Underwater Grass: Lunker-Landing Strategies
Story and Photos By David Hart

Even the best professional anglers learn from their amateur partners, and Woo Daves learned a valuable lesson during a major tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. It was late spring, well after the spawn, and Rayburn's world-famous bass were firmly set in their summer patterns. Daves, however, didn't figure that out until his partner caught a bass. Heavy rain prior to the tournament raised the water and flooded the shoreline brush, and most of the anglers, including Daves, followed.

For the first several hours of the first day, the Virginia pro flipped a jig to the shallow brush that ringed the lake. However, Daves managed to boat only a single small fish. While he stuck with the shallow cover, his partner made a long cast toward the open water behind Daves. Whether it was a hunch or he was simply casting deep out of desperation, Daves is glad his partner changed his strategy.

"He caught one decent fish right away, which I thought was just luck," recalls the 17-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier. "And then he caught another, which was a pretty good sign that I was fishing in the wrong place."

It turns out his partner dropped a jig onto a line of submerged grass in about 14 feet of water, cover that Daves didn't know was there. Not one to pass up the opportunity to put together a solid pattern, he tied on a Carolina-rigged Zoom Critter Craw and instantly started catching fish. The key was the addition of a rattle that helped float the bait above the grass growing a foot off the bottom.

"I only caught 9 pounds that day, but I ended up with about 20 pounds per day for the next three days, and I came in ninth place," Daves says. "I might have won it had I figured out those fish were out in that deep grass earlier in the day."

Deep grass, whether a few feet off the bottom or grown to the surface, can be an intimidating place to fish. With so much water to cover, it can be tough to decide what to use and how to use it.

Daves and Texas pro Zell Rowland agree that finding bass in deep grass is far less difficult and intimidating than it seems. In fact, Rowland will search for aquatic vegetation in anywhere from 10 to 20 feet of water because it gives him places to fish that other anglers may not know about. It also gives him a host of options. He uses a variety of baits and techniques, depending on the specific make-up of that grass bed.

"I'll spend a lot of time just looking for grass when I'm pre-fishing for a tournament," Rowland says. "When I find it, I pay real close attention to my depthfinder. Is it thick grass? Is it scattered or is it a line that follows a narrow contour? Does it have an abrupt end or does it kind of taper off into deeper water? How far off the bottom or how close to the surface is it growing? All of those determine what I'm going to use."

Daves also studies the composition of the grass before he picks up the first rod. Even if the vegetation is matted on the surface over deep water — a common situation in ultra-clear waters — he'll look at how thick that mat is to figure out the best bait.

On Top
In many cases, that best bait may be a surface lure. It may come as a surprise to some anglers, but both experts will often choose a topwater bait, even if the grass is well below the surface in 15 or 20 feet of water. As long as the fish can see the bait on top, there's a good chance they will come up for it, even if they are suspended close to the bottom.

In fact, Rowland uses a Zara Spook or Pop R as a search bait, something to help him figure out a pattern that can help him catch more bass later in the day. Largemouth bass that utilize deep grass will often gang up in loose schools, much like they do in other deep-water situations.

"If I catch one on a topwater early in the morning, I'll mark that spot on my GPS and come back later in the day and work it with subsurface baits," he says. "You can run a grass line for a quarter mile without a single bite and then bang-bang-bang, you catch three or four on back-to-back casts. I've done that on many, many occasions."

When the grass grows to the surface and creates dense mats, bass will often hover right under that surface layer all day, making them vulnerable to topwaters throughout the brightest, hottest hours of the day. Daves will throw a frog or some other bait that glides across the slop without grabbing the grass.

Like Rowland, he'll also throw surface lures over deep grass in clear water or along the outside edge of tall grass that has reached the surface.

"If it's real clear and the sun is just right, you can see them come up 15 feet off the bottom out of the grass to bust a topwater," Daves says. "That's about as exciting as it gets."

Unfortunately, bass won't always take a suicidal run at a surface lure. This is why both pros have refined their techniques for catching those bass that hug deep vegetation.

Down Deep
Most of the time, Rowland and Daves find themselves pulling some sort of lure that digs down as much as 15 or 20 feet. A spinnerbait is high on Daves' list, especially one that skims across the top of the standing vegetation. He'll use lures that weigh between ½ ounce and 2 ounces.

"You have to experiment with the right size and weight combination," Daves says. "Sometimes they want it faster, and sometimes the fish may want a slower-moving bait. A lighter bait has to be fished slower in order to get it down to that right depth, and a heavier spinnerbait can be fished faster at the same depth."

What is the right depth? Generally, both pros want their lures to tick the top of the grass no matter how deep it is. It's a technique that is highly effective all year. The key is to rip the bait when it comes in contact with the grass. Rowland uses this tactic with a Cordell Super Spot or an Xcalibur Xr50, both lipless crankbaits.

"I'll cast it out and let it fall into the grass and then rip it through the top of the grass as I come through it," he says. "Sometimes I'll just kind of let it sit there for a second when it hits a stalk of grass and then I'll rip it out. That's when I tend to get bit."

The most important part of that technique is to keep the bait just at the top of the tallest stalks of grass. If Daves keeps bogging down in thick vegetation, he'll try casting out toward deeper water. Even if he doesn't hit the grass farther out, he wants to cover that outside edge as well. Actively feeding bass will often cruise that outer edge and grab a passing crankbait or spinnerbait.

Slow Fall, Fast Fall
If a horizontal bait like a crankbait or spinnerbait doesn't work, both experts reach for something that will offer a vertical presentation. In many situations, bass will suspend far enough above deep grass that a bottom-bouncing bait is ineffective and far enough below surface matted grass that a topwater won't work either. That's when Daves drops something like a soft-plastic stick bait down to the fish. Although Senko-type baits sink on their own, Daves often adds a nail weight to increase the rate of fall.

"When those fish are suspended 10 feet down, you'll wait forever for an unweighted bait to get down to them," he says. "A little weight can really help. Overall, I'd say a Bass Pro Shops Z-Nail is one of the best baits for bass suspended over or in deep grass. It's weedless, and we all know how effective soft stick baits are. The only problem is that you can't use them on windy days."

In some situations, Daves will use a lightly weighted bait like a worm. In deep grass, he prefers a 10-inch worm Texas-rigged with a 1/8-ounce slip-sinker. That's just enough weight to provide a slow fall, something bass can't seem to resist at times.

On the other hand, a heavy bait like a 1-ounce jig can be the perfect ticket to reaching those fish. In some situations, it can be the only way. The heavy jig can bust through thick, matted surface grass and won't stall on submerged grass as it falls.

"A lighter jig will kind of catch on stalks as it falls," Rowland says. "That can be a real pain. A heavier jig that falls fast can draw a reaction strike as it falls past the fish."

No matter what size jig he's using, Rowland has learned to set the hook when that bait stops falling. Most of the time, the jig has indeed come to rest on a clump of vegetation. But why take chances? If he doesn't get a bite on the initial fall, he'll lift and lower his rod tip to yo-yo the bait for several seconds. Sometimes that extra action is just enough to coax a finicky bass into biting.

On The Bottom
In some situations, a bottom-hugging bait like a jig or Carolina-rigged soft plastic is the perfect way to catch bass in deep grass. However, the vegetation can't be too thick or too tall. Either condition will lead to constant headaches and ineffective fishing.

Daves scored on Sam Rayburn Reservoir by fishing his bait above the short grass. Rowland, however, has done well by fishing right down in vegetation. One of his favorite tricks is to pop a jig through a deep grass bed. By snapping his rod tip skyward, he not only rips the bait through the vegetation, but he also pulls it up above the grass so it's more visible to the fish. The rapid up-and-down action is also too much for bass to resist.

"I'm convinced bass can find your bait in some pretty thick grass," Rowland says. "I think they don't have to see it to know it's there. They can sense the vibrations. I've done very well in some tournaments where I pull a 10-inch Texas-rigged Yum worm right along the bottom in thick grass. It doesn't always work, but I'm sure going to try it."

In other words, deep grass doesn't have to be so intimidating. In fact, as Daves learned years ago during that tournament on Sam Rayburn, vegetation that lies in 15, 20 or even 25 feet of water can be loaded with bass, especially this time of year. Find it and you can have all those fish to yourself.