Jigs in Grass

Many times when anglers look at a grass flat, they think of fishing one of three things: a topwater, a spinnerbait or a lipless crankbait. But while those lures are easier to fish over grass, they might not catch the biggest bass from that flat.

Often jigs are needed to fool the big bass. But dissecting a large, apparently featureless flat can be daunting. To help BassFans with that, we turned to Mark Pack, owner of Lake Fork Tackle and designer of one of the hottest jigs on the market: the Mega- Weight Jig.

Ditches and Pockets

"The key to fishing a jig in grass is looking for little ditches and pockets," Pack says, though "any irregular feature on a grassline will hold fish."

Finding these areas can be tricky and requires patience. "Keep in good contact with the bottom with your electronics, and also look at the bank," he says. "Both will tell you a lot as you're fishing along."

If you see a ditch coming in from the bank, "look at your graph. Find that little depression on your flasher. At times you can catch a limit out of one spot, just by fishing those little depressions."

He adds that at Lake Champlain, wherever he "found rock that intersected the grassline, the smallmouths would be stacked in there. All you need is something different."

Mark Your Line

In the South those differences often are subtle -- small depressions or ditches. Pack acknowledges that these can sometimes be tough to see on a sonar unit, even for experienced anglers. To overcome that, he puts a magic-marker line on his braided fishing line, and uses that as a guide.

That way "you can tell if you get a little deeper," he says. "The mark will get a little farther down, and when that happens, get ready."

Equipment

To fish a jig in grass, Pack uses a 7-foot, 6-power (heavy-action) Falcon Cara- series rod, Shimano Chronarch reel and 50-pound PowerPro braided line. At the end of the line he uses a blood knot to attach a 4-foot, 25-pound-test fluorocarbon leader (Cabela's brand).

His jig of choice is of course the Lake Fork Tackle Mega-Weight jig. He likes a 1/2-ounce jig in pumpkin-pepper/green or watermelon with Lake Fork Pig Claw trailer (3 1/2 inches).

If 1/2-ounce sounds light for fishing grass, he says that the tungsten-headed Mega-Weight jig "slides through grass a lot quicker so you can use a 1/2-ounce jig in a situation where you'd usually use a 3/4- or 1-ounce leadhead."

Re: color, he says, "You want something that blends into the surroundings. If there's too much contrast, the fish will shy away from it. I add a noisemaker (the Jig-N-Tube rattle that comes with the jig) so bass can find it."