photo by chaD Love the bass liked it more than they did the willow grass because it’ s like having milfoil in the lake. they gravitate toward it because it’ s not on the shore. they can roam around in it, they can move in it, and it has a little more depth in it, which probably creates a little more oxygen in the water. then all the coontail disappeared, so the willow grass went back to winning. if it’ s the best vegetation in the lake they’ ll get in it.” canterbury also keys on willow grass when forage fish spawns occur among the stalks – shad in the spring, and bream in the spring and summer. the bream bed pattern is one of his favorites for targeting big bites in the warmer months.
Getting Dialed In
Beds of willow grass can line miles of shoreline in some reservoirs. successful anglers like canterbury learn to dial in on key spots and read the grass. he says the sweet spots and the“ patterns within the pattern” change from day to day or week to week, and there are six things he looks for.
1. Location within a lake – canterbury finds more summertime fish in main-lake willow grass near deeper water and current than he does in the creeks. catching these fish sometimes comes down to timing; they move in and out, feeding in short windows. however, some of his biggest bass are resident fish that live far off the main lake, where they forage on bream. the creek fish are winning fish in one-day tournaments, but they don’ t replenish quickly.
2. Density – some days and in some conditions bass set up in sparse patches of willow grass, where you can get to them easily with moving baits. other days, they lay up under the densest sections, and flipping a heavy weight is the only way to reach them. canterbury tests both options in practice by fishing moving baits through sparse patches, but stopping to flip the thicker areas.
3. Obvious targets – never pass up points, indentations, clumps and other obvious targets within the grass.
4. Mixed cover – laydowns, trash mats and anything else within the willows will often hold a bass or two.
5. Bottom makeup – at the 2014 forrest Wood cup on Murray, canterbury encountered some willow grass beds in
Flip with a Punch Skirt canterbury loves to flip a big jig in the winter, but in the summer a texas rig is more efficient for flipping healthy grass. he creates a similar profile as a jig by combining a punch skirt with a compact soft plastic such as a Netbait baby paca craw or Netbait b bug.“ I trim back the skirt to make it short and thin it down a lot,” he says.“ It just gives a little more bulk, but I don’ t like to go as bulky as a jig in the summertime.”
areas with pondweed growing on the bottom. for whatever reason, the bass avoided these areas, and he wound up keying on clean-bottom areas in front of the grass. it’ s a trend he’ s seen on other fisheries, too.
6. Shade – the other component of his pattern at the 2014 cup was fishing shaded willow grass.
“ that has a ton to do with it,” he adds.“ Knowing which bank to fish in a certain creek at a certain part of the day based on shade is important. some banks are shaded in the morning or the evening, or there could be two or three trees that create shade. that was the whole deal at Murray when i finished second. ninety percent of the bites were shade-related.”
A Power-Fishing Pattern
You can fish willow grass with a spinning rod if that’ s your thing, but you don’ t need to. in the summer, according to canterbury, the best approach is to power-fish with a frog, buzz toad, buzzbait, texas rig and a 1 / 4- to 3 / 8-ounce swim jig. if the fish are roaming a little deeper out in front of the grass, he winds a 1 / 2-ounce swim jig or chatterBait.
Where within the grass you find the fish determines the best bait, but generally you should work the outer fringes.
“ You want to fish through some of it [ the bed ],” canterbury says,“ but unless you have really high water, the fish are going to be in the outer couple feet of grass. You don’ t have to fish up against the bank unless there’ s super high water.”
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