Lily Pads For Bass

Nothing gets a bass angler more fired up than spotting a patch of lily pads. The spawn is over, and now is the time when heavy fish start taking up residence in this lush cover. Throwing topwater frogs is a blast. However, serious bass fishermen know that a jig or creature bait flipped into the pads entices more big girls more often. The perfect flipping presentation is a skill that takes some time and practice to master. If you’re ready to set down the frog and probe the pads for a true trophy, these tips will help you determine exactly where to flip. Moreover, they guide you on how to come tight after that bass bait touches down, making sure you’re prepared for fishing lily pads for bass.

Pads provide tremendous shade and overhead cover for bass. The water is often several degrees cooler in a pad field than elsewhere in the lake during summer. But pads are also great bass habitat in other seasons. During early spring, dead pads will hold staging bass, a pattern many anglers overlook when considering lily pads to catch bass.

The magic of lily pads isn’t what you see above the water

Trying to decide where to start fishing can be daunting. The trick is breaking down that field into segments that are easier to digest. Look for irregularities of any sort. This could be a channel through the
pads or a different species of pads. Alternatively, grass mixed in with the most common variety, or even an isolated patch of pads by themselves, is important. Bigger bass tend to gravitate to sections with these irregularities. Often, it is because they offer a better ambush point than sitting in the middle of a thick field. If you’re targeting bass within lily pads, identifying these segments will help maximize your catch.

The magic of lily pads isn’t what you see above the water; it’s the roots below. The root system is the structure both baitfish and bass use for cover. Lily Pads can be compared to fishing flooded bushes.
Fish the biggest, gnarliest bush if flipping shallow cover, not one little ig. For this same reason, you want multiple pads clumped up together to give a larger, more robust root system to target, which is crucial when fishing lily pads for bass.

Excerpts taken from Lee’s new book “Strategies for Bass“.