Landing Bass through THICK! Milfoil/Vegetation - Advice Needed

Not really an answer to your question, but you may get something out of it.
A couple weeks ago Hammer and I went out to do some fun fishing. We got bit
all day long. We fished way back in the trash. We were throwing into
tulies, over and through cane, and through tiny openings way back in heavy
bushes. I fished early using 20LB Seaguar flourocarbon, and switched over
to 50LB Power Pro as we went furhter and further back into heavy brush to
catch fish. I tossed into one pocket were an overhanging salt cedar had a
layer of small branches over the opening, and there was a large branch from
something else just in front of the hole. There was floating cane on all
sides of the pocket including between the boat and the pocket.

I didn't so much see there was a hole through the brush there as I felt
there should be. I was vidicated in my instincts when I heard the bait
splash as my craw dropped out of site. I got a quick hit and I set the hook
hard then proceed to swing the rod around behind me. I pulled a nice fat 2+
right out of there through the cane, through the salt cedar, and over the
branch.

As he hit the water I cranked like mad so he wouldn't have a chance to throw
the hook on my slack line or dive back under the brush. In a matter of
seconds he was in the boat.

For the first time ever I heard awe in Hammer's voice when he asked, "How
did you get that fish out of there?"

I have to say if the fish can get tangled in it use 50LB Power Pro. Dave
Willhide of Goin' Fishin' Productions Guide Service uses 80lb Power Pro on
an extra fast extra heavy rod for this type of fishing.

--
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"J.P." long_jp(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote in message
...
The small pond I fish the majority of time has a history of being heavily
vegetated. I had an opportunity to fish for a couple of hours yesterday
afternoon and noticed that, with the exception of a few pockets of open
water here and there, the lake is nearly completely covered with milfoil.

Overall I had an excellent afternoon of bassin'. Landed a couple of 1.5
lb
LMs and a 2 lb momma that was full of eggs and probably ready to bed. (I
know that probably doesn't sound like much to you guys but considering
that
I haven't gotten out as much as I'd like due to the strange Spring we've
had
in WI and the fact that the pond doesn't hold a lot of big fish I was
feeling pretty good about it!)

My typical presentation to combat the thick vegetation is a t-rigged 5"
senko on a 3/0 offset worm hook with a piece of splitshot utilized at
times
for weed penetration purposes. I feel like it is a pretty decent
presentation although it does seem the splitshot is a double-edged sword.
Sure you get a little more penetration BUT you also have something else
the
weeds can grab on to.

Anyways, after thoroughly fishing the shores I had access to and whatever
openings in the weed beds I could locate, I started tossing out to the
middle of the pond where vegetation was heaviest. From the maps I've seen
of the lake it appears that there is a slightly deeper flat running down
the
middle of the pond and I believe that the bass stage there pre-spawn
before
moving to the shallower flats near the bank to bed down. In the course of
about 20 minutes I had received two MONSTROUS hits each time setting the
hook with a nice smooth dip n' rip of the rod tip only to promptly lose
each
fish as they balled themselves up in the thick vegetation. I'm curious
what
I can do differently technique or presentation wise to minimize these sort
of occurrences. My first thought was changing my line from mono to
supermono thinking that besides the increased durability the supermono
might
cut through the weeds a little more effectively. Aside from that thought,
I
have no ideas of how to attack this problem.

Any thoughts, advice, comments or critiques are greatly appreciated!!!

J.P.

Uhmm yeah but you must have had some fish in the slop somewhere else first
right Harry?
"Thundercat" wrote in message
...
On 21 May 2004 00:21:40 GMT, (Moe Conway) wrote:

Where'd you learn that technique, Harry?

RichZ©
www.richz.com/fishing

I taught him on some true Okeechobee hogs Rich.

I actually got a whole lot of practice for Okee over at Mudge, yankin'
hawgs from pads and weeds a good Scorpion cast away. On big fat bodied
Salad Spoons so learning to to set a proper hook was a must too.

Harry J aka Thundercat
Brooklyn Bill's Tackle Shop Fishing Team
http://www.geocities.com/brooklynbill2003/products.html
Share the knowledge, compete on execution.

On Fri, 21 May 2004 17:27:11 -0400, "alwaysfishking"
wrote:

Uhmm yeah but you must have had some fish in the slop somewhere else first
right Harry?

Oh yeah. As far as pure unadulterated slop goes, that first year at
Best Pond is about as sloppy as it gets. Last year and so far this
year the slop isn't nearly as evil. It is mostly submergent weeds and
pads now. I don't know what happened to it. I think the wetter winters
and springs played a big part in washing most of the normal surface
goo over the spillway. The pads haven't even been as dense. Go figure.

However, nothing I have fished in locally has even come close to water
chestnut...

Harry J aka Thundercat
Brooklyn Bill's Tackle Shop Fishing Team
http://www.geocities.com/brooklynbill2003/products.html
Share the knowledge, compete on execution.

JP, do you ever fish Waubesa? I like about 35 minutes from Madison. I've
only fished it a few times, and did so-so. I hear some good things about
that lake.

Anyways, back to your question.....the others have pretty much answered
it. But another thing you can do to increase hookups is switch to a 4/0
or 5/0 hook. Gamakatsu Superline worm hooks are by favorite. Nice wide
shank and they are laser sharp!

Hope this helps some.

BM

I agree, med hvy, or hvy rod with 30 lb braid & a quality baitcaster
will help you land those fish.

Hi Bucket Mouth:

I've only fished Waubesa a couple of times and wasn't impressed. But, my
wife swears that it used to produce quite well. So, I'm not sure what the
deal is. I was considering giving it another go before writing it off
completely.

Those Gamakatsu's are quite nice and deadly sharp, aren't they. I hadn't
considered upping to a 5/0 but will certainly do so if braided line doesn't
solve my problems.

Thanks for all the tips guys!

J.P.

"Bucket Mouth" wrote in message
...
JP, do you ever fish Waubesa? I like about 35 minutes from Madison. I've
only fished it a few times, and did so-so. I hear some good things about
that lake.

Anyways, back to your question.....the others have pretty much answered
it. But another thing you can do to increase hookups is switch to a 4/0
or 5/0 hook. Gamakatsu Superline worm hooks are by favorite. Nice wide
shank and they are laser sharp!

Hope this helps some.

BM