.LOL.

[pig n jig]

James, If I were to give a person one word of advice on jigging heavy weeds,it would be to make sure that you allow the fish time to get to the jig before you retrieve it to flip again.When looking at the weedbed, find the high percentage targets by observing anything out of the ordinary, something that looks a bit different than the rest of its surroundings.Look at the weeds, Here if the weeds are laying over on top than the weeds surrounding it, most likely there is a hump in the bottom contour.look for any indentations in the edge, look for other weeds growing with the hydrilla, could mean a bottom substance change in soil, most times outside the weed edges, there are isolated weeds that will sometimes hold a limit on a single weed clump with surrounding bare bottom terrain. Another tip is to buy the 3X plastic baits in a bright color to throw out to where you got bit . The 3X baits float real well, serves as a buoy marker so you can set up a triangulated section to thoroughly fish that area you got the bite in before pulling the buoy markers out once you know you found more than one fish there.I use Gene Larew salt craws most of the time for trailers, The paca craws would work as well as most other brand of trailers.The jig Rebbasser posted is a great jig for heavy cover fishing.I hope this helps, P N J

[Rebbasser]

Ding! Lightbulb comes on!

Lizards and Laser, I NEVER thought about using a Paca Craw as a trailer-I usually use Zoom or Yum chunks. Thanks for the idea!

James-a Zoom or Yum chunk will work, and so will just about any other bait that resembles a craw. Another good trailer is a Zoom Brush Hog or Super Hog. I always use the same color trailer as the jig.