Fishing Thick Lily Pads

The only technique I can think of to fish thick lily pads (total coverage of the water) is pitching/flipping something with enough weight to get through. The big problem I see is getting around the fish without spooking them.

Have you had success running the trolling motor or is a push pole a must? When you hook up and the fish gets tangled in the pads, are you dragging them back to the boat with brute force or do you try to move the boat over to the fish to land? Those pads are tough.

Keep the boat out if possible. Throw a frog and haul em out with 65 braid. Do NOT try to use mono or fluoro in pads. You will lose that battle 9 outta 10 times if the fish is any size at all.

Thanks for the reply Ken!! We fished along the outside edges of the pads with spinner baits, chatter baits, swim baits, swim jigs, t-rig, frogs, etc. Throwing a frog up in the thickest part of the pads just meant your frog was dragging back across the top of lily pads because there was no holes in the pads.

Getting up in the thickest parts was very noisy. I'm thinking with some type of push pole, you could ease into them and have success pitching.

I'm not saying that fish aren't in there, cause they are. But In my opinion, it's almost a waste of time to push pole into that thick of pads. Even with motors trimmed up and trolling motor pulled out, it's still a battle to get back there, and you still have to disturb the water quite a bit to do so. My bet would be to fish the less thick edge along where it gets SUPER thick, and out towards open water. That is unless you Absolutely know they are back there.

www.bassfan.com/docktalk_article/15501/chalk-talk:-how-kenney-attacks-lily-pads#.VzIoZtIrIY0

Great article on one of the best at that type of fishing. Dunno why the link didn't work. Just copy/paste into your browser.

Fishing along the edges is absolutely the easiest thing to do and I've had success doing that in the past. But, when I'm fishing the edges and can't get bit, that little voice in my head is telling me to get into the thicker stuff.

Since I don't carry a push pole in the boat, we left the pads and looked elsewhere.

Weed wing Green & white pork
Johnson silver minnow & Trick worm.

Know where a channel goes thru the pads or a ditch it doesn't really matter as long as you got some depth then put trolling motor on high and ram pads get middle of them then sit still and listen for the perch to go back feeding game on get heavy weights and punch hang on

When the frogs got popular a few years ago, Horny Toads especially, I fished pads often. And I learned to use a push pole. Sometimes you can drift into the pads if the wind is right. when you get to where you want to be lower the trolling motor quietly and use it basically for an anchor. At least it will slow your drift. Approach them big bass like you would a big buck....quietly. You got to hunt them.

IMO a push pole is a necessity for effective pad fishing if the pads are thick.

Push pole is a must when fishing heavy pads. Learn to use the pole right and you will be quiet. A carbon fiber stiffy that salt flats anglers use are the best, expensive, and quiet. A pole vault pole makes a good one too.

One day I loaded the push pole and headed out to my favorite lilly pad lake. I shut down way out and drifted in as far as I could. Then I pushed my way in about 100 yds through some thick pads to the point the pads broke and were scattered. I made every effort to stay as quiet as possible and pulled off a very quiet entry to where I wanted to be. I slung a buzz bait and first cast BOOM! A nice one. About the time I set the hook the game warden game came flying in. He barreled in fast and loud and actually ramed into my boat. He had to wait on me to land the fish to check me. 7 pounder. A nice first cast bass on what would have been a great start to my day. My blood was boiling but I kept my cool. I let him do his thing and check me out. When I was clear I chewed his azz for the way he blew up my fishing hole and the way he approached me after watching me take so much care to be quiet to get to that spot. He fired up his motor during the middle of his azz chewing and blew out of there like he blew in. Complete jerk. I normally give Game Wardens a lot of respect and cooperate fully. But on this day he deserved an ear full and he got it. It's not often an angler gets disrespected by a game warden.

Fish can see your frog if its on top of a lily pad, your frog will produce a silhouette and the bass will still hit it.

Depending on the lake, I will take a Super Chunk Uncle Josh Black pork with a #8 weedless hook, no weight, and swim it around and over the pads. If I didn't get bit and came to an opening I would let it fall and would get bit most of the time.