THE BASS COLLEGE

Hit the grass for summer bass

By David A. Brown

Bassmaster.com

Lacking the benefits of air conditioning, sunscreen or ceiling fans, bass endure summer's swelter by utilizing their two main temperature modification tools — depth and cover. Habitat determines which option they use, as lakes with offshore grass such as hydrilla, coontail and milfoil, or the peppergrass extending from shorelines, present the attractive combination of shady comfort and feeding opportunities.

From Toledo Bend's southern half, to the Potomac's Mount Vernon area, to Lake Champlain's Ticonderoga region, areas dominated by grass will hold fish throughout the summer months but just where you find your quarry depends on a few key factors.

Bass are always most active in the early mornings and late afternoon, so look for fish roaming the edges during these cooler periods. Overcast or rainy days will extend the cooler hours, so the bass may spend more time chasing bait along the grass perimeters. In tidal environments like the California Delta, Louisiana's Atchafalaya Basin and the Potomac, rising water opens the door for fish to move under and into the grass, while falling tides compress the vegetation and squeeze fish toward the outer edges.

Whenever bass run the grass edges, crankbaits can be very effective for locating productive areas that you may want to pick apart with plastics. Two options here: Probe the perimeter with various size cranks to identify the depth at which the fish are working, or try the grip-and-rip tactic to tempt bass holding right at the edge. For the latter, throw perpendicular to the grass edge, crank down until you make light contact and then rip the bait out of the vegetation to simulate a crawfish flipping from one stalk to the next.

Other productive summer grass tactics include:

Punching:

Driving heavily weighted plastics such as Reaction Innovations Sweet Beavers, Strike King Rodents or even a 10-inch ribbontail worm through hydrilla mats is a good way to trigger reaction bites from napping bass. There's no finesse here, so don't skimp on the sinkers. Use tungsten bullet weights of 1 to 1 1/2 ounce or you'll risk hanging in the dense cover and ruining the element of surprise.

Flipping/Pitching:

With coontail and milfoil growing mostly in clumps that are generally solid to the bottom, there's no canopy, just gaps in the cover. Jigs and Texas rigged plastics are effective here. Strikes will come quickly, so don't waste a lot of time prospecting any one hole. Just drop the bait, give it a wiggle and, if no one's home, keep moving.

Spinnerbaits:

The flash of gold and silver willow blades will catch the eye of anything roaming a grass edge in search of baitfish, but once the fish tuck inside the grass, you may need the heavier thump of a Colorado blade to get their attention.

Frogs/Toads:

The realistic kicking action of a buzz toad (Zoom Horny Toad, Stanley Ribbit, Gamble Cane Toad) works wonders when gurgled over and through scattered vegetation. Aim for the gaps or "windows" where bass have a clear lane of attack. Hollow body frogs (Spro Bronze Eye, Tru-Tungsten's Madd Max, Snag Proof's Ish Monroe PHAT Frog) also deliver the crazy stuff when dragged across matted hydrilla or peppergrass leafage. A frog's buoyancy offers the strategic advantage of pausing over the windows to give bass a good look and more time to make up their minds.

Topwater Plugs:

Walking a Zara Spook or Lucky Craft Sammy along the edges of a hydrilla wall or the outer boundary of peppergrass will often push the residents over the edge. Wakebaits like Lucky Craft's Fat CB, Rapala's DT Fat and Mann's Baby Waker increase the surface display and crank up the vibrations to entice reticent bass. A waker's relatively straight course does well within fields of scattered vegetation where a traditional topwater's side-to-side action risks snagging. You don't need much space — sometimes a 10- to 20-foot lane between clumps provides enough window for a bass to spot and attack the target.

A couple of summer grass strategy points:

First, stay alert for baitfish activity. Forage species may not have any predators on their tail when you spot them, but if their sound or movement attracts your attention, it won't go unnoticed below.

Watch other boats and note how/where they may be unwittingly corralling the fish. Let too many vessels plow into a big grass mat to flip what is perceived to be the center sweet spot and a lot of the fish will slide out toward the edges. Give the situation time to develop and work the perimeter zone.

:oThis is the best way to target some really nice bass - find this areas practice these tech. then apply them at night and look out

Hey Steve do you keep any distance between you sinker and hook when fishing the mats? Or do you peg it right above your hook? Going mat fishing next week and have to try to get the feel for the flippin bite. Got the frog bite down... I plan on using a punch skirt with a chigger craw crazy legs to start. Any suggestions will help I am sure.

Both. In the Potomac I have had success both ways, but down in Florida I peg it, or use a 1 ounce jig with a Zoom Super Chunk.

I thought finesse was the way to go, if not a little faster on the drop, to get most of your reation hits/ attention getter. How would speeding up the fall intrigue the bass more? 

You have to experiment. There are times when it falls real fast in front of them it causes a reaction strike. They just quickly open their mouths and inhale it.

while finesse  can be the way to go in the summer when youre dealing with thick matted grass you cant present a light weight to the bass so a magnum weight is a must

Been recently flipping and pitching shallow water with an extremely thick layer of algae, milfoil, and other various plants. Slowly reeling a lizard on top of the mat and when it hits a hole jusst let it sink down. This seems to prove very productive as I had many hits, but no fish (Took of the barb on the hook, so that was just a experimenting day). The bass foolow the lizard on top of the mat, I can see as the water rises behind my lure. I just figured that the water was a lot more deeper than a few inches. 

Try a frog like a snagproof tournament frog. You can buy them right here off the site.Youll catch a ton of those mat fish

Hi everyone

I am new to this site and also new to Bass fishing. I found this site,I guess by accident, but love it. I want to congratulate you all on this siteand the content - it is awesome stuff. I stared bass fishing about 4 years agoand love it a lot. I am very fortunate to have a nice ranger 16foot bass boatand love every minute (almost) on the water.

I really hope I soon may have the opportunity to come to the USA tomeet some of you, attend some courses and guided fishing trips!

I have a question on this topic:

Let me first explain our circumstance:

Namibia, being an “dry country” means we do not have lots of lakes to fish.It also means that the lakes we do have are being utilized for source of watersupply, that means the waterlevels throughout the year fluctuate drastically.We get summer rains. Since most of the rivers is dry throughout the year andonly flow after heavy rains, means that when they do flow, a lot of debris andmud is being carried to the lakes. For the past few years we were fortunate tohave good rainy seasons (Dec – April). Most of the lakes was extremely low beginningDec (40%) and now in March is close to 100%. As that rains started the firstthing changing was the vegistation, - lots of grass. So as the lake starting tofill, the water if getting dirtier, lots of debris, flooded crass and nowmillions of baitfish.

The difficulty I have (since I am new to this sport) is to manage to catchthe fish.

I started in the morning with white chatter bait, SPRO frog black and yellowas it was overcast and soft rains. I also tried white spinner. This I used inthe inlet areas and throw that into the grass. I then used black flukeweightless, stretch 40s watermelon green ( weightless and small mojo rig), babybrushog (junebug) on texas rig all on 12 pound floro.

Still could not manage to land 1 fish.

What am I missing?

Hi Andre, we are glad to be able to help you with bass fishing and hope to meet you as well someday soon. I will let the Pro Staff and other members here sound in with answers to your question, then if it is not answered fully I will answer myself as well. Welcome to the site again. Steve Owner/CEO The Bass College

I would like some of the Pro Staff and/or other members to answer this please. I have a lot to do now so it will be appreciated if you can take care of this answer, Thanks.

 love fishing the grass...Frogging is what i mostly do... I was just on tacklewarehouse and picked up some California Swim Jigs so I can throw those in the pads....Cant wait to try them out....TIGHT LINES EVERYONE

 There are many more advanced bass fishermen on here . im sure others will be able to help you a bit more than i can. but i would say that newly flooded brush and grass with a jig would be a good place to start, bass will be roaming around a bit more searching for food. they might be a little easier to catch on newly flooded area.keep coming back to check this post, more awnsers to help you will be posted on here. Good Luck  Andre.

The chatterbait was a great choice. Try using it in a darker color and use it in the shallower areas and rip it arounf erractically, don't just reel it. Also, try throwing a bigger Bulkier Jig like a Dirty Jigs, 1/2 OZ with a Sweet Beaver or Megaclaws trailer, in a color like Okeechobee Craw, and add some scent. Flip that in the all the flooded brush and laydowns on the northshore. I would also throw a Oklahome or Colorad spinnerbait like a Terminator or Picasso into the same cover. I will give some more suggesstions once I get some sleep as I have been fishing for 2 days right now.

Hi Andre, the conditions in Namibia sound very challenging. I like some of your choices for baits. I have a lot of luck with the chatterbaits and spinnerbaits in muddy water in the weeds the only difference is I like to use darker colors either black and blue, black, dark brown and orange. The chatterbait I always use some kind of trailer a fluke, jig trailer, or creature bait this adds extra vibration and bulk to the bait. With muddy water the fish will locate closer to cover so make sure to flip a jig in the debri that forms in coves and down stream sides of points. You could try a lipless crank bait in the grass also, I like red or firetiger colors in murky water. Good luck  and keep us posted on how your fishing is going post some pictures of the areas your fishing.