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7/29/2019 Froggin' the Slop - Embrace the Scum of Summer and Catch Big Bass In Dense Vegetation
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FroggintheSlopEmbracethe scumof summerand catchbig bass
in densevegetation.
l ti r y
t .......
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7/29/2019 Froggin' the Slop - Embrace the Scum of Summer and Catch Big Bass In Dense Vegetation
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BY ALFONSO K. AJELLO
n my way, passed a man and h s son.
watched the l ttle boy pull n a sunny that was
so small it would fit in a fish bowl. Finally, I
got to the spot I wanted to target and had it all
to myse . e ent re area was wee e over y
green sh-brown scum that extended bank to
bank. I not ced a an pattern across the scum. I
wondered if somebody had beat me to the spot
,
were m ne rom the day be ore.
took my first cast, stra ght out to the m ddle
of the giant mat of scum. I retrieved my Scum
ro , ho in it ast the occasional floatin
fast-food container, soda can, spring water
bottle and abandoned bobber. I made my second
cast to the le t, parallel to the shore, across the
face of some shrubs and an over-hanging tree.
y lure landed about 6 yards away from wherethe guy was fish ng w th h s son. I took one turn
o the reel and WHAM! Someth ng took my
rog and went berserk n the knee-deep scum!
Whatever it was, it was big, but the size of the
fish was masked by the globs o vegetat on, I
backed away rom the bank to keep pressure
on the fish. At t mes dur ng the fight, I
.
finally landed t, all Icould see was a mass
o v nes and black mud and then I saw
the op o the ta l. hen nall cked
th h th tat d s lt, and
l ted the bass up, I was s eechless.
I d n t have a scale or a
ruler, but the guy whowas sh n g w th h s
son stood n amazement.
hat s between and pounds, h .
The huge mouth was filled with bl bs
of weeds. I did my best to measure
the length o the fish aga nst my
fish ng rod. The ather took a p cture
with his cell phone, but then compl ined that
he wasnt sure if his phone was workin . The
little boy asked me if he could kee the fish.
I expla ned that th s was a b g bre der and
must be released. o th s day, when I back
to that spot, I look for that guy, hoping that he
figured out his phone and could e-mail
me that picture.
Introduction toScumIm lucky enough to have a couple
of ponds within minutes of my 9-to- job
I call them my luncht me ponds. Though t
doesnt sound l ke much, that 40 m nutes spent
by the water on my lunch hour is valuable to
me. I use t to exper ment w th d -
erent tact cs, try out new lures,
hone my sk lls, take a deep
breath, relax a l ttle, and ma nta n my san ty on
gorgeous summer days when Id rather be fish-
ng than behind a computer. One of the ponds I
frequent sits below a residential community in
a par w t a soccer e , an as ear y as pr ,
the ert l zer runo causes prol fic weed growth
and un ettered algae blooms.
I noticed that as my lunchtime fishing hole
-- -- ,
other fishermen d sappeared, curs ng n rustra-
t on and leav ng n d sgust as the r sp nners,
crankbaits and spoons all came up draped in
reen. B mid-June I had the entire lace to m -
self. Rather than give up, I continued pitching
my wacky-r gged Senko worms nto any patch
o open water I could find. As I dragged my ba t
over the solid islands of bubbling scum, I was
surprised by perky bass that would swipe at mylure, somet mes ust be ore I pulled t out o the
water. I began to exper ment w th the wacky-
r gged Senko, dragg ng t over the th ck carpets
of vegetation. Bass were coming through the
scum and attack ng t, many t mes grabb ng
the ba t and tear ng t r ght o the hook. I was
o ow- o e rogsThese plastic frogs are vir tually snagless. They
cast well, and work well in very heavy cover.
ishing was picking up at my lunchtime pond. I had caught two
write home about, anything I caught during my lunch hour was
a bonus. I was anxious to see if I could make it three good days in a row.
Original Scum Frog
oppers ve
Target Frog
Spro
Bronzeye
rog
rue-
Tungsten
Mad Maxx
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7/29/2019 Froggin' the Slop - Embrace the Scum of Summer and Catch Big Bass In Dense Vegetation
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On The Water age 5
draw ng str kes, but or the most part, I was
los ng ba ts and not catch ng anyth ng but
weeds. I surmised that the Senko was ust
not su table or these cond t ons.
ater that spr ng, a r end returned rom
a vacat on n Flor da and presented me
w th a souven r a pack o s x black-and-
wh te Zoom Horny Toads. I must have
looked at t as t was a bag o t ny al ens.
Do you like them? Will you use them?
my friend asked.
Um, yea yea yea, I answered. I umpedon the computer and, as I o ten do, checked
the customer reviews of the product on
the website of a couple of the nations
most popular sport ng goods stores or
an nstant educat on. As t turns out, my
friend had presented me the perfect bait
or my scummy luncht me pond.
p eced together the adv ce I came across
in the customer reviews, but I couldnt wait
until lunchtime the next day. I headed out
th my Horny Toads be ore work the next
morn ng to a local weeded-over fish ng
hole. To my surprise, the toads actually
orked much better than I expected. Bass
ust launched themselves at the ba ts ex-
plos ve top-water str kes what could be
better? A whole new tact c I never knew
ex sted was opened up to me, and a struc-
ure that I had once ound nt m dat ng and
discouraging was now welcomed.
StructureAs bass fishermen we become accustomedo looking for structure, fallen trees, boul-
ders, weed lines, drop-offs and more. One
o the th ngs I had to learn was to unlearn
my not ons as to where bass hang out when
dense carpets of scum are present.
henever I try to figure out the r ddle o
a new fish ng spot, my thought process goes
underwater. I wonder what the fish might
be experiencing. Think of high noon on a
bl ster ng summer day. Inst nct vely, I look
o get out o the sun, to stand under a tree
here Im in the shade and cool. Bass do
he same. But, the underwater world is very
erent than what Im exper enc ng as I
fish rom the shore. I see a body o water
baking in the sun, but when a body of water
s overcome by scum, t s as there s a
g ant umbrella hover ng over the basss
habitat, creating what I call all day dusk
n the underwater env ronment. At t mes
l ke m dday, when t s br ght and sunny
and oppress vely hot, when you expect
bass to be h dden n deep, cooler water
or languishing in traditional shady spots,
they are nstead, I bel eve, qu te act ve n
the cool dark world, under the scum
umbrella.
I keep th s n m nd as I ap-
proach a body o water that has
scummed over, whether n ull
or partially. Once, during a
week-long fishing trip to Black
Lake n Upstate New York where Ifished every wak ng moment bass
were more active in the early morn-
ngs or evenings, leaving shaded
areas and ventur ng out to eed.
here ore, we targeted trad t onal
structure with traditional baits. As
the sun got h gh n the sky and the
day heated up, fish ng at the trad t onal
structures slowed, and we had success
targeting the largely overlooked
scummed-over corners and coves.
In act, v rtually the ent re ood
chain seemed to concentrate in
these areas during the hottest part
o the day.
I l ken the world o a bass n
heavy muck to Joe Frazier in the
14th round o the hr lla n an la,
a gruel ng box ng match, both men push-
ng each other to their physical limits.
By the 1 th, Al had bl nded Fraz er.
Joe was unable to see h s opponent,
all he could do was sense that Al
was n the v c n ty. He ollowed the
shadows, l sten ng to the ootsteps and
v brat ons on the canvas, try ng to d scern
h s targets rom cheer ng ans and ash-
ng camera bulbs. Hed take a stab n
the dark, throw a haymaker at where
he sensed Al s aw m ght be, hop ng
to connect. Th s s how I p cture anopportunistic largemouth bass hunting
a frog bait that is being dragged across a
dense matt o scum. The bass s stalk ng a
creature that is not in the water, but above
t. Therefore, I imagine that under these
c rcumstances, the bass s part ally bl nded,
unable to rely on all o the sensory tools t
would normally utilize for hunting.
Scummy LuresS nce I obta ned my first bag o Zoom
Horny Toads, I have watched the number
of slop baits dramatically increase. In fact,
there are so many out there now that t s
d ficult to keep track. Bas cally the ba tthat you will have success with will depend
on the type of vegetation and slop that you
are fish ng. I have come across a var ety o
aquat c vegetat on, rom snot grass w th
a jelly-like consistency, to a fine green hair
that st cks to everyth ng, to the tentacle-l ke
hydr lla and m l o l. Even more mportant
than the vegetation type is how it relates
to the surface and the availability of open
water. How dry are the weeds do the
weeds oat on top o the waters sur ace, or
are they partially submerged? Do the weeds
go wall to wall, or dscum appear more like
in open water? Is the scum
n w th lea y vegetat on such as l
water chestnuts, and are the lilies as
dinner plates or as small as quarters
As you address the conditions and
a ba t, keep n m nd that bass are op
nistic feeders that will strike at an
that they suspect might be food. The
when you choose a ba t, you should
the one that s eas est or the bass to
and locate. At the same time, you m
the scum as your ally and pick a lu
looks the most l e-l ke n the cond
Hollow-Bodied Frogs
A hollow-bodied frog consists of a h
plast c body ash oned to look l ke
mouse or b rd, r gged on a double h
a way that makes it virtually snagle
key to these ba ts s the r buoyancy
helps them cru se over the sur ace o
obstacles they encounter.
Hollow-bodied frogs usually have
rather than eet, but some o them
paddle eet. Out o the package, the
are a bit long, so you may want t
uzz rogsThese baits come unrigged, so you w
also need some weedless hooks.
Zoom Horny Toad
Strike King Rage Tail
YUM BuzzFrog
Stanley Ribbit Frog
Z-Man PopFrogz
Scum Froggin RodsFor fishing frog baits in dense veg-
etation, youll want a heavy-power,
fast-action rod to keep the bait on thesurface, get a solid hookset, and drag
the bass out of the muck.
Shimano Crucial Bass Casting Frog
Daiwa Light and Tough Frog Rod
St. Croix Mojo Bass Slop-N-Frog
Quantum EXO EXC747XF
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7/29/2019 Froggin' the Slop - Embrace the Scum of Summer and Catch Big Bass In Dense Vegetation
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