# Soft Plastics in Heavily Weeded Areas



## Gunston (May 10, 2006)

Hi Guys
Any suggestions on soft plastics and rigs to use when fishing for Bass in heavily weeded areas?

Chris


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## aleg75 (Dec 20, 2005)

Hi Chris

I use Gamakatsu darter jig heads, they come with a weed guard (have to super glue them in though) but i find they work pretty well on my 3"+ shads and do not seem to have effected my flathead hook up rate.

p.s. I have no comercial involvment with Gamakatsu.

Ash


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

maybe an ecogear grass minnow on a worm hook, 
that way you can pull it across the top of the weeds and entice a strike


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## Gunston (May 10, 2006)

Thanks Guys
I like the idea of going across the top of the weeds how much weight are you talking?

Chris


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## tugboat (Nov 15, 2006)

If the weed beds are anything like the ones I have been chasing Bream on, the only option is to go across the top. I generally use poppers but if using SPs I go very light resin heads or unweighted.


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

hey Chris,

with the worm hook you dont need any weight, 
just the hook and the placcy, sort of like the one in kraleys link


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## bundyboy (Sep 6, 2009)

Just looking at weedless options for impoundment barra fishing, I have tried the typical weedless presented plastics using weedless hooks but find the hookup rate terrible (depending on the soft plastic), has anyone experimented with tying weedguards (mono for example) on normal jigheads as an alternative to weedless hooks?


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## onemorecast (Apr 17, 2006)

Yep, fine wire worm hook penetrates better but, as others have said your hookup rate will be reduced. This said it will will likely allow you to fish areas that you couldn't before or just found too frustrating removing weed.

I fished some plastics this morning at Narrabeen Lakes (Sydney) rigged this way and hooked and dropped 3 bream :evil:, but the tide was out and the weed was exposed so I thought it was my best option


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## ScottLovig (Aug 7, 2006)

I catch bream exactly like Kraleys link.

If you use a floating plastic then the tungsten weight hits the bottom first and the placcie can be slowly twitched down to it. The eye of the weedless hook can be tapped against the weight a few times for a little noise then backed off to float away a little.

It gives a very diffrent action and if rigged right on the hook your placcy will stay very clean. I often use a Z Man Grubz on the rig but let your imagination go wild. The hookup rate may have dropped slightly on bream but I couldn't truly be sure. However, most important, the lure stays clean in the strike zone, spends more time in the water and gets eaten more often.

Cheers


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## windknot (Nov 15, 2009)

Go for a worm hook that's as big as you can comfortably fit through your soft plastic. The larger hook will automatically leave more of the hook's point exposed and this will increase your hook up rate immensely. Most people use a smaller worm hook. It's only natural, but it won't be very effective if the point is buried in the soft plastic.

I use 1/0 and 2/0 size fine wire Gamagatsu worm hooks on my 2 and 3 inch soft plastics.

If you're happy with a slow sinking rate you can fish these weightless, but if you want to add weight, I find the Sebile tungsten twist on weights to be very effective. Each little weight weighs .4g and you can add as many as you like (or will fit onto the hook) to get the weight you desire.


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