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Chalk Talk: How Kenney attacks lily pads

Chalk Talk: How Kenney attacks lily pads

(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)

Florida pro JT Kenney is best known for dredging monster bass out of matted vegetation. All along most anglers have assumed that means grass, like hydrilla and milfoil, but he’s also an ace when it comes to effectively fishing lily pads in tournament situations. He’s relied on them to catch not only limits of fish, but also some of the biggest bass of his career.

He cautioned anglers not to think that all lily pads are created equally. It’s not that one type is necessarily better than another, but rather that they’re good under different conditions and must be approached with their specific characteristics in mind. They grow around different bottom compositions and are therefore often most productive at different times of the year.

One of his favorites is spatterdock, which is common on many Mid-Atlantic rivers like the Potomac, near where he was raised in Maryland. Unlike other varieties that lay flat, these often stick up out of the water a little bit. It’s the variety that he looks for during the spawn, when most anglers stick a rod into the soft bottom into which it grows and determine it to be inappropriate for bedding bass.

“It tends to grow in a pretty crappy, mucky bottom,” he said. "But when they’re exposed, the root systems look like big logs, and the bass tend to make their beds on those hard surfaces.”

A second type he’ll fish is “dollar pads" – small, flat leaves that often cover large expanses on lakes like Okeechobee, in his adopted home state of Florida. “They can be overwhelming,” he said. Further complicating his approach is that they tend to attract “snot grass,” which precludes a clean retrieve. Nevertheless, he’ll look for isolated clumps of these pads in likely areas and fish fast with a Nichols swimjig tipped with a Gambler EZ Swimmer on the back. Once he finds a concentration, he’ll slow down, typically with a Gambler 6-inch Fat Ace stickbait.

The third type he likes are the big, flat pads often called “elephant ears.” Once again, he looks for isolated groups and plies them carefully. No matter which type you’re fishing, Kenney cautions you to “stay back as far as you can ... and make an accurate cast.” He wants to cast his jig or stickbait past the patch, and then envisions himself “sneaking the bait past without the bass seeing it.” That may seem counterintuitive, but he said it’s when he gets most of his biggest bites.

When he knows that a sizeable population of fish resides in a massive pad field, his strategy is to look at that field as a lake unto itself. He wants to analyze it by looking for points, pockets and other features. His first stop is typically the first point leading out to the main lake or main river, closest to deep water.

Your next stop, he advised, should be “something that catches your eye,” trusting your instincts to tell you what looks good. With that, however, he offers a caveat – “Don’t go banging into the pads and spooking the fish,” he explained. “Try to stay on the outside edge as long as you can. It’s imperative to be sneaky around big fish in shallow water.” Accordingly, he’ll take his time working toward the “juice,” and might find another key clue – like the most productive bait – before he gets there.

“It’s the difference between catching one or two off of the outside edge or catching 30,” he concluded.

To see Kenney's full video seminar on pad fishing techniques, subscribe to The Bass University TV.

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