Every couple of years it seems like there is at least one new technique or lure that sets the pace in professional bass fishing before eventually becoming a fad with novice and advanced anglers all over the country.

The popularity of many of these tactics is sometimes short-lived. But there are others which continue to draw interest for many years to come, mainly because they are extremely effective for catching bass. Vertical jigging in the grass is one such technique.

Vertical jigging gained its popularity across the Lone Star state way back in the late 1970′s when hydrilla took root and began crawling its way to the surface in several east Texas impoundments.

Toledo Bend was one of the first lakes in the state where the lush green weed began began showing up – in substantial coverage areas and at depths ranging from 10 all the way out to 25 feet. Problem was, nobody, myself included, knew how to fish it.

For several years prior I’d been catching bass on Sam Rayburn by vertical jigging the timber. And since hydrilla is nothing more than a maze of large roots beneath the canopy, I just took what I’d learned about vertical jigging the timber and applied it. It worked.

Hydrilla has spread to a number of other Texas lakes since the late 70s and has likewise become a mainstay for the bass inhibiting them. Perhaps this explains the ever-lasting popularity of this bass fishing technique.

Today, just about every good bass angler in Texas is hip to the logic, as well as the mechanics of vertical jigging in the moss. However, there are still quite a few out there in the learning stages who have yet to get a grip.

With that fact in mind, here’s a rundown of some of the elements I believe to be critical if you are to perform this technique in a proper and effective manner:

As is the case with any type of fishing, you should always be equipped properly for vertical jigging in the grass. Things to consider are rod length and action, reel and line.

I prefer a Bass Pro 7 1/2-foot medium/heavy or heavy action flippin’ stick. Both rods have the back bone to help you get fish out of heavy cover, plus they’ve a two-handed grip for added leverage. For obvious reasons, I’ll go with a medium/heavy action rod when bass are relating to the outside edge of a grassbed and the heavy action when they’re really buried up in the thick stuff.

Reel and line?

A reel that comes with a factory thumb bar feature promotes both accuracy and smoothness with lure presentation. I’ll never spool my reel with anything less than Trilene 20-25 pound Trilene XT when I’m fishing in heavy vegetation. A line I’ve really grown very fond of for this style of fishing is Berkley’s Fireline in 30-pound test.

Fireline is a fusion line with incredible sensitivity that helps me feel subtle strikes. Plus, it has no stretch, which helps me turn big bass and horse them out of thick cover. Still another advantage of Fireline is it will actually “cut” the grass when I’m fighting a large fish, thus lessening the possibilities of the bass burying up in the moss and pulling loose.

• Big baits work better in the grass than do small ones, mainly because the cover is dense and the light is low. A large, bulky bait is easier for the fish to find, plus it will enable you to catch larger bass.

In my opinion, the No. 1 bait for vertical jigging the grass is the 3/4 or one-ounce Stanley Jig with a matching crawworm trailer. The best color combinations are black/blue, black/chartreuse, junebug, plum and electric blue.

Texas-rigged crawfish imitations also can be effective, as can eight-inch plastic Zoom worms or a gator tail style worm that will displace a lot of water.

• Spray a lot of crawfish attractant on your lures. Not only does it make the fish hold onto the lure longer, but I’m also convinced it helps me to draw strikes that I otherwise may not have gotten.
• Not all grassbeds are going to hold bass, so it is up to the angler to determine which ones will and which ones won’t. Hence, this is where many anglers stub their toe.

The key to catching bass in the grass is determining the density of the grass they are holding in. Once you’ve done this, you should be able to apply what you’ve learned to other areas of a given impoundment. I rely on two things to help be determine the density of a grass bed – polarized sunglasses and a flasher with a gain knob. Notice I said flasher and not LCR. Grass beds confuse liquid crystal units, so they are useless for this purpose.

• Make short pitches or flips with your bait and try to keep your line as vertical as possible. When fishing in heavy cover, the farther bait is from the boat, the less chance you have of landing a taker.
• Look for the fast strike and aggressive fish. Once your bait reaches bottom, bounce it a couple of times. If you don’t get bit, reel in and hit another spot. If you suspect the fish may be suspended in the grass, as they often will often do during the summer as well as in between fall cold fronts, drop the bait to bottom, reel it up five turns and repeat the process.
• During late fall and early winter, concentrate on the edges of grass beds lining major creek and river channels. During the summer, mainlake grass beds adjacent to structure as well as those in the mouths of creeks are most productive.

The ideal grass bed found on the mainlake is one that is isolated and about as big around as a good-sized room in a house. These can be worked quickly.

• Vertical jigging in the grass is most effective during summer, fall and winter months.
• When fishing grass you’ll most likely be fishing open water where there are no landmarks. Always keep a marker buoy handy on the casting deck. If you hook a good fish, kick it overboard immediately. That way, you’ll be able to get your bait back into the general area without wasting valuable time.

As you can see, there aren’t any real tricks to locating and catching bass out of the grass. Just lots of hard work covering lots of water.