Weeds
 

We know what impact weeds have on the ability to fish. Some weeds you can fish through, some fuhggedaboutit.

Sometimes you can fish through or move and find fish - sometimes as soon as you move out of the weed. Other times, depending on the weeds, I've caught through.

My question is, how much impact do weeds have on whether or not the fish will stick around a certain spot. Are they much more tolerant of weeds than braided line? Or do they generally say screw it and move to the next weed free area?

clearly a question for fish eye... My guess is weeds don't help a stripers feeding ability. too many nooks and crannies for bait to hide in. WTF do I know though...

I don't think weeds bother feeding as long as there is bait in the water the fish will sooner or later be there

I agree with that. I found seaweed with squid and crabs in a bass last month.
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I've found it depends on what type of weeds. The grassy stuff is ok sometimes with an eel, sluggo, or jig, but if its full of lettuce forget it. I've seen many times pods of bait hiding under floating grass patches.

The fish are there, its just that the fish can see your line dragging hooks and weed, so you dont catch as much fish.

That being said, I have a trick i will share- if the weeds arent too thick and you can drop a light jig through them, you can almost dead stick a jig using the buoyancy of the weed to bounce it off the bottom for a loooooooooooooooong time.. THink of the big patch of floating eel grass a parking spot for your jig. just stop reeling, drop to the bottom and start jigging ;)

I don't think it matters as much as you think when the water is reasonably clear, most weeds are mainly torwards the top of the water column up until the waves churn everthing up. I try and fish something deeper in the water colum.

I find the Mexican Gold is pretty good but that Maui Wowee stuff is just way too strong I miss alot of hooksets :devil2:

In my neck of the woods, weed = bubble weed, torn off by storms ... large rafts of bubble weed hold bait.. and bait =fish... i always spend a little extra time around the weed rafts...

the other "weed" we have is not weed but marsh thatch.. it only occurs during spring high tides as the old dead grass leaves the marsh... one a again, small feed seeks out these "weed" lines , which normaly will have other debris floating with it... it is wise to work the edges of these weed lines as there always seems to be fish near by...

SB

For medical fishing mostly :fishin:

I know that after a big blow, things have to settle a bit before the bite turns on again. But those weeds that are in the wash regularly effect us more, than the feeding bass, IMO. I also believe that if a plug thrown in weedy wash, where there are bass feeding, will get nailed if an intended target is attracted before the plug gets hung up with weeds. :)

I don't think they'll stay parked in 3 feet of solid mung, like you find closer to shore, but anything else is do-able, as stated above, most of it is in the upper water column. I've caught plenty of fish on chunked bait in different degrees of seaweed or mung. While baitfishing, the thickness of the seaweed would determine my M.O,...when it's real thick (heavy mung), you just cast out & let it soak and DON'T try to keep your line tight to the bait all the time...keep your rod tip high out of the first few waves and wish for the best. (There's an art to keeping slack in yer line while still missing the first few rollers) Trying to keep your line tight with the bait all the time will cause the build up to happen MUCH faster, ....when you finally do drag your pile in, you're actually better off cutting the line at the swivel, sliding all the junk off and then re-tieing.,,,I'm talkin bout the mung that braids itself onto your line..:huh:..(if there's a heavy surf, or strong current, rules don't apply//go home and drink beer///...not your most exciting type of fishing, but if you feel confident enough in your spot, or are just too plain lazy to move...:fishin:,,, just ask the CC-OB soakers//

but in answering your original question, I don't think it affects the fish much, sorry for being so long-winded

..when strictly plugging, it will definitely shorten my time at that spot, <IF>,,, I stay at all...even if I do catch one, ,,, it gets too frustrating...I like my lure salad-free all the time.,,unless it's really "ON", I'm otta-there...,,,doesn't mean the fish aren't there, just means you don't catch fish on a dirty lure, so the odds are stacked against me....

..when eeling, ...to be continued////....what was the question again?? :devil2:

Weeds I will try to work around if possible, but if there's MUNG forget it down the road I go

Stripers love weeds like Italians love escarole soup. They like thick stock. The only thing they love more is a combo of weeds and surge. The number one element you want in the water conditions your hopefully about to fish is SURGE...a strong push and pull from the WAVES -- think white water, but more than that, thing strong forceful pull and push...that's the magic magnet for linesiders.

Off to Block for an rendezvous with dawn, dirty water, SURGE and LARGE...hopefully I can show you what I'm talking about.

west side of jones beach...weedy 90% of the year ,,,fish never seem to care...in fact, clear water seems to make them shy