Cattails, wild rice, and reeds usually grow in water less than 3 feet deep. Jitterbugs fished along the edges are often deadly, but when the fish are back in the grass a weedless spoon with pork rind or chunk is probably one of the most effective bass fishing lures. In Florida's Lake Okeechobee where reed beds often extend for miles, silver spoons and pork rinds are the favorite baits, although weedless black eels and plastic worms grow more popular every year.

I prefer to fish a spoon rig fairly fast in the grass. Again stout lines are a must since a hooked bass nearly always manages to wrap himself up. Once a bass has weeds draped over his head, he invariably stops fighting but the mass of "lettuce" can badly strain the line.

When fishing, it's important to avoid all contact between tree branches and your boat. Vibrations and noise from a boat will usually spook nearby bass, and if they don't scatter at once they'll at least refuse to hit for a while.

If the tree tops are in shallow water, I believe the most deadly approach is to wade, since shorter and more accurate casts can be made. Also there are no problems with a drifting boat, and the bass evidently think you are a slow moving tree. On most days I use a silver spoon with a long-legged pork chunk and find bass under dense alders in about 3 feet of water. As soon as one strikes, horse him from the brush and fight it out in more open water. After every three or four casts you may take lunker. You'll find dozens of them ready for action.

Plastic worms must be fished very slowly and it takes lots of patience. When you first start using them you'll miss more strikes than you hook. After you have hooked a few dozen bass on plastics, knowing when to strike becomes almost instinctive, and your average will improve rapidly.

One of the deadliest tricks I know is to cast a worm over a branch and reel until it hangs with the tail touching the water. Jiggling the rod tip will cause the worm to writhe and squirm just above the surface. If nothing happens within a minute you can bet there are no bass underneath that tree. A word of caution-be sure the branch where you hang the worm is limber enough to bend and release the lure when a fish strikes. If not, you may look pretty silly trying to drag a mad bass three or four feet over the limb.