froggin' the slop - embrace the scum of summer and catch big bass in dense vegetation

7/29/2019 Froggin' the Slop - Embrace the Scum of Summer and Catch Big Bass In Dense Vegetation

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FroggintheSlopEmbracethe scumof summerand catchbig bass

in densevegetation.

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BY ALFONSO K. AJELLO

n my way, passed a man and h s son.

watched the l ttle boy pull n a sunny that was

so small it would fit in a fish bowl. Finally, I

got to the spot I wanted to target and had it all

to myse . e ent re area was wee e over y

green sh-brown scum that extended bank to

bank. I not ced a an pattern across the scum. I

wondered if somebody had beat me to the spot

,

were m ne rom the day be ore.

took my first cast, stra ght out to the m ddle

of the giant mat of scum. I retrieved my Scum

ro , ho in it ast the occasional floatin

fast-food container, soda can, spring water

bottle and abandoned bobber. I made my second

cast to the le t, parallel to the shore, across the

face of some shrubs and an over-hanging tree.

y lure landed about 6 yards away from wherethe guy was fish ng w th h s son. I took one turn

o the reel and WHAM! Someth ng took my

rog and went berserk n the knee-deep scum!

Whatever it was, it was big, but the size of the

fish was masked by the globs o vegetat on, I

backed away rom the bank to keep pressure

on the fish. At t mes dur ng the fight, I

.

finally landed t, all Icould see was a mass

o v nes and black mud and then I saw

the op o the ta l. hen nall cked

th h th tat d s lt, and

l ted the bass up, I was s eechless.

I d n t have a scale or a

ruler, but the guy whowas sh n g w th h s

son stood n amazement.

hat s between and pounds, h .

The huge mouth was filled with bl bs

of weeds. I did my best to measure

the length o the fish aga nst my

fish ng rod. The ather took a p cture

with his cell phone, but then compl ined that

he wasnt sure if his phone was workin . The

little boy asked me if he could kee the fish.

I expla ned that th s was a b g bre der and

must be released. o th s day, when I back

to that spot, I look for that guy, hoping that he

figured out his phone and could e-mail

me that picture.

Introduction toScumIm lucky enough to have a couple

of ponds within minutes of my 9-to- job

I call them my luncht me ponds. Though t

doesnt sound l ke much, that 40 m nutes spent

by the water on my lunch hour is valuable to

me. I use t to exper ment w th d -

erent tact cs, try out new lures,

hone my sk lls, take a deep

breath, relax a l ttle, and ma nta n my san ty on

gorgeous summer days when Id rather be fish-

ng than behind a computer. One of the ponds I

frequent sits below a residential community in

a par w t a soccer e , an as ear y as pr ,

the ert l zer runo causes prol fic weed growth

and un ettered algae blooms.

I noticed that as my lunchtime fishing hole

-- -- ,

other fishermen d sappeared, curs ng n rustra-

t on and leav ng n d sgust as the r sp nners,

crankbaits and spoons all came up draped in

reen. B mid-June I had the entire lace to m -

self. Rather than give up, I continued pitching

my wacky-r gged Senko worms nto any patch

o open water I could find. As I dragged my ba t

over the solid islands of bubbling scum, I was

surprised by perky bass that would swipe at mylure, somet mes ust be ore I pulled t out o the

water. I began to exper ment w th the wacky-

r gged Senko, dragg ng t over the th ck carpets

of vegetation. Bass were coming through the

scum and attack ng t, many t mes grabb ng

the ba t and tear ng t r ght o the hook. I was

o ow- o e rogsThese plastic frogs are vir tually snagless. They

cast well, and work well in very heavy cover.

ishing was picking up at my lunchtime pond. I had caught two

write home about, anything I caught during my lunch hour was

a bonus. I was anxious to see if I could make it three good days in a row.

Original Scum Frog

oppers ve

Target Frog

Spro

Bronzeye

rog

rue-

Tungsten

Mad Maxx

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On The Water age 5

draw ng str kes, but or the most part, I was

los ng ba ts and not catch ng anyth ng but

weeds. I surmised that the Senko was ust

not su table or these cond t ons.

ater that spr ng, a r end returned rom

a vacat on n Flor da and presented me

w th a souven r a pack o s x black-and-

wh te Zoom Horny Toads. I must have

looked at t as t was a bag o t ny al ens.

Do you like them? Will you use them?

my friend asked.

Um, yea yea yea, I answered. I umpedon the computer and, as I o ten do, checked

the customer reviews of the product on

the website of a couple of the nations

most popular sport ng goods stores or

an nstant educat on. As t turns out, my

friend had presented me the perfect bait

or my scummy luncht me pond.

p eced together the adv ce I came across

in the customer reviews, but I couldnt wait

until lunchtime the next day. I headed out

th my Horny Toads be ore work the next

morn ng to a local weeded-over fish ng

hole. To my surprise, the toads actually

orked much better than I expected. Bass

ust launched themselves at the ba ts ex-

plos ve top-water str kes what could be

better? A whole new tact c I never knew

ex sted was opened up to me, and a struc-

ure that I had once ound nt m dat ng and

discouraging was now welcomed.

StructureAs bass fishermen we become accustomedo looking for structure, fallen trees, boul-

ders, weed lines, drop-offs and more. One

o the th ngs I had to learn was to unlearn

my not ons as to where bass hang out when

dense carpets of scum are present.

henever I try to figure out the r ddle o

a new fish ng spot, my thought process goes

underwater. I wonder what the fish might

be experiencing. Think of high noon on a

bl ster ng summer day. Inst nct vely, I look

o get out o the sun, to stand under a tree

here Im in the shade and cool. Bass do

he same. But, the underwater world is very

erent than what Im exper enc ng as I

fish rom the shore. I see a body o water

baking in the sun, but when a body of water

s overcome by scum, t s as there s a

g ant umbrella hover ng over the basss

habitat, creating what I call all day dusk

n the underwater env ronment. At t mes

l ke m dday, when t s br ght and sunny

and oppress vely hot, when you expect

bass to be h dden n deep, cooler water

or languishing in traditional shady spots,

they are nstead, I bel eve, qu te act ve n

the cool dark world, under the scum

umbrella.

I keep th s n m nd as I ap-

proach a body o water that has

scummed over, whether n ull

or partially. Once, during a

week-long fishing trip to Black

Lake n Upstate New York where Ifished every wak ng moment bass

were more active in the early morn-

ngs or evenings, leaving shaded

areas and ventur ng out to eed.

here ore, we targeted trad t onal

structure with traditional baits. As

the sun got h gh n the sky and the

day heated up, fish ng at the trad t onal

structures slowed, and we had success

targeting the largely overlooked

scummed-over corners and coves.

In act, v rtually the ent re ood

chain seemed to concentrate in

these areas during the hottest part

o the day.

I l ken the world o a bass n

heavy muck to Joe Frazier in the

14th round o the hr lla n an la,

a gruel ng box ng match, both men push-

ng each other to their physical limits.

By the 1 th, Al had bl nded Fraz er.

Joe was unable to see h s opponent,

all he could do was sense that Al

was n the v c n ty. He ollowed the

shadows, l sten ng to the ootsteps and

v brat ons on the canvas, try ng to d scern

h s targets rom cheer ng ans and ash-

ng camera bulbs. Hed take a stab n

the dark, throw a haymaker at where

he sensed Al s aw m ght be, hop ng

to connect. Th s s how I p cture anopportunistic largemouth bass hunting

a frog bait that is being dragged across a

dense matt o scum. The bass s stalk ng a

creature that is not in the water, but above

t. Therefore, I imagine that under these

c rcumstances, the bass s part ally bl nded,

unable to rely on all o the sensory tools t

would normally utilize for hunting.

Scummy LuresS nce I obta ned my first bag o Zoom

Horny Toads, I have watched the number

of slop baits dramatically increase. In fact,

there are so many out there now that t s

d ficult to keep track. Bas cally the ba tthat you will have success with will depend

on the type of vegetation and slop that you

are fish ng. I have come across a var ety o

aquat c vegetat on, rom snot grass w th

a jelly-like consistency, to a fine green hair

that st cks to everyth ng, to the tentacle-l ke

hydr lla and m l o l. Even more mportant

than the vegetation type is how it relates

to the surface and the availability of open

water. How dry are the weeds do the

weeds oat on top o the waters sur ace, or

are they partially submerged? Do the weeds

go wall to wall, or dscum appear more like

in open water? Is the scum

n w th lea y vegetat on such as l

water chestnuts, and are the lilies as

dinner plates or as small as quarters

As you address the conditions and

a ba t, keep n m nd that bass are op

nistic feeders that will strike at an

that they suspect might be food. The

when you choose a ba t, you should

the one that s eas est or the bass to

and locate. At the same time, you m

the scum as your ally and pick a lu

looks the most l e-l ke n the cond

Hollow-Bodied Frogs

A hollow-bodied frog consists of a h

plast c body ash oned to look l ke

mouse or b rd, r gged on a double h

a way that makes it virtually snagle

key to these ba ts s the r buoyancy

helps them cru se over the sur ace o

obstacles they encounter.

Hollow-bodied frogs usually have

rather than eet, but some o them

paddle eet. Out o the package, the

are a bit long, so you may want t

uzz rogsThese baits come unrigged, so you w

also need some weedless hooks.

Zoom Horny Toad

Strike King Rage Tail

YUM BuzzFrog

Stanley Ribbit Frog

Z-Man PopFrogz

Scum Froggin RodsFor fishing frog baits in dense veg-

etation, youll want a heavy-power,

fast-action rod to keep the bait on thesurface, get a solid hookset, and drag

the bass out of the muck.

Shimano Crucial Bass Casting Frog

Daiwa Light and Tough Frog Rod

St. Croix Mojo Bass Slop-N-Frog

Quantum EXO EXC747XF

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413.243.5761www.berkshirefishing.com

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Everything you need for a dayof great bass fishing

a quiet private lake

no large boats

no jet skis no houses


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froggin' the slop - embrace the scum of summer and catch big bass in dense vegetation

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