Milfoil Frustrations

[Captain B.R.K]

First time ever fishing Bass in the metro area and my first ever encounter with MILFOIL!

How do you fish the mifoil effectively??

As I threw top water, spinnerbaits, jigs, my whole TACKLE BOX everything came back to the boat loaded with the stuff!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Learn to fish it.. you have to fish in it.. not threw it. Heavier jigs and finding harder bottom areas is the key. Once you learn to fish it.. you will love it...

[psegriz]

Get a muskie type rod (real stiff) w/heavy line ,I have 80# spiderwire. Toss jigs into pockets and let sink to bottom, feel a bite set hook reelin fish, weeds, bottom and all.

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GRIZ

[Captain B.R.K]

Sounds pretty easy. SO I can position the boat right next to the hole. Drop my lure into the milfoil and bam...have myself a LM in hand?
It can't be that easy...is it?

[danny berg]

Captian,
How'd you do this weekend, besides getting milfoil?

Danny

[panolo]

Milfoil can be tricky. Here are a few suggestions. I fish everything weedless except spinner baits and buzz baits. If you are going to fish milfoil holes or pockets practice pitching. I pitch alot of jigs into these holes. You don't want to be right on top of the holes but you don't want to be too far away either. Don't be afraid to throw a scum frog or the equivelent. I love working a frog over a pocket. I will hold my frog over these areas and twitch it a few times. The blow ups can be great. Outside weed edges can be the key. Don't go too small on your weights if fishing deep. You want to be able to get it down close to those edges where the fish are holding. Another structure to look for is an area where gravel meets milfoil. Cranks and carolina rigs can be good there. And don't discount inside weed edges. It is not uncommon to see us in the front of the boat casting straight out front. Fish will hold there. Once you get confidence in fishing milfoil you will love fishing it. Oh and don't be afraid of weeds. Even fishing weedless baits we have to whack weeds of most casts. And as stated before I reccomend a strong rod with a good braid to haul them hogs out of the thick stuff!

[Lost]

Not sure if this will apply to the metro lakes but it's worth checking out and trying:

http://espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/s/b_fea_bt_0404_tips_grass_bass.html

[Dan Wood]

Scum frogs and weedless/weightless worms, tubes, and creature baits are an easy to way to fish that stuff and can often be quite effective.

Jigs are another great way to fish this stuff, although they require some time to master and boat control becomes mcuh more critical.

Whatever you use, just make sure you have a med/heavy or heavy rod with heavy braid (I use 50 lb. for all of this). You want to turn the fish right away or they will bury you in the thick stuff quick.