(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
Bass University co-founder Pete Gluszek honed his craft on the grass-filled waters of the Upper Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River, where thick grass often holds the largest populations of fish. There are several ways to extract them, but he believes that when the greenery is at its thickest, almost nothing can consistently compete with punching a creature bait.
“It’s such a great way to fish to catch big ones, to win a tournament if you’re a tournament guy, or even catch the biggest fish of your life,” he said. That’s largely due to one prevailing truth: “It’s where the entire food chain lives.” Accordingly, he’ll suspect he’s in a good mat if he sees crawfish scooting around, spies baitfish or hears the pop-pop-pop of feeding bluegills. He also likes to find areas where two types of cover – for example, grass and wood – or two types of grass intersect.
Because these target-rich environments offer so many opportunities for fish to get off, he’s picky about the tackle he uses. “It’s really important to use the right kind of gear to get these fish up and out,” he explained. That’s not always the same setup. His favorite all-around punching rod is a 7’6” Cashion F904. He’ll pair it with a 7:1 ratio reel most of the time, although he may go even faster when there’s a lot of pitching on the menu. He can recover line more quickly and thereby increase his efficiency.
While some anglers exclusively fish braid in the salad, Gluszek will employ Gamma Edge fluorocarbon whenever possible, typically when he’s fishing thinner or loosely-packed mats. “I don’t need braid to get the fish up and out of there,” he said. “The fluorocarbon is more than adequate.” His preference for fluoro is not necessarily because it’s less visible. After all, “it’s dark under there.” Rather, it’s about noise. The braid makes a sawing sound on the grass. “The fluorocarbon eliminates that. It makes me more stealthy and I believe it helps me trigger more strikes.” When he does feel the need for braid – typically in thicker mats or when he’s around big Florida strain fish – he prefers Gamma Torque and he’ll upgrade his terminal tackle to accommodate the line’s lack of stretch.
Stealth is a critical part of his success. While sometimes it’s necessary to make noise to get your boat or your lure through the grass, he does everything possible to minimize telegraphing his location. He’ll even use a push-pole on occasion. When he pitches the lure, a quiet entry is ideal, unless a lot of commotion is absolutely necessary to get the lure through the canopy.
If you enter with stealth, a lot of times the fish will react quickly and eat the lure on the fall. If they don’t, his strategy is to wait for the lure to hit the bottom and then pop the slack out of the line and make it quiver slightly. That will often trigger any fish that has followed the lure to the bottom and is nose-down on it. If you move it too much, it’ll go out of the strike zone or intimidate spooky bass. If that doesn’t generate a strike, he’ll pull the lure up about a foot a few times, or to the bottom edge of the canopy, and then move on to the next likely spot.
If you want to learn some of the other secrets of how Gluszek picks apart matted or floating vegetation, including his seasonal adjustments and his three favorite creature bait colors coast-to-coast, check out his full video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
