Zoom Fat Albert Grub Color : green pumpkin purple
Berkley PowerBait Flippin ’ Jig Color : black blue
Humdinger Tom Monsoor Swim Jig Color : Tom ’ s bream
JIGGIN ’ IT
Imitate a variety of bass forage favorites , like crawfish and bream , with jigs and matching trailers .
PHOTO BY BRANDON ROWAN
tom monsoor : north country ‘ weeds are like trees ’
“ Ducks love it . Fish love it ,” says Tom Monsoor while combing grass beds of Lake Onalaska , a Mississippi River backwater near his home in La Crosse , Wisconsin . “ It ’ s my favorite because it ’ s the fish ’ s favorite . If there ’ s eelgrass present , fish will be in it .”
Monsoor ’ s northern lakes and streams host abundant native plant species , his beloved eelgrass among them . It ’ s a wispy plant that undulates like a wind-stroked wheat field in current . Found in relatively small parcels , it ’ s a fish magnet that Monsoor tries never to ignore .
“ It ’ s spotty and easy to fish , and it ’ s usually found in the 2-to-4-foot depth range ,” says Monsoor , the oldest competitor to win an MLF event . “ Your lure slides through it nice and smooth . I fish it mostly with a jig , but you can throw about anything in it – spinnerbait , ChatterBait , topwater . It ’ s the nicest of all the plants to fish .”
Like most “ Yankees ,” Monsoor has difficulty weaning himself off the term
Stanford Baits Big Show Money Bug Craw Color : black / blue fleck
“ weeds ” to describe healthy , life-giving , ecologically essential aquatic plants . But he ’ s a strong advocate of protecting favorable vegetation , and he preaches caution and good sense when managing its spread .
“ To a fishery , weeds are like trees ,” he says . “ Without trees , we don ’ t live . Without weeds , fish don ’ t live . Trees produce oxygen for humans . Weeds produce oxygen for fish . The more ‘ good ’ weeds in a lake , the better the fishing is .”
seasonal favorites and more
Cattails rank second on Monsoor ’ s list of favorite plants to fish . The emergent plants , identified by their spongy hot dog-shaped heads , line boggy shorelines and define wetland bays .
“ Cattail areas are where bass spawn in spring and where bass move to in high water ,” Monsoor explains . “ They provide some of the best springtime bass fishing .”
The most productive cattails offer suitable depth for bass to find cover and comfort to launch an effective ambush .
“ The key in fishing milfoil is to listen for bream . Listen for those Rice Krispies ‘ pops .’”
“ You need a couple of feet of water for cattails to be good – at least a foot ,” Monsoor says . “ If the cattail bank is undercut , it will be productive all year . Bass get underneath it like a mat .”
He plumbs the cattail rows with a jig , generally preferring to maintain his distance and make moderately long casts . Cattails over undercut banks are best worked by pitching and flipping . Add a grass mat rim to an undercut cattail bank and you have “ flipping heaven .”
“ Take a black-and-blue jig ’ n ’ pig and find some cattails and you will catch bass ,” he says . “ There ’ s nothing more true than that .”
readin ’ the reeds
The tall green stalk emergent growth commonly called “ reeds ” are true grasses ( phragmites ). While they often grow in mixed company with cattails and other emergent plants , they can grow separately in small patches or over broad acreage .
44 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2022