Rats, scum frogs, slop sleds, whatever you choose to call them, are fantastic fish producers over matted vegetation. There are many varieties of these baits, and different actions, such as popping frogs, popping rats, some that sink into holes, some that buzz, some that rattle etc. I don’t get into the fancy stuff. Find me one that will float upright, have a good, strong double hook, and one that keeps it shape so the hooks stay well covered and I’ll be happy. The main thing is having one that you can throw long and work back without getting hooked up in the vegetation. For practical purposes, I call every type of scum frog, etc. a rat.

Bass love to live under matted grass. Being a member of the sunfish family, bass love shallow water. When the grass mats up, it provides a blockage of solar rays, and reflects the heat. Grass is perfect insulation that provides cool shade underneath. On the hottest of summer days, bass can be found underneath the mat, seeking the cool, shaded water, and chasing the many forms of bait that often live under the same mat. Often big bass will be under matted grass in as little as 18" of water, and shallow bass under matted grass are often never fished for. Many people don’t know they are there, and don’t know how to get them out.

Location – Searching for the right mat is the first task. The most important thing to remember is that bass continue to relate to permanent forms of structure and cover, even with all the grass. Grass is just added cover, providing shade that helps position bass on other shallow cover and structure. Stumps, rocks, lay-downs, humps, points and ledges all play a role in holding concentrations of bass under matted grass. Prime locations will often be on, or near travel routes such as creek channel ledges, intersections where cheek channels meet the main channel, or humps or points which bass use to move up and down on to feed or spawn. The backs of creeks that have water flow are good locations. The best way to begin finding concentrations of bass, and quality bass under miles of matted grass is to pretend the grass does not exist, and focus on areas that would normally hold shallow water bass without it. Finding prime locations is more skilled hunting, not fishing.

Often the best mats will have clearly defined drop-offs, or edges. The best mats are isolated, or have very little or no surrounding grass. Mats that have a lot of submerged grass in front of them or around them often have fish scattered throughout all the grass. Isolated mats, or mats along shore lines absent of other thick submerged grass will hold better concentrations of fish. Mats left over along banks, or in the backs of pockets that have been sprayed for weed control often hold bass that many people over look. The old, black slime left along the banks from the dying vegetation still provides a good canopy cover for big bass seeking shade in a creek or pocket. Bass that lived in the grass that was sprayed and destroyed, will move to the nearest grass available, and will often be found under the dying mat.

Some of the best areas to start looking for productive mats are areas where bass were active in spring pre-spawn and spawn prior to the grass matting up. Again, the shallow water mats produce best for me. Mats over water less than 5 feet deep are what I prefer to fish.

Types of grass – All grass can hold bass. Any grass that mats up will provide needed shade. The best grass for rat fishing will be softer grasses or leaf type vegetation such as milfoil, coontail, lily pads or pond weed. Algae that forms a thick, slimy mat is also perfect for fishing a rat or frog. On the Tennessee River, and lakes Guntersville and Wheeler, milfoil is the best grass in which to fish a rat. Milfoil is the perfect grass to fish, and mats up on top, leaving lots of open space underneath for easy travel, and it’s top mat is very thick, providing perfect shade and cover. It is also soft so it is easy for bass to bust open in order to get a meal. Bass will bust through hydrilla if it is not too thick, but I often find mats totally made up of hydrilla to be less productive in my area.

Important clues – Once you’ve found some likely locations for bass under matter grass, there may be some clues to help you decide if the area is holding bass. Look for very thick, green, brown or black puffy, bubbly, slimy mat. Mat that looks like you could get out and walk on it is perfect. Puff on the mat makes great rat fishing. Puff is formed from maturing grass and algae. Often times, after high winds or rains, the mat gets broken up, or the puff gets knocked down and the mat becomes less productive. Rats leave a distinctive trail in the puff when worked over a mat, and often you can tell if a mat has been fished by seeing rat-trails in the mat. These rat-trails can remain for several days over a mat.

Look for blow-holes. Blow-holes are holes in the mat where bass have been feeding. They can be visible in the mat for several days if they are undisturbed. Bass leave a distinct, small round hole in the mat when they’ve blasted through it chasing a meal. Often times you will see a blow-hole at the end of a long, drag-trail. A drag-trail is where someone got a hook-up and drug the bass out of the grass. When you see a rat-trail that leads to a blow-hole, followed by a drag-trail, you know a fish has been caught there, and chances are, they did not catch them all, so it still may very well be a good mat to fish. If you see a thick mat over a point, with lots of blow-holes for exapmple, your rat needs to be there.

Look for activity in a mat. Often bass will give themselves away by chasing or blowing up on a bait-fish. Look for movement in the mat, and for bait-fish feeding around the edges.

Listen for activity in a mat. Often in thick mats, especially during active periods, and during daytime hours, bream and other bait-fish will be feeding on insects or smaller bait in the mat. Often you can hear distinctive popping, cracking and sucking sounds under the mat. This is a sure indication of bait activity, and bass will usually be nearby.

Equipment- Having the right gear is important when fishing for bass in matted grass. This is not finesse fishing. This is winch and crane fishing. The last thing you want to do is have to go in after your bass after it’s been hooked, disturbing the mat and breaking up your cover. I prefer fast gear ratio reels, so I can pick up the line fast, and can keep the fish moving over the top of the mat once it’s been pulled out of the blow-hole. I like 6’6" to 7’ rods with strong medium heavy to heavy action, and lots of backbone. I really prefer braided line. I prefer at least 50-lb test braid. Mono is fine as long as it is 20-lb test and up. Braid casts farther, does not have memory or stretch, and lasts much longer than mono-filament line. Quality braids can last up to a year.

Tactics- Once you’ve got good location, and good equipment, the only other most important thing is presentation. The color choice of a slop bait is always the topic of great debate. The truth is however, that if the bass can see what color your bait is, then you aren’t throwing it on the right type of mat. If they can see it through the stuff I like to fish, then they have x-ray vision. Even in scattered mat, or broken grass I find color to be of little importance, but if you have confidence in a certain color, that is the color that will work. I prefer popping type baits or walking type baits in scattered mat or grass, and standard skimming type baits over the really thick, bubbly or slimy mats.

Make sure the hooks are sharp. I use a slotted diamond hone sharpener, and keep the hook points in good condition. Hook-ups in heavy mat are hard enough, and dull hooks really reduce the chances of a good hook-up.

Make long throws over the mat, and try varied types of retrieves. Most often, I start with the standard run and stop method, pulling the rat a few feet, reeling to it and pulling again. I use quick, smooth pulls with the rod tip down, trying to make the bait produce some sound as it comes over the mat. A steady crawl often works well to locate bass in a mat. I normally keep the bait moving unless the fish are inactive, or until I’ve missed a strike.

When a bass does blow up on a rat, DO NOT set the hook. Give the bass a chance to pull the bait down and eat it. If you yank, and the fish is not there, you’ll be doing the rat-duck, dodging a rat with lethal hooks coming at you at a high rate of speed. If anyone sees you do the rat-duck, they’ll know you’re a rat-rookie. This is one of the only types of fishing I do where I do not set as soon as I get a strike. Reel down to the fish pointing the rod tip at the blow-hole, feel if the fish is on there or if there is weight at the end of the line, and set the hook in a firm, smooth fashion. DO NOT set too hard, especially with braided line. Braid has no stretch and can rip the hooks out of the fish. Keep the fish moving up and over the top of the grass. Visualize yourself getting a strike before you even begin, so you will think before you set. It’s like re-training myself all over again when I pick up a rat rod.

If the fish blows and misses the bait, which is a frequent occurrence, stop the bait and shake it. Shake it or make it quiver to draw the bass to strike again. Do this for up to a minute. If the bass does not strike, crank it in and re-cast. Throw it well past the original blow-hole, and drag the bait back beside the hole, not over the top of it. The reason for this is that bass hit mat baits best if they can’t see them well, and are confused as to what it is. If it goes back into the hole, they can see it, and they may decide it is not what they want. Stop the bait and shake it again near the hole. If the bass still does not strike after a few attempts, throw it back and then drag it into the blow hole, letting it sit right in the hole. Usually a bass, especially a big bass will be near the same area where it first struck the bait.

Bass are often concentrated under mats, so stay with it once you’ve located a good area to fish. Normally bass that are caught in thick mats are quality fish, it takes a pretty good sized fish to bust through really thick mats. Really big fish, such as fish over the 8 pound mark do tend to be loaners, but concentrations of 3 to 6 pound fish are common under good mats.

Timing is important, if a productive area is not producing, go to another and come back a couple hours later. I do best in thick mat during daytime hours, when the sun is hot. Bass seek the shade and hunt under cover during the mid-morning to mid-afternoon hours. They will often bite early and late as well, but my best and biggest fish normally come between the hours of 9am and 2pm. Mat fishing is often great in the fall when the grass under the mat really breaks up. Winter can also be good, especially here in the South. December and January are great months to throw a rat over shallow mat if there has been a warm spell, and if the sun is shining down on the mat. The opposite happens in the winter in terms of temperature. The mat will be warm from the sun, and huge bass have been taken during winter months on a rat or frog in shallow water under a warm mat.

Summery – Choose the right equipment, heavy rod and braid or heavy line – Search for good locations, thick mat, isolated mat, permanent cover and structure – Look and listen for movement, activity or blow-holes – If you see something move, throw at it -Visualize a proper reaction to a strike, do not set too quick or too hard, and get the fish out over the top quickly – Keep at it, when you find fish, they will usually be concentrated – Most of all, enjoy it, it’s probably one of the most exciting types of fishing anyone ever dreamed of.