Buzz baits and Moss Covered Ponds

Bass Fishing Moss Covered Strip Mines Or Ponds
By Douglas Burns

A friend of mine likes to fish strip mines covered in heavy moss and normally does pretty well with them. His normal choice is a plastic worm for bass but there are times they just are not interested in the worms and he asked what other choices he had.

If you have ever fished a pond or strip mine covered in moss you know how hard it is to find open water to work your lures. But you also know that these waters can be very productive. I can understand why he likes these places. They are generally isolated, in most cases you may be the only one there, and they are productive.

With moss covered mines or ponds you have to look for open water or breaks in the moss. You normally do not have a lot of room to work your lures and very rarely can you work them deep especially if you're fishing from the bank.

If the water is almost entirely covered by moss I will try shiners in whatever open water I can find. It is kind of like dropping the bait into a hole. I will begin fishing about three feet deep and gradually increase the depth until I get a hit or my bait is on top of the moss. I have had some very productive days using this approach.

If you can find some breaks where the moss is just below the surface try using buzz baits. They do not snag as much as some of the other top water lures. Buzz baits can be very effective and most times you can actually see a V shape coming after it. If you do don't get to excited and set the hook before he takes it. Unfortunately I have done this a couple of times.

There are other top water lures that may do well including poppers, spitters, prop baits, hard stickbaits, soft stickbaits, etc. My choices for fishing Moss covered strip mines or ponds are plastic worms, buzz baits and shiners.

Doug Burns has been an avid angler for more than 35 years. His advice has helped many anglers achieve their goals. For more Bass fishing information visit Bass Angling

If you want to hook Catfish visit Catfish Angling

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Properly caring for fish: Proper catch and release

I dont want to insult anyones intelligence about handling bass. Most know how or watch the TV shows, so we know how to lip land, we know to keep our filthy hands off their body as much as possible.

However it seems we dont seem to know how to care for fish, that we catch, that need handled a little different based on the situation.

One issue that comes to mind is when a largemouth bass is so hungry it swallows a hook. Now this doesn't happen to me much as I do not use live bait, and it typically happens for those that use live worms especially.

When a largemouth swalows a hook, the majority of the time the best thing to do is to cut the line as close to the eye of the hook as possible. One time I was really honked off during an outing with my odest son. We caught Skeletor the largemouth bass and he still had fishing line and lead weight hanging out of his mouth.

The odds are against these fish, but we can help them out and just maybe they can survive to make the next spawn and pass on those good genes to their offspring.

Better yet, if a fish is hooked like skeletor was in the throat, wouldn't it be best to take it home for a nice meal since it is unlikely to make it?