Fishing heavily pressured millfoil beds......

[Jumping Jimmy]

You might want to try a drop shot presentation in the grass. It was the deal on Lake Hopatcong when I fished it.

[mattmann7]

Just fish until you stumble on the fish. Easy to say there's always a reason that grass is good or is going to be good, but that's not always the case. I've caught huge bags out of the most random milfoil ever. Mile long bed and for some reason the fish are in a spot 20 yards long. No noticeable changes in grass type, depth, or anything. Sure, there probably was a reason but I couldn't see it if I tried. Just go with it and fish where you catch.

I agree. There is a lake where I have a tournament next week. It has large areas of weeds in 2 locations. One tournament about 7 years ago I was fishing with my partner as a co. He had caught an early limit fishing the shore near one grass/weed area. Around midday we were in the thick of the weed. There were 6 other boats in a 2 acre section. I started flipping a bitsy bug with a baitcaster using 8 lb test. In an hour I boated 3 limits culling everything my partner caught earlier. We ended winning and had lunker also. Never seen that happen again in that section. A few years later I was fishing by myself in the other weeded area and on back to back tournaments I caught second place bags inside the weeds close to shore. You can't fish the past on all bodies of water. The fish will position based on some circumstances that change.

[Jwags13]

Is it all milfoil or are there some mixed grass at all?

I would try to do a lot of graphing of grass holes, transitions of grass, isolated grass, and bottom content transitions. Doing so you should find some sneakier spots.

Neko and chicken rigs are good alternatives in grass too if things get too pressured. If you want a beefier rig, look up the mendota rig. You can modify a screw lock keeper a little bit and put a heavier bullet weight on it to attach to the end of the bait instead of buying specialized sinkers.

Another bait alternative is a t rigged tube with a packing peanut or earplug in it to help it float. A t rig can sometimes sink a bait to the bottom to quick and that floating tube helps it get it off the bottom. I also try to keep the peg 2 to 3 inches above the bullet sinker too to give the bait more lift on the bottom.

It's mostly all millfoil with a little bit of eel grass in the shallower areas.

[Jwags13]

I agree. There is a lake where I have a tournament next week. It has large areas of weeds in 2 locations. One tournament about 7 years ago I was fishing with my partner as a co. He had caught an early limit fishing the shore near one grass/weed area. Around midday we were in the thick of the weed. There were 6 other boats in a 2 acre section. I started flipping a bitsy bug with a baitcaster using 8 lb test. In an hour I boated 3 limits culling everything my partner caught earlier. We ended winning and had lunker also. Never seen that happen again in that section. A few years later I was fishing by myself in the other weeded area and on back to back tournaments I caught second place bags inside the weeds close to shore. You can't fish the past on all bodies of water. The fish will position based on some circumstances that change.

Do you think the other boat traffic pushed them to the shallow stuff? Iyo?

[HellaBass]

Power Shot Wacky

[Jwags13]

Power Shot Wacky

How long leader from weight to bait?

[Jwags13]

Anyone have any other observations or opinions on what heavy boat traffic/fishing traffic will do to bass positioning on a specific millfoil bed?

[DaveBrabec]

Rig a Tokyo rig with a heavy weight and braid and fish the thicker stuff no one else is

[929nitro]

Crankbait with heavy rod and heavy line. Fish it fast and rip it when it tries to hang up. Deeper edges.

[mattmann7]

Do you think the other boat traffic pushed them to the shallow stuff? Iyo?

On that particular day the water temps were high. The spot we were in had inflow from a feeder stream that was 7 degrees cooler. I think the water was more oxygenated and caused the fish to bunch up. No one else had more than 3 fish that day.

[10takum]

rattletrap, mann minus1crome black back

[HellaBass]

How long leader from weight to bait?

4-8"

[Rich1]

Ok Im gonna give up one of my secrets for heavy pressured weed beds. Been doing this over 40 years. Take a lipless crankbait, like a trap. Take of the hooks and put one weedless hook size 3/0 or 4/0 on the front hook ring. Toss that baby into the weeds and let it go to the bottom. Then using a varied jerking pattern (small twich, small jerk, rip, etc) on the same retrieve, jerk it, let it sink, drag it etc, and hang on to your rod. Bass never see this in a weed bed. Its pure animal reaction and they can hit it extremely hard.

[brushsjigs]

The TN and Bama boys are pretty slick at driving thru the stuff using the prop as a lawn mower, the day before an event. Then they go back the next morning and fish the path's they cut.
Sorry if I wasn't sup-post to let that out.

[Rich1]

Used to do that on Toledo years ago. Did it on Fork in the good days also. Worked well.

[Jwags13]

Ok Im gonna give up one of my secrets for heavy pressured weed beds. Been doing this over 40 years. Take a lipless crankbait, like a trap. Take of the hooks and put one weedless hook size 3/0 or 4/0 on the front hook ring. Toss that baby into the weeds and let it go to the bottom. Then using a varied jerking pattern (small twich, small jerk, rip, etc) on the same retrieve, jerk it, let it sink, drag it etc, and hang on to your rod. Bass never see this in a weed bed. Its pure animal reaction and they can hit it extremely hard.

I'm definitely gonna try this in spring when the millfoil is emerging up. Thank u. But right now all the grass is completely topped out and actually the top 1-2ft hangs over from water being low. So basically the only way to fish is flip or weedless top water. Actually could try this on some of the edges. Thanks!

[Jwags13]

The TN and Bama boys are pretty slick at driving thru the stuff using the prop as a lawn mower, the day before an event. Then they go back the next morning and fish the path's they cut.
Sorry if I wasn't sup-post to let that out.

That's wild! Never heard of that. What kind of a path does it cut?