Snug as a bug in a rug is the best way to describe a bass in matted surface cover. Any kind of vegetation or floating debris that creates a blanket or canopy on the surface is a magnet for bass, especially in the colder winter months.
Matted vegetation and “debris piles” are two of Andy Morgan’s favorite types of cover to target in winter.
“Bass crave that kind of overhead cover in cold water, particularly right before the spawn,” said the Dayton, Tenn., angler. “More than anything, I think it’s literally a security blanket for them. Bass are moving toward shallow water from their secure deeper locations, and the first place they want to go is to the thickest cover they can find.”
Morgan likens the scenario to deer in thickets.
“The biggest deer are always in the densest patch of woods, and big bass are no different,” he said.
Florida’s Mike Surman is well-known for his mat-flipping prowess on Lake Okeechobee, but he has also applied the technique on other lakes across the country.
“A bass is a bass,” he said. “A bass on Okeechobee wants the same things that a bass on Beaver Lake wants – comfort, security and food, all of which can be found under matted vegetation or debris.
“Any overhead cover that forms a mat or blanket on the surface will work,” Surman said. “Even terrestrial vines and branches sticking out into the water are good, especially if they catch any leaves or other floating debris.”
“Most fluctuating reservoirs create debris piles with rapidly rising water in the early spring,” Morgan said. “And bass will move into them overnight.”
While fluctuating water can giveth, it can also taketh away, cautions Surman.
“One reason matted vegetation is so effective on Okeechobee is because the water level is stable,” he said. “Mats on reservoirs can be precarious. If the water drops a couple of feet in a couple of days, the good bites you had in practice may be gone by the first day of the tournament. Stable water level is much more desirable for mat flipping than water that is yo-yoing up and down.”
Both Surman and Morgan agree the number-one reason bass move under mats in the winter and prespawn is for security, but it doesn’t hurt that these mats are often warmer and offer an all-you-can-eat buffet as well.
By soaking up radiant sunlight, the area just under a sun-baked mat will often be a few degrees higher than the average water temperature. Obviously, it’s more comfortable not only for bass but also for thousands of prey like crawfish, minnows and panfish.
“What’s more, mats create a visual barrier,” Morgan said. “The bass are extremely shallow – just under the surface – but they have no idea you’re there because they can’t see you.”
Over the last decade, several key improvements in tackle have allowed anglers to pierce these protective canopies more easily and effectively. Specifically, tungsten weights, braided line, tiny plastics and better flipping sticks have all contributed to a greater number of bass being boated by pros and novices alike.
The element tungsten is a particular Godsend to the bass-angling community. Tungsten’s denser properties have given anglers the upper hand when it comes to penetrating the thickest of mats. Several years ago, anglers were relegated to large, 1-ounce lead weights that didn’t generate the necessary punch to drive a plastic offering through the bass’s roof.
Tungsten weights can pack 1 1/2-ounces of piercing power into a bullet weight that’s the same size as a conventional 1-ounce lead weight.
Setting the hook and getting a bass out of heavy cover has been made easier with super-sensitive braided lines that cut vegetation like a laser.
“Thanks to braid, you hardly even have to set the hook any more; fish basically hook themselves” Surman said. “Several years ago, I took my 10-year old son on his first mat-flipping trip, and he was snatching fish out of that thick stuff like a pro.”
Tiny plastic craw imitators, such as the Gambler B.B. Cricket, the Zoom Critter Craw or the Zoom Ultra-vibe Speed Craw, have become primary components of this technique as well. The small baits are not only well-suited for slipping through the vegetation, they also most accurately resemble what lives in that subsurface jungle.
“It seems that on vegetation lakes like Okeechobee, Toho and even Seminole in Georgia, the bass key on tiny crustacean-type forage that time of year,” Surman said. “I’ve netted a bunch of matted vegetation on all those lakes, and you would not believe the numbers of grass shrimp, prawns and small crawdads that live in that stuff – it’s a whole ecosystem under there.”
“As long as I’m fishing matted vegetation, I’ll go with the tungsten weight and plastic craw,” Morgan said. “When I fish debris piles on a Beaver Lake or Old Hickory-type reservoir, I’ll go with a jig. Debris is usually a lot easier to get through and a 1/2-ounce or 3/4-ounce jig works fine.”
Even fishing rods have become more suited for flipping mats. Advanced graphite fibers make for lighter rods that have the correct action to hook and move big fish from the slop.
“Rod action is critical to this technique,” Surman said. “There used to be basically two classes of rods: spongy fiberglass rods that didn’t have enough backbone to drive a hook home or super-heavy flipping sticks that had no give at all. Now, many rod companies have models that feature solid, middle-of-the-road actions – medium to medium-heavy-action rods that allow for a 30- to 40-percent bend (from the tip down) before the rigid backbone kicks in.
“The biggest upshot to all of these improvements is that novices can employ this technique just as well as the pros. Back in the days of monofilament, lead, bulky plastics and fiberglass rods, you had to really know what you were doing to get fish in the boat with the mat-flipping technique because it was such a low-percentage deal. Only about half of your flips would ever penetrate the mat, and then you were lucky to convert 50 percent of your bites.”
“Nowadays, I can take a guy who’s never even seen a mat before, hand him a 7 1/2-foot medium-action flipping stick loaded with braid and a 1-ounce tungsten weight, and he can dunk a B.B. Cricket behind me and catch fish just like I do.”