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AI-generated illustration of an angler holding a fish beside a freshwater lake.

How to Fish Soft Plastics Around Grass: Edges, Clumps and Mats

by RUNCL

At a small-pond grass edge, David A. Brown jerks a weightless Texas-rigged soft-plastic stick bait along the edge.6

For thick, matted cover, Bernie Schultz recommends compact Texas-rigged craws or creature baits that can penetrate the mat.3

Search a grass flat in zones

  • Chad Griffin starts at the outside edge of a grass flat, checks its heart, then works the inside edge if the fish are not found.2
  • After a bite, he looks at fish location and nearby features for a repeatable pattern.2

Work clumps and openings

  • Where coontail or milfoil grows in clumps with gaps rather than a canopy, Brown finds Texas-rigged plastics effective.1
  • In a hole among coontail or milfoil clumps, Brown drops the bait and gives it a wiggle.1
  • If no fish responds there, his approach is to move to another opening.1

Penetrate a mat and watch the fall

  • For matted hydrilla, Brown gives 1 to 1 1/2 ounces of tungsten bullet weight as his punching example.1
  • Gettys Brannon makes vegetation weight choices according to cover density.5
  • Denny Brauer wants the bait to enter a vegetation mat as softly as it can.4
  • In cooler water, Brauer lets the bait reach bottom, brings it back to the vegetation base and shakes it beneath the canopy.4
  • In warmer water, he reports many bites on the initial fall.4

Sources

  1. David A. Brown, Bassmaster, “Hit the Grass for Summer Bass” (2013-07-06)
  2. Chad Griffin, Bassmaster, “Fishing Grass Flats” (2008-03-10)
  3. Bernie Schultz, Bassmaster, “Big Bass Beneath Matted Grass” (2021-01-06)
  4. Denny Brauer, Bassmaster, “Flipping Matted Vegetation” (2011-01-21)
  5. Gettys Brannon, Bassmaster, “The Texas Rig: Part 3, Weight Selection” (2018-02-20)
  6. David A. Brown, Bassmaster, “Small ponds, big fun” (2010-06-29)
by RUNCL