Are deep weeds where it's at?

[sabby]

Most of the lakes around me are shallow weedy lakes. There is some shoreline deadfalls, the odd rock or sand bottom area, but for the most part all the lakes are similar. No sharp contours, mostly soft bottom and tons of millfoil, cabbage and coontail. Late in the season I can catch them good punching mats, but this time of year I seem to really struggle for size. This time of year we are post spawn as the fish don't spawn until later up north.

One thing I haven't done much is fish deep weed edges. Is that where it's at on lakes like this? I'm tired of being a bank beater and I really want to find a way to consistently key in on quality fish from early season through the summer. Whats your approach to this, do you just throw a spinnerbait around the edges and if you get a bite slow down and plug away with a jig or worm? Or are you better of flipping a jig all along an edge until you find fish? What about in the weed flat, do the fish stack up in the middle or do you mainly stick to edges?

You advice and experience is greatly appreciated.

[DrewFlu33]

I'm guessing your lakes are very similar to the ones in MN....

Post spawn is tough in general. If you can find sunfish beds, working around those from a wide radius around the outside toward the middle can work well. Inside weed edges can often be productive after the spawn, particularly early and late in the day or generally in low-light conditions. Don't be afraid to fish shoreline reeds during lowlight conditions either, particularly when there is wind blowing into them or it's raining, or both. Bang a swim jig or chatterbait off every reed you can. Docks can be good. This is particularly true of those that are isolated, in deeper water, made of something different (wood instead of metal, for example), stick out further than all the rest in a group, sit on a point, etc. If you have a bunch of docks, the best ones are usually those that have something different.

They can be on deep weed edges as well and will school up there more as summer progresses. The longer the summer goes, the more that becomes "where it's at" along with offshore humps and rock piles if you have them. Flipping the weed edges until you run into them is usually a really good idea. Don't be surprised if it's one here and one there at this point in the season. Throwing a crankbait that runs approximately the water depth at the edge or slow rolling a spinnerbait along the edge will work if you can get the fish willing to chase something. Finding the sharpest edge you can will help narrow it down (usually you find these via a lake map by looking for the tightest contours). They'll be on weed flats as well, but that can be tedious. If it's a thick weed flat, finding places where weeds should be but aren't is a good practice (sunfish beds can fit here as well). If it's more sparse, moving along quickly and flipping to individual stalks works well at times. If you can find areas where different types of vegetation meet, these are usually the best bet for finding fish on flats in my experience.

Seriously though, don't feel bad during post spawn. They can be anywhere and everywhere, and a pattern one day will completely disappear the next. For example, I had a practice day a few weeks back where the fish were reliably on isolated lily pad groups, or on points in the pads sticking out from a group. Come tourney day they weren't on pads at all and I finally found them instead on bare spots on secondary points. It's just tough during that time of year and once you figure something out it will change on you. One thing that seems to hold true that makes time spent looking for deep fish worth it is that they tend to stay put once you find them out deep once they start to settle into a summer pattern unless someone jerks them all off of a spot. Largemouth anyhow. Smallmouth will never stay. Haha

[sabby]

Thank you for the advice, much appreciated.

On the lake I was fishing I did try inside edges, isolated humps, a few docks nothing was producing. It helps to know that is not just me, in my area bass season doesn't open until post spawn, so it makes patterning pretty tough. I have no issue finding lots of buck bass willing to bite, but they just aren't big, those big females are always hiding this time of year.