re: Keeping soft plastics in the vehicle

quote:

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Everything near me is full of lily pads and grass so trebles or exposed hooks are out of the question

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that's going to be tough to do without soft plastics.

my bait of choice is pretty standard here:
tx rigged 7.5" culprit worm. try some different colors to see what they want, but my big winners are red shad/green flake, june bug, and watermelon.

alternatively, if the weeds are super thick get some small zoom speed craws in watermelon/green flake, and tx rig with a half ounce weight, but peg it with a toothpick just above the craw. use it to punch through weed mats.

if you have some open spots you can always go with a white, white/chartreuse, or fire-tiger spinnerbait.

and get some ribbit frogs for sure. if you're going before work in the morning it sounds like an area they would kick arse in.

ETA: and some white sluggos or whatever the hell they're called these days. my brother would shite a brick if he saw me listing baits for weedy conditions and i didn't include a white sluggo.