If you are a freshwater angler, chances are you’ve gotten weeds on your fishing lures before. While it can be annoying to have to keep removing them, large fish prowl weed beds, so it’s worth fishing them. Even so, there are a few things you can do to help keep weeds off your fishing lures so your time on the water is more enjoyable.
How do I keep my lures from snagging?
The easiest way to prevent your fishing lures from snagging on weeds or other cover is to keep the hook point away from it! You can accomplish this in several ways. You could use a truly weedless lure (such as a hollow-bodied frog), or rig a soft plastic Texas style (by burying the hook point into the plastic. There are also some lures and hooks that come in “weedless” options, such as this “weedless” wacky-rigged hook. To be honest, I don’t find that these really keep weeds off the hooks very well – BUT – they are wonderful at keeping your hook point from snagging harder cover like fallen timbers, so they have their place.
What Fishing Line is Best for Weeds?
Sometimes the issue isn’t your hook, but the line you’re using. Anyone who is fishing very heavy vegetation, be it with frogs or jigs, is going to use very heavy braid. This is done for two main reasons. One, HEAVY braid (50-65lb) is your only chance of getting a giant bass out of deep cover and to the boat. Secondly, braid is quite sharp (think rope burns from hell) and can cut through weeds like a saw. Braided line is therefore going to be better to use in heavy weeds than anything else.
My personal favorite braided line is and probably always will be Power Pro. It comes in all the sizes I need, it casts very well, and it holds up year after year after year. I only change it on my reels when they get too low from cutting and retying fishing lures. I’ve never found a need to change it for any other “maintenance” reasons like you might for fluorocarbon or monofilament.
What Fishing Lures Work Well in Weeds?
The best way to avoid getting a ton of weeds on your fishing lure is to use one that works well in them. Using a diving crankbait with treble hooks dangling underneath around weeds is just asking for trouble. Instead, try something that will come through the weeds easier, like a spinnerbait (I prefer one by War Eagle) or swim jig. Basically anything with a hook that points up while moving through the water is going to be better off than something with hooks that point down.
| Fishing Lures That Work Well in Weeds | Fishing Lures That are Tough to Use in Weeds |
| Spinnerbaits | Chatterbaits |
| Hollow-bodied floating frogs | Topwater plugs |
| Flukes (such as the caffeine shad) | Jerkbaits |
| Swim Jigs | Spoons |
| Texas-rigged worms & creatures | Crankbaits |
Spinnerbaits
If you’ve ever wondered if spinnerbaits are good in the weeds, all I can say is “yes, emphatically, yes.” Granted, you don’t want to throw these into a giant clump of them as it’ll never get through that, but these lures are relatively weedless if you simply intend to burn them on top of submergent weeds. The odd stalk of two that connects with the lure will brush right off the bent wire frame. This makes spinnerbaits a great lure for shallow water trolling as well.
Hollow-bodied floating frogs
If you’re fishing especially heavy weed beds, you’re going to want to use a lure that’s designed for that cover. The most famous is going to be a floating frog lure. These float and have their hooks well-protected by the lure’s body and facing up. You’d really have to try to get these snagged. They are designed for throwing into the heaviest cover imaginable in the height of summer and do a great job of catching bass buried in the muck. My personal favorite is the Spro Bronzeye Frog as I’ve found it to have better hookup percentages than many others I’ve tried.
Flukes
A fluke is essentially a soft-bodied jerkbait that can be rigged weedless by burying the hook point into the plastic. While it will take a good jerk to set the hook, this setup will allow you to fish it without any weeds. Since a fluke can be fished with the same cadence of a jerkbait, it can be an amazing option if your water temps are screaming jerkbait, but you don’t want to catch more weeds than fish. My personal favorite fluke has been Strike King’s caffeine shad. It casts well, has enough weight that you can fish it with a bare hook, and it was responsible for my personal best largemouth bass.
Swim Jigs
A swim jig is a jig that’s designed to, well, swim. The head is more hydrodynamic and cuts through the water, and they tend to have a smaller profile than heftier bottom bouncing jigs. Its hook guard does a good job of keeping it relatively weedless. Most weeds are going to slide around the guard. Given its compact size, it can often get through weeds easier than a spinnerbait. You can check out what one looks like (and pick some up for yourself) at Amazon.
Texas-Rigged Worms & Creatures
You can make pretty much any soft plastic lure essentially weedless by rigging it Texas style, but there are particular baits that do better than others. Essentially, the fewer appendages or arms, etc. that the plastic has, the less likely something is going to get caught on weeds. A simple worm is going to go through weeds much better than a creature bait.
How do you set up a weedless lure with a Texas Rig?
One of the more effective ways to set up a weedless lure is to rig it as a Texas Rig. This allows a lure (usually a soft plastic) to go through weeds and other cover without snagging. It does require a hefty hookset to make sure the hook can get through both the plastic and the fish’s mouth, but if you’re fishing near cover, this is often your best bet.
The video below does a nice job of explaining how to rig a lure this way if you’re unfamiliar.
Want a Particular Action? There Might be a Weedless Option
Sometimes you just want a particular action, or don’t feel that a “typical” weedless lure is a great option for the time of year. Case in point, spinnerbaits really don’t come into their own until the water temps are consistently in the 60°F range, but weeds might grown before your local waters reach that point. During this time you might want to use a jerkbait, but find that such a fishing lure is catching too many weeds. What can you do? Well, try a fluke.
Likewise, sometimes the water temps are perfect for spinnerbaits, but the bent wire frame and blades are having a hard time fishing through the weeds. Well, believe it or not but a swim jig might get through a little easier. These are also relatively weedless due to their fiber weed guard but they’re also much more compact. This allows them to fish through weeds easier than a spinnerbait with all its extra bells and whistles.
How to Fish a Crankbait Near Weeds
Contrary to popular belief, crankbaits can be fished effectively near weeds. The trick is to use the right sort of crankbait. Ideally, you want to fish one that cab be fished above the weeds. Deep divers that are going to plow into the stems are going to be a losing proposition. Instead, use a lipless crankbait like a Rat-L-Trap so you can control how deep it dives. Ideally, you’d want to run the lure so it is just “ticking” across the top of the grace – i.e. hitting it once in awhile, but not becoming snagged. This will create an erratic action that will entice curious fish.
My personal favorite Rat-L-Trap is colored cherry craw and has been a dynamite early season lure for me as this blog post will attest. Just be careful though because while it will handle early-growth weeds well enough, reeds are another story. I’ve lost more than a handful so far this spring on the spongy stalks!
How to Remove Weeds From a Fishing Lure
No matter how hard you try to keep weeds off your fishing lures, you’re going to snag from time to time. When you do, take care in how you remove them. Some anglers smack the lure against the water. I’d strongly encourage you not to. For one, fishing lures are expensive and this can damage them. Secondly, it is a lot of noise that can scare fish. Finally, it’s not all that safe, as your knot might fail during the violent manuever.
You’re better off simply reeling up and taking the weeds off by hand, if necessary. However, be aware that you might be able to simply cast them off. Many weeds will fling off during a long cast.
You also can occasionally remove weeds by giving your lure a solid jerk while it is still in the water. The water’s resistance coupled with the jerk is often enough to remove weeds from your fishing lure. This has the added bonus of bringing some erratic action that fish oh so love.
Hopefully this article will help you keep weeds off your fishing lures!
John Paxton
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