“ Guntersville was great in its heyday , but after they killed the grass , it sucked ,” Monroe says . “ Now the grass is back , and so is Guntersville … Clear Lake in California , same thing … that tells you how important grass is to the ecosystem of any type of bass fishery .”
Most grass fishing takes place in water less than 10 feet deep . While other anglers tend to retreat from tracts of thick grass , Monroe gravitates to the densest grass concentrations . Often , he ’ s entering a bass world of brambles and briars , seemingly impenetrable , accessible only to a man with a plan .
edges and ambush points
“ Grass also provides some kind of physical target , especially when we ’ re talking about emergent grass where I can throw a frog or clumps where I can punch through with a punch weight . Those are my two favorite ways to fish it ,” he says . “ Big bass like heavy cover . They also want an edge , whether the vegetation is emergent or submerged . An edge is an ambush point .”
When facing a massive expanse of vegetation , he looks for irregularities – places where grass grows to the top , matted vegetation , or places where two types of vegetation converge such as hydrilla to milfoil or pads or reeds .
Monroe ’ s two favorite tools are a hollow-body frog and a soft plastic creature bait beneath a punch weight . “ The frog allows you to cover a huge grass area quickly without getting hung up ,” he says , adding that he sometimes works a fast-moving toad over the tops of submerged vegetation or openings in the reeds . “ I work fast at first to cover water . I slow down once I know where the fish are .”
He focuses on holes and other prospective ambush points where a bass can grab an easy meal of frog or bluegill .
His frog choice is the River2Sea Phat Mat Daddy , a bait he designed .
“ It ’ s a 3 / 4-ounce bait , so it makes a good indentation , even in a thick mat ,” he says .
His punch setup is the Missile Baits D Bomb behind a 1- to 2-ounce weight or a 3 / 4- to 1 1 / 4-ounce jig .
“ The D Bomb is my trailer on the jig , too ,” he says . “ It ’ s my ‘ go-to ’ for everything .”
He works reed beds similarly , seeking out points , edges , holes and other irregularities .
“ They might all look the same , but you will see holes – places where the reeds separate ,” he says . “ In these areas , I prefer a jig to a punch bait .”
Strike King Rage Twin Tail Menace Grub Color : MM moonlight
Missile Baits D Bomb Color : candy grass shaw grigsby : sizing up the field
On the subject of “ bass in grass ,” Shaw Grigsby waxes rhapsodic .
“ Bass love it ,” says Grigsby , beloved outdoor television personality and bass fishing legend . “ It ’ s beautiful . It produces oxygen . It provides cover . It offers a lot of the bass ’ favorite foods such as freshwater ‘ grass shrimp ,’ minnows , shiners , bluegill … everything !”
His home state of Florida hosts a vast variety of aquatic plant life , but hydrilla is clearly the most prevalent . The invasive plant can outgrow its welcome in some waters when it impedes navigation and suffocates other plant life . But bass are the last to argue against it .
“ If you have hydrilla in the system , most of the time , you ’ ll want to fish it ,”
42 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2022