Have a small lake near me that is almost completely lined with cattails/reeds. I'm not sure of the exact species, but they are thick and look to me like an endless desert of cattails. Love to hear your best techniques for dissecting these type habitats and the baits you've had best luck with. I've caught SOME decent fish flipping on the edges, a few topwater outside, but I haven't cracked the secret code yet. I feel like the big ones are living inside the actual plant/root mass, but what ideas do you have for penetrating that. It is thick and getting hung up is a frequent occurrence, along with your bait never actually getting down past the stalks. Thanks.

Peg your weight and throw and green pumpkin/chart tail small yum dinger. It will dart down in the cattails and they will hit it.

Big weight and braid and get to pitching

A Bitsy bug jig with the twin inter tails of the Mister Twister 4 Split tails. Cut the larger two tails off and just use the two small inter tails on the jig for a trailer.

What keys do you use to know if any specific areas of the cattails will hold fish vs those that will not?

Look for "cut banks", points, pockets and any irregularities. Check for laydowns, stumps, or submerged grass lines that intersect with the reeds/cattails.

Deeper reeds, irregularities: indentions, pockets, little points, a log, a tree, a rock.....anything that is different. Sometimes on the edge, sometimes back in the reeds a ways.

Also pitch to the back side of them if/when possible.