fishing weeds - NGPC Article

[whisker]

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s
Nebraska Outdoor Notebook
by Tom Keith
Find the Weeds to Find the Fish

For the most part, weeds are a nuisance to most homeowners. We pull them from our lawns, we pull them from our gardens and we sometimes spray them with chemicals where they grow along the fence in the backyard. But, like most things, weeds also have positive qualities. Just ask an experienced fisherman.

To loosely quote the obsessive-compulsive former police detective Adrian Monk on the popular “Monk” comedy television show, “Here’s the deal -- (weeds) are a blessing and a curse.”

Several years ago I was wading in a farm pond shortly after dawn, hoping to catch some fish before the early August heat and humidity drove me from the water, when I saw a large swirl along the edge of a weedbed some 30 yards away. I figured It had to have been made by a good-sized largemouth bass.

The black and silver floating Rapala I threw toward a depression in the edge of the weedbed streaked forward like a cruise missile homing in on an enemy target. But, unlike the super-accurate cruise missile, the Rapala sliced to the right, missing the target by several feet, and landed among the arrowhead leaves with a soft “plop” and small spray of water. “Oh, my, what an unfortunate mini-mishap has just occurred,” I said (or something to that effect) and caused a couple of cows that were slowly chewing grass behind a nearby barbed-wire fence to look up and see what the screaming was all about.

I took a chance and suddenly flipped my rod tip skyward, causing the Rapala to become airborne, somehow without getting snagged in the weeds, and fly back at me almost as fast as I had cast it forward, its silver treble hooks dangling below it ready to impale whatever it contacted. For an instant I knew how a cottontail must feel when it looks up and sees a hawk swooping down on it, the bird’s razor-sharp talons outstretched beneath it’s body ready to latch onto the bunny.

I barely avoided being hooked, and the lure splashed down on the surface a few feet away. I reeled in my line and tried another cast to the edge of the weedbed. The lure sliced to the right again, and I can still see the slow-motion replay of the arrowhead plants straining to reach out of the water, leaves wide-spread, forming shapes like outfielder’s gloves, trying to shag my lure. One plant stretched high above the surface, made an incredible over- the-shoulder catch and I was hung up in the weeds. That’s the curse part of fishing in the weeds.

The blessing part is that weeds and other types of aquatic vegetation are important fish habitat. A weedbed is essentially a food factory that benefits fish of all sizes in one way or another. Small fish congregate there to feed on microscopic plants, zooplankton and insects, and to hide from predators. Larger fish work the weedbeds looking for the minnows and small fish, as well as for nymphs and adult insects.

The good part for fishermen is that fish are attracted to weedbeds during hot summer months because in addition to food, weeds also provide shade and release oxygen into the water, creating a more comfortable environment for the fish. Water in parts of the lake where there is little or no weed growth may be warmer and contain less dissolved oxygen.

“Look for the weedbeds to find the fish” is a good rule of thumb.

It doesn’t make any difference whether you are after bass, walleye, crappie, bluegill, catfish or northern pike, you can increase your chances of success by learning to fish weeds and weedbeds without getting hung up in the process.

The goal is to develop the skill to maintain complete and constant control of the lure so you can cast near the weedbed, then manipulate the lure during the retrieve to make it swim very close to the weeds without hanging up. With some practice you will be able to cast the lure so it lands within inches of the stems of emergent vegetation or along the edges of floating plants.

Most fish won’t chase a lure very far, so your chances of getting a strike are greatly enhanced if you can drop it in the spots where predator fish are looking for prey. Floating minnow-imitating lures, shallow- and deep-diving crankbaits and spinnerbaits all can be effective near the weeds, though you may have to vary the depth and speed of the retrieve to find the fish. Plastic worms crawled slowly across the bottom near the stalks and stems also can also be deadly.

Minnows and nightcrawlers fished beneath slip-bobbers, or trolled or drifted near the weeds can catch fish that are reluctant to strike when nothing else will.

When you are fishing, the presence of weeds really can be a blessing or a curse. It just depends on if you take the time to learn how to effectively fish them.