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  1. #1
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    Another grass question

    I asked a little while ago about fishing submerged grass and you guys were super helpful in helping me learn and catch fish that way, now it later in the year, the grass is matted up and I've got another one.

    What do you do when there's active fish in the grass mat, but you can't get a bite

    My example, there's one long grassy point that has been my most productive numbers and size wise for a few months. It's probably 75-100 yards wide and 500 yards long. At first they were right on the outside edge in 10-12 fow. They've slowly moved in with the bait and now they're dead center of the matted grass chasing bait and blowing up left and right. First though is to frog it, but I've thrown a frog at them for an hour straight and they won't touch it. Tried getting close enough for a short cast with a punch rig and still nothing.
    So are these fish just not gonna happen, or is there a trick to it. Maybe a fluke dropped in the blow holes or a weed less swimbait over the broken up sections since they're feeding on shad?

  2. Winter can end now..... BoatBuggy's Avatar
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    #2
    I'd keep punching but when bringing it back for a new cast, stop and make a couple jigs up against the underside of the mat.

    And the frog rod would never be far away.
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  3. Member DrewFlu33's Avatar
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    #3
    If it's really thick, maybe a bigger/heavier frog or a popping frog instead of a walking type to really let them know it's there? Maybe you're not making enough commotion to get their attention. If you've been trying heavy / obnoxious ones or the mat is more sparse, try the opposite.

    An example of the first thing: I really like throwing a Terminator Walking Frog Jr. as a sort of "everyday" frog, but will throw the original Walking Frog (which is just about as big as a Spro King Daddy) or Popping Frog (basically the same size) when I'm fishing heavily matted vegetation. It makes a big difference.
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  4. Member
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    #4
    There's a strip of shells and gravel right down the center of the long point that keeps the grass sparse and that's where they're blowing up. I've thrown walkers and poppers with and without rattles, from walking to making a ton of commotion.

  5. Member DrewFlu33's Avatar
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    #5
    Sounds like swim jig and chatterbait water to me then! A fluke or floating worm or even a wacky senko if you can fish it through would be dynamite as well.
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  6. Better Lucky Than Good! Casslaw's Avatar
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    #6
    I’m with Drew, a swimbait with a weighted hook would work well there too but the chatterbait sounds like a winner!
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  7. Member
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    #7
    Unfortunately, those of us who fish in Florida are confronted with this scenario on a regular basis. There really is no sure fire way to deal with this perplexing scenario. We see it all the time. All I can say is that speed is your friend here. I would burn baits at warp speed through those areas. Repetitive casts to the same spot helps as well. Alternatively, I would pitch and flip those areas with heavy weights, heavier than you need to penetrate cover. Action baits like rage craws, burner craws etc. better for this application than beaver style baits. The secret here is again speed. Let bait fall vertically at free spool; then swiftly stroke bait up to underside of cover. The idea is getting a reaction bite. Finally, I would choose colors with more flash. I change colors usually from black and blue for example to like a shadow blue glitter type.

  8. Member
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    #8
    I'm going to go for it Saturday to see what I can do with it. I havent really been able to use swimbaits or other moving baits because the mat has been a bit too thick to try to trudge across to cast long ways down the strip. Plus i didn't want to give anyone ideas with my boat path. It's tourney time Saturday so if they're still there I'm mowing up in it.
    I've already got a swimjig and chatter rigged up but I'll be sure to add a weedless swimbait and I may go with a white z craw on the punch rig for first thing in the morning. Been using black/blue and junebug elsewhere with some success but white with a 2oz instead of 1oz may spark that reaction bite

  9. Member
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    #9
    Quote Originally Posted by DrewFlu33 View Post
    If it's really thick, maybe a bigger/heavier frog or a popping frog instead of a walking type to really let them know it's there? Maybe you're not making enough commotion to get their attention. If you've been trying heavy / obnoxious ones or the mat is more sparse, try the opposite.

    An example of the first thing: I really like throwing a Terminator Walking Frog Jr. as a sort of "everyday" frog, but will throw the original Walking Frog (which is just about as big as a Spro King Daddy) or Popping Frog (basically the same size) when I'm fishing heavily matted vegetation. It makes a big difference.
    I totally agree, I weight my frogs with B.s or beads and have different weights in them. Some will sink in open water but they will make more of an impression or indention in matted grass. I use whichever sits down good depending on how thick the mat is. Also, I have had days they would crush the jr frogs, or even the great big one and not touch the normal size. I have no idea why because the spro jr and regular aren't much different, but for some reason one will always work a lot better than the other. If you have one of the big jumbo frogs, you may not catch much, but they will show theirselves on it and you can follow up and catch them most of the time. If none of that works, and you cant get em flipping, I would say move on.

  10. Member
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    #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Wackyjig View Post
    I'm going to go for it Saturday to see what I can do with it. I havent really been able to use swimbaits or other moving baits because the mat has been a bit too thick to try to trudge across to cast long ways down the strip. Plus i didn't want to give anyone ideas with my boat path. It's tourney time Saturday so if they're still there I'm mowing up in it.
    I've already got a swimjig and chatter rigged up but I'll be sure to add a weedless swimbait and I may go with a white z craw on the punch rig for first thing in the morning. Been using black/blue and junebug elsewhere with some success but white with a 2oz instead of 1oz may spark that reaction bite
    if there's no off limits, I would idle through and make a couple of "lanes" to have for Saturday, late Friday afternoon or evening. That way others wont know about them on tourney day and you wont have to make as much noise and pick grass off the motor every few minutes.