The dog days of summer have arrived producing soaring temperatures and limited rainfall in most of the south.  Although some anglers have become reclusive only coming out at night, others have chose to join the ranks of other anglers fishing grass beds or aquatic vegetation for lunker bass.  Anglers need to look no farther than a near by river or reservoir to find some type of aquatic vegetation to flip or pitch into. 

Productive grass fishing requires specific rods, reels, line, and lures.  There is no place for spinning rods, delicate line, or small lures.  Grass fishing equals power fishing.  When grass fishing anglers should be armed with a 7 ½ -foot extra heavy fishing pole, a fast 6:1 or  7:1 high speed bait casting reel, and 25 pound fluorocarbon or 80 pound braided fishing line.

For professional BASSMASTER Elite angler and winner of the Ramanda Champion Choice's BASSMASTER Elite Tournament on Oneida lake in New York, Chad Griffin of Cresson, Texas, grass fishing huge fields of matted grass and submerged vegetation is typical during the summer’s sunny and hottest days. “The best time to fish grass is in the winter or heat of summer; in the summer the bass get in the grass to escape from the heat and feed, than return to the grass for the warmer temperatures in the winter,” Griffin continued, “when fishing grass anglers should make short 5 to 8 foot pitches into the grass, breaking through the canopies, let the jig go to the bottom then shake it, if you do not get a bite reel up to the underside top of the canopies and shake it.”  “Although some strikes are particularly soft, most feel like the bait is welded to the bottom of the lake,” said Griffin.  Key locations to fish grass beds are drains or ditches and where 2 different types of grass mix.  “The key to catching a bass once it bites a jig is to set the hook hard and bring the fish out of the grass as quickly as you can,” inform Griffin.

The most productive colored jigs are natural ones like perch or crawfish.  Griffin likes to use a trailer on his jigs like a Net Bait Paca Crawl but a Gambler Flappy Daddy would also be effective.  “I like to fish a jig and trailer with a big profile, mostly because the bait is big during the summer,” said Griffin.

Griffin’s knowledge of jigs comes from several years of trial and error.  After searching for a desired jig and skirt color, Griffin began to custom build his jigs.  Today, Griffin has a complete line jigs for bass fishing.  For grass fishing in shallow, bank grass like duck weed, tules, sawgrass a 5/8-ounce Ezee Grass Jig, 1-ounce Ezee Grass Jig with a 6/0 Mustad hook is for mats 8 to 10 feet deep or edge of mats, and 1 1/2-ounce Ezee Grass Jig for breaking through thick mats.  For more information on Ezee Jigs see www.ezeejigs.com.

  This summer do not let the dog days of summer get you down and inside.  Try some power fishing in the aquatic vegetation with heavy weight grass jigs.  For professional BASSMASTER Elite angler Chad Griffin, selecting his jig for grass fishing is an Ezee choice.