My son and I have a tourney coming up on a lake that is covered with grass. We fished Monday hoping to find some creek bends and flats to jig fish. Found them but covered with grass. 10-14' deep but grass to within a foot or two from surface. 3/4 ounce jig would not penetrate it. Caught a nice fish ripping rattletrap over and through the grass. lost another nice one that way. I'm an old man compared to my son and rattletrap fishing like that is hard work. any thoughts about different techniques to get to the fish that we know are there?

Nothing will beat it. It works everywhere, shallow mat but best on the deepest grass you can find. You got to keep going until you find that sweet spot, pitch out the marker and circle it looking for others because they will be grouped up under the hollow.
You must consentrate on what other people do not do. Knowing how to fish deep grass is one of them. Especially getting in the matted areas. If the wind is blowing you can get in there on the upwind side; put the trolling motor up and big motor up and walk the boat accross the mat by rocking the boat from side to side.
I have fished the deep grass at Lake Amistad for 30 years. Here is what you do. In the heat of the day they are burried up in the grass.
Here is how you get them out:
Rig a heavy drop shot rig:
5.0 heavy super line hook. Tied on 50# braid. Use a Palamar knot. Leave the tag end at 5 inches long. Tie a 1 oz. weight or a 1.5 oz. (heavy mat) to the tag end. I just tie a knot in the end of the tag, then use a overhand slip knot to attach the weight. It doesn't take much to keep it on. When I am fishing grass and hardwoods and it gets hung on the wood I can pull it off and come out with the hook and fish. You understand that the hook is about 4 to 5 inches above the weight, so the tails of the bait will hang down and cover the weight.
Use a Gene Lawrue Hoo Daddy Jr. in Watermelon Neon.
It will drop in the grass and come out of the grass with no hang-ups.
Fish vertical to 20% in front of the boat. Directly over the bait is best on the deepest grass. Drop it in slowly and soft so it is traveling slowly when it touches the bottom. The Bass hate anything sneeking in on them. Hold it there with a tight line for about 5 seconds without any movement. They don't want it bouncing up and down. This gives them time to swim through the hollow under the grass and nail the bait.
Vertical presentation and moving along the outer edge of the grass line, making pitches out in front of the boat so by the time it gets to the bottom you are directly over the bait for the hookset.
HAVE FUN!!

Try a soft plastic swim bait rigged weedless - I like ZZ Lures Swayback Swimmers. Anglers Pro Tackle in Hurst carries them and I rig them on swim bait hooks with willow or Colorado blades by Genesis that add a little flash. APT also has them in various weights and sizes. This presentation will be easier than ripping traps thru the grass but still allow you to get into it.

Carlos Rivera with River-A-Tackle in Ft Worth makes an awesome punch rig with a colored tungsten weight that will bull through the grass. I've had a lot of success at Lake Austin which is some of the thickest grass you ever find in a lake.

Donald Harper's advice and technique is very good also!

Weightless fluke over the grass.

I've had success throwing a c-rig with a lighter weight in grass at that depth.

You could also peg a one ounce weight on a Texas rig and try to "punch it"

My favorite unless they are deep in the grass. But if they were hitting the trap they should hit a fluke as well.

It may be a little early but slow walking a frog may get bit as well. Good luck!

1-1/4 ounce Combat " bunker buster" jig with a beaver trailer
1 ounce to 1-1/2 ounce pegged Tx rig with a craw or beaver

Heavy action Rod and 65lb braid.

That is all you need.....

Harper's technique works very well!!! I still favor a 1oz "punch" jig from either dirty jig or the 1oz AT grassmaster jig. Trailered with a beaver type craw. Punching gets old real quick and begins to hurt wrists and elbows after a few hours so make sure your on fish in the slop before you waste a whole day. I cant explain how much im enjoying throwing a "normal bait" and not fishing slop after the last 6 months lol. But starting in may its back to punching...as a last resort you can buy one the cheap 1oz jigging/slab spoons replace the treble hook with a 6/0 or larger thick wide gap worm hook, attach your craw or creature bait and it will slip through just about anything.
Hope yall get into some big ole slop donkeys!

Donald Harper - Thank you very much for the info. I like to fish grass and this will greatly improve my attempts. The photo was a BIG help for understanding your rig setup.

That Hoo Daddy Jr was ahead of its time.

Thanks for the advice. Lots of good information.

wish my lake had some is my thoughts