How To Fish Grass On Lake Guntersville: Edges, Mats, Frogs And More
Fishing grass on Lake Guntersville is not simply a matter of finding vegetation and making a cast. The anglers who consistently catch bass around grass learn to read what is different about one stretch compared with the next.
Where does the grass stop? Where does it get thicker? Is there a hole, point, isolated clump or outside edge? Is the vegetation healthy? Is bait present? Are the bass buried in heavy cover, sitting on an edge or roaming above submerged grass?
Those details are what turn a huge field of vegetation into individual targets.
The other part is feel. Once an angler learns what a lure normally feels like coming through grass, anything different starts to stand out. A tick, extra weight, sudden slack or a bait that simply does not feel right can be the only warning you get before a Lake Guntersville bass starts moving the other direction.
Grass Is Not One Fishing Pattern
One of the biggest mistakes anglers make on Lake Guntersville is looking at a large grass bed and assuming all of it should fish the same.
It rarely does.
Guntersville has different types of aquatic vegetation, including eelgrass, hydrilla and milfoil. More importantly to the angler, that vegetation grows in different densities, depths and shapes.
A submerged grass line in eight feet of water does not fish the same as a thick surface mat. A clean outside edge does not fish the same as scattered isolated clumps. Eelgrass does not feel the same coming through your lure as a thicker patch of hydrilla or milfoil.
Before choosing a lure, first figure out what kind of grass you are actually fishing.
Outside Edges
An outside grass edge creates a clear transition between vegetation and open water. Bass can use that edge as a travel route, feeding area or ambush point.
Inside Edges
The water between the shoreline and thicker vegetation can become important when bass move shallow or when bait is using that protected water.
Holes And Pockets
Openings inside a larger grass bed give bass an edge within the cover. A small hole can sometimes be more important than hundreds of yards of uniform grass.
Isolated Clumps
A single healthy clump away from the main grass line is easy to overlook, but that isolation can be exactly what attracts a bass.
Points And Turns
Grass rarely forms a perfectly straight line. Points, indentations and irregular edges give fish something different to relate to.
Surface Mats
Thick matted vegetation creates a completely different fishing environment. This is where heavy equipment, braided line, frogs and heavier presentations come into play.
Find The Right Grass Before Worrying About The Lure
It is easy to spend too much time asking which lure to throw and not enough time asking whether you are fishing productive grass in the first place.
The better question is usually: What is different right here?
Look At The Health Of The Grass
Healthy vegetation usually fishes better than grass that is dying, broken apart or covered with debris. Color, density and how cleanly your lure comes through it can tell you a lot.
Find A Change
Look for a depth change, a point, a pocket, an isolated clump, a hard edge or a place where one type of vegetation changes into another.
Pay Attention To Bait
Grass by itself is cover. Grass with food nearby becomes much more interesting. Watch the surface, your electronics and the behavior of the fish you catch.
Notice Where The Bite Happened
Do not immediately make another random cast after catching one. Ask where that fish was positioned. Was it buried in the grass, on the outside edge, beside a hole or sitting on an isolated piece?
One Bite Can Tell You A Lot
A single bass does not establish a pattern, but the location of that bite can give you a clue. Several bites from the same type of grass or the same type of edge are when the picture starts becoming much clearer.
The Feel Of A Bait Through Grass
This is the part that is difficult to teach with words.
An experienced grass fisherman knows what the lure should feel like during a normal retrieve. The bait touches vegetation, begins to load up and then comes free. After enough repetition, that sequence becomes familiar.
Once normal feels normal, abnormal becomes obvious.
A bite may feel like a sharp tick. It may feel heavy. The lure may suddenly stop. Sometimes the line goes slack when it should still have tension. Other times it simply feels like the bait entered a different type of grass.
That is why fishing grass well takes time on the water. The rod, line and lure are giving you information on almost every cast.
“It becomes second nature. Once you master the feel, it is almost like you know when you will get a bite.”
Capt. Jim Leary
Do Not Confuse Grass With A Bite
Newer grass anglers often react to every piece of vegetation. The goal is not to jerk the rod every time the lure touches grass. The goal is to learn the normal resistance of the vegetation well enough that something different gets your attention.
Moving Baits Around Submerged Grass
Moving baits can be some of the best tools for finding bass in large areas of submerged vegetation because they let you cover water while constantly learning what the grass feels like below the surface.
ChatterBaits
A ChatterBait is one of the classic Lake Guntersville grass presentations. It can be worked around edges, across submerged vegetation and through scattered grass while giving the angler plenty of feedback through the rod.
Lipless Crankbaits
Lipless crankbaits, often called rattle traps, allow you to cover water quickly. They can be especially effective when the lure contacts vegetation and then comes free cleanly.
Topwater
When vegetation is below the surface and the bass are willing to look up, topwater gives you another way to work over the grass without constantly burying the bait in it.
Texas Rig Worms
Texas rigged worms let you slow down around productive grass, work holes and edges, and spend more time in a specific area after the fish tell you where they are positioned.
The Retrieve Matters
Two anglers can throw the same bait through the same grass and get completely different results. Speed, depth, casting angle, how the lure contacts the vegetation and how it is freed from the grass can all change the presentation.
Fishing Eelgrass On Lake Guntersville
Eelgrass deserves its own discussion because it does not always fish like thicker hydrilla or milfoil.
The long grass can load onto a moving lure differently, and anglers who try to overpower every strand can spend more time cleaning grass from the bait than actually fishing it.
This is where retrieve control becomes important.
You want to feel what the bait is doing without allowing it to stay buried in vegetation for the entire cast. When the lure begins collecting grass, a controlled change in speed or a quick snap can free it and get the bait moving correctly again.
Pay attention immediately after the lure comes free. That sudden change in speed or direction can trigger a bass that was following the bait through the grass.
Learn What Clean Contact Feels Like
The goal is not to avoid every piece of grass. Contact can be a good thing. The skill is learning how much contact is productive before the lure becomes completely fouled.
Fishing The Heavy Grass Mats
Heavy matted grass is where this style of fishing really changes.
Once hydrilla, milfoil and other vegetation get thick enough to form a solid canopy, we are no longer talking about casually winding a bait through scattered grass. Now we are fishing over the top of the mat, through openings in it or trying to get a bait underneath it.
That means the equipment has to change too.
65 Pound Braid Is The Starting Point
When we are seriously fishing heavy mats on Lake Guntersville, we use braided line. Sixty five pound braid gives us the strength we need to set the hook hard and move a bass through thick vegetation. This is not the place for light line. Once a good fish gets buried in a mat, you are often pulling fish and grass at the same time.
A heavy baitcasting rod, a strong reel and 65 pound braided line give you the control needed when a fish bites in that kind of cover.
Accuracy matters too. You may be trying to put a bait into a small hole, beside a seam or onto a specific piece of the mat instead of simply making long casts across open water.
Frogs Over The Mats
A hollow body frog is one of the first baits that comes to mind when the grass gets thick enough to form a mat. It lets us work over vegetation that would foul many other lures almost immediately.
The frog can be walked across the mat, paused over holes and openings, or worked along irregular edges where a bass can come through the vegetation and eat it.
Heavy Presentations Through The Mat
Sometimes the fish are not willing to come through the vegetation to eat something on top. That is when heavier presentations that can get through the mat become important.
This still requires stout equipment and 65 pound braid because once the bite happens, the job is getting that fish back through everything between it and the boat.
Frog fishing is also one of the most exciting ways to catch a Lake Guntersville bass. The hard part is making yourself wait long enough to actually feel the fish before setting the hook. When a bass blows up on a frog, the natural reaction is to swing immediately. That can pull the bait away before the fish really has it.
With a frog, give the fish that split second, feel the weight, then hit it hard.
You Do Not Have To Fish The Mats
Heavy mat fishing is another tool, not the only way to catch bass on Guntersville. If somebody is not comfortable with a baitcaster, heavy braid and heavier tackle, we can stay on grass edges, submerged vegetation, topwater, ChatterBaits, worms and plenty of other productive water.
Match The Tackle To The Grass You Are Fishing
This is where common sense matters. You do not need 65 pound braid for every piece of grass on Lake Guntersville, and you do not want lighter fluorocarbon when you are trying to drag a five pound bass through a solid mat.
Match the equipment to what is actually in front of you.
Open Submerged Grass
Medium heavy baitcasting equipment works well for many moving baits and Texas rig presentations around submerged vegetation and more open grass.
Fluorocarbon
Fluorocarbon in roughly the 15 to 20 pound range can work well around submerged grass depending on the lure, the density of the cover and how much pressure you need to put on the fish.
Heavy Mats
When we go into the thick mats, the setup changes. Heavy baitcasting equipment and 65 pound braided line are the standard. Frogs and heavier mat presentations need enough power to get the fish out once it bites.
Use Enough Equipment For The Job
Going heavier than necessary can make fishing harder. Going too light around a mat can cost you the fish. The cover should tell you what equipment you need.
How Guntersville Grass Changes Through The Year
Grass is important on Lake Guntersville throughout much of the year, but bass do not use it exactly the same way in every season.
Winter
During colder periods, productive remaining vegetation can become important because not every section of grass stays equally healthy. Slower retrieves and repeated casts through the right area can become valuable.
Spring
As the lake warms, bass begin using shallow vegetation, grass edges and nearby spawning areas. New growth can create productive cover that did not exist a few weeks earlier.
Summer
Summer vegetation provides cover, shade and ambush areas. Bass may use outside edges, holes, thicker grass or surface mats depending on light, current and feeding activity.
Fall
As the lake begins changing toward fall, bait movement becomes a major part of the grass puzzle. Bass can become much more active around vegetation as feeding patterns change.
This is why checking what the lake is doing right now is more important than relying entirely on what worked during a previous trip.
Common Grass Fishing Mistakes
Fishing Every Piece Of Grass
Hundreds of acres of vegetation may look good, but the bass usually give you clues about which specific type of grass or edge matters that day.
Ignoring The Bite Location
Catching a fish and immediately moving on without understanding where that fish was positioned wastes useful information.
Using One Retrieve All Day
A steady retrieve may work until conditions change. Small adjustments in speed, angle and depth can turn an unproductive bait into the right presentation.
Fishing Bad Grass Too Long
If the lure repeatedly comes back covered in poor looking vegetation or debris, it may be time to find healthier grass instead of forcing the area.
Changing Lures Before Changing Location
Sometimes the bait is not the problem. If you are fishing unproductive grass, cycling through ten different lures may not solve anything.
Using The Wrong Equipment
Light line around submerged grass can be fine in the right situation. Light line in a heavy mat is asking for trouble. Match the rod, reel and line to the cover you are fishing.
There Is No Substitute For Time In The Grass
You can read about grass fishing, watch videos and study lure choices, but eventually the skill has to be developed with a rod in your hand.
Every cast teaches you something.
You learn what clean eelgrass feels like. You learn when a ChatterBait is beginning to foul. You learn the difference between a lipless crankbait loading into vegetation and a fish simply stopping the bait. You learn where a frog needs to pause on a mat and which holes deserve another cast.
You also learn when to quit forcing one stretch of grass and go find another one.
Most importantly, you eventually start putting those pieces together without consciously thinking about every one of them.
That is when grass fishing starts becoming second nature.
Learn Lake Guntersville Grass Fishing With Our Guide Team
Grass fishing is part of fishing Lake Guntersville, and it is something our entire guide team deals with throughout the year.
Capt. Jim, Capt. Myles, Capt. Scott, Capt. Phillip and Capt. Derek are all spending time on this lake, watching how the vegetation changes, where fish are setting up and which presentations are working around the grass.
One of the advantages of fishing with a team like ours is that the information does not come from one boat. Different captains see different sections of Lake Guntersville, different grass and different groups of fish.
If your goal is to become better at grass fishing, pay attention to more than the bait tied on the rod. Watch the boat position. Notice why a captain makes one cast several times and passes another piece of grass completely. Ask what he is feeling through the lure. Look at where the fish was sitting after you catch it.
Those are the lessons that can go home with you.
Put The Grass Fishing Lessons To Work
Lake Guntersville grass fishing rewards anglers who pay attention.
The lure matters, but understanding the vegetation matters more. Learn to identify productive edges. Notice holes and isolated clumps. Pay attention to whether the grass is healthy. Remember exactly where the bite happened. Match your equipment to the cover.
If you are fishing submerged vegetation, learn what the lure feels like coming through it.
If you are going into the heavy mats, step up to the equipment required for the job. Heavy baitcasting tackle, 65 pound braided line, frogs and heavier presentations all become part of the program.
Most of all, spend time doing it.
Eventually the grass stops feeling like something your lure is constantly getting stuck in and starts becoming information you can use.
That is when grass fishing on Lake Guntersville becomes a whole different game.
