Pacemaker Fishing Forum

THANKS to Charlie Taylor and the New Horizon Bass Anglers!!

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To many people, a large matted grass bed developing in their favorite fishing cove is the kiss of death.  Free cast after free cast now becomes a tangled mess of tossed green salad that impairs our lure retrieve and generally causes the level of frustration to rise.  However, before you abandon the area consider these facts about grass beds.

Grass may be the single most important cover in a bass’s life because of the life giving features that a living grass bed provides.
Green grass is undergoing photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use the energy from sunlight to produce sugar, which cellular respiration converts into ATP, the "fuel" used by all living things.

The conversion of unusable sunlight energy into usable chemical energy, is associated with the actions of the green pigment chlorophyll. When you look at the chemical formula for photosynthesis, you notice that oxygen is a by-product of the process (6H2O + 6CO2 ----------> C6H12O6+ 6O2 )
Photosynthesis is the building block of the food chain, which makes it obvious why green grass is the choice cover for many largemouth bass.  Oh yeah, the water around any living grass bed will be oxygen rich, and who doesn’t want to breathe fresh air?

The next life giving feature of a grass bed is the wide range of aquatic life that is attracted to the living grass.  In the late spring, shad will spawn in shallow water and the adhesive little eggs will attach themselves to the grass.  Bluegill and other pan fish are attracted to grass because it is a source of food and shelter.

Crawdads feed on vegetation and can always be found in abundance around a grass beds.  Living grass beds are a major source of food for the largemouth bass.

During the summer months, grass beds are the key to all shallow water bass fishing patterns.  Grass begins to grow with prolific speed in the spring, when direct sunlight becomes available.  Typically, when water usage reaches it peak during the summer, water levels in our lakes will drop causing the tops of grass beds to lay across the surface creating huge mats.  With sunlight blocked by the matted grass, nothing will grow beneath and we are left with huge caverns and underwater grass caves.
Particularly during the summer, a matted grass bed provides shelter for bass that prefer to remain elusive and hidden from their prey.  In studies that I have done, I found it not uncommon to see groups of large bass stacked underneath thick matted grass, and why not?  Everything they need is in that grass bed!

During the summer, it is not uncommon to see surface water temperatures reach the ninety degree mark.  This is not a comfortable water temperature for bass, many of whom will seek out the cooler water that is deeper.  However, if you find a shallow, matted grass bed, you can bet that the water temperature under the grass bed may be as much as 10 or 12 degrees cooler. That’s right, air conditioning!

Several years ago, I conducted my own study of shallow grass beds on Southern Nevada's Lake Mead.  Day time surface temperatures were 90 degrees.  Using a mask and snorkel, I descended along the edge of the grass bed.  As I moved grass aside, with my hand, hundreds of crawdads, of all sizes franticly darted away from me.  This was my first sign. 

Next, I noticed how much cooler the water under the grass bed was.  My crude attempt to measure the water temperature under the grass bed, showed that water to be 74 degrees, 16 degrees cooler than outside the bed.  It was dark and light was fragmented, but there in a bowl shaped opening in the back of the grass bed was what I was looking for: 12 bass, all between two and half and 5 pounds, just sitting there, looking at me.
Oxygen, food, shelter and comfort.  What more could any bass want?

Now you know the bass and grass connection.