Conference wahoo::fishing

    YO,
        It works. I prefer the moss master however. (rebel) Throw it
    in the slime and work it relatively slow letting it drop a little
    below the surface. Pull/ slack/pull/slack type of retrive. Good
    lure..
                                       NIGHTCRAWLER~~~~~~~~~

    	One slight question.  How HEAVY are these things??????  Will
    they bore through 3 inches of moss and millfoil on the surface????
    If not, then NIGHTCRAWLER's method of fishing it won't work on my
    lake.  (people use oars rather than electric trolling motors to
    get through this stuff!)  Now hog-frogs hooked texas style with
    1 oz. slip sinkers skip on the surface of this stuff.  (Exciting
    to watch the surface EXPLODE when one of them comes up to inhale
    whatever is disturbing the surface, though.)  So, will it bore through
    this stuff and catch the ones hiding under the moss?

    Dat Waynes rite!! Don chere we gor duck moss, coontail moss an water
    hycenths but we gor nuttin lak dat milfoil!! Wayne showed me dat
    stuff an it stay on chore lures eben after it dries!! Lak fishin
    ober a chane link fence!! We gonna send him som nutria to eat it
    op!! Den he hab sometin to shoot in de fall... an trap too.. Dey
    do a gud job on dem water hycens, an dem gaters do gud job on dem.
    
    Dat Waynes a gud fishermon, wished we cuda gon whil I wuz dere.
    
    Coonass

    YO Wayne,
               Use the drop method in free water. It moves nice across
    the muck. The river I fish you can almost walk on! It just moves
    through the slime and muck, lilly pads and brush and bog nicely.
    It is THE best lure for this type of fishing....
                                                      NIGHTCRAWLER~~~~~
    

I've seen Moss-Boss types of lures fished across thick duckweed on TV and
seen how bass come up and suck them under, but I've never really had any
success fishing this way.  Although I don't have a Moss-Boss, I do have
other weedless baits (including weightless Texas-rigged worms) that I've
fished slowly across lily pads, but I'be never had a bass come up from
underneath to engulf my lure.  I have had bass take the lure when it
reaches a small opening or pocket though. 

What's the secret?  I fish them real s-l-o-w, I fish them fast, but no 
explosion of lily pads!

-HSJ-

    Joe,
           The river I mainly fish near home is full of muck and green
    slime with weed. I fish the moss master with a steady slow retrieve.
    It is uncanny how it always lands belly down and hook up. It is
    also a very heavy lure so an appropriate rod is needed. When casted
    I usually let it sit for a minute so the fish have an idea where
    it is then I start the retrieve (med-slow). It is the ugliest lure
    in my box and the one you would least expect to catch fish on...
    My favorite is the frog pattern. You can also retrive for 10 feet
    or so and then let it sit, retrive, let sit but I have had most
    of my fish hit on a staedy retrive. I have no idea what the fish
    think this thing is since they can't even SEE IT!, but it is the
    only lure for these conditions in my books. If you can't find it
    let me know.
                                         NIGHTCRAWLER~~~~~~~~~~`

    	I had designed a lure that I was going to build out of wood
    that looked exactly like the Moss Boss. I couldn't believe it when
    I saw the exact same thing in a Bass Pro catalog. Kind'a took the
    wind out of my sails and I never did build (or buy) one.
    
    	Joe, I have caught bass dragging lures (usually worms with
    weedguard type hooks) over the tops of pads. The days that I remember
    being most successfull were hot sunny days. The fish would go deep
    into the pads evidently to get out of the sun. This is especially
    true in areas without any other cover. A good example of this would be
    Greenwood Lake on the first cove on the right from the launch. I
    have found a green Snatrix (water snake) to be deadly over there
    on occasion when fished through/on top of the weeds.
    
	This is really not much different then night time top water
    fishing except you do it in the day time with a different choice
    of lure. It's just as exciting though.
    
    	RAYJ    

    	My best luck for fishing the top of moss, pads, etc. where it
    is real heavy is to toss the lure out on top of the moss, let it
    set for a minute or there-abouts (depends on how much patience you
    have that day), then I twitch or hop it across the top of the moss
    like a frog hopping.  I have the best luck when I use a steady hopping
    motion.  Seems the fish are better able to anticipate where the
    next point of impact will be to try to get whatever it is disturbing
    the surface.  Just be sure to wait till you feel the pressure to
    set the hook and then WORM ROD SET IT!  You have to pull the hooks
    through both the moss and the fish's mouth.  (I figured out this
    retrieve after watching a small blackbird get nailed by a Pike through
    the moss.)
    	The other way is to drag the lure across the surface in a steady
    type retrieve.  If the lure is heavy, this disturbs the surface
    moss enough to make the fish think it is possibly a mouse or ???
    running across the moss.  If you stop the lure, try to make the
    stops in a rythmetic pattern so that the fish can anticipate where
    the next stop will be.  When using either retrieve, STOP the bait
    at the edges of moss or pads and let it set like dead for a little
    while.
    	Last, but not least, be ready to DUCK the lure as it travels
    back toward your head at 40 MPH after the moss explodes and you
    set the hook by reflex action when the fish misses the bait!  It's
    AMAZING how fast one of those lures travels when it starts out 2'
    above the surface of the water.  :-)  

    	Just a few comments.
    Re.2  This baby wasn't intended to be used under the moss and guck.
     It does make those bass blast through the thick surface stuff to
    get at it though.
    Re.5  The "secret" is to get a real Moss Boss, a substitute or other
    so called weedless lure just won't cut it.  The exception perhaps
    being the moss master which I haven't even heard of up here in Canada.
    Re.6  I guess this moss master is a new bait?  Where can I get one
    to try in a one on one competition with my Boss?
    Re.8  Good point.  You get pretty good at ducking fast flying baits
    until you get on to waiting (what seems to be forever) till you
    feel the weight of the bass.  What is happening is you are striking
    at the commotion and the visual strike instead of actually feeling
    the fish.  Wait an extra moment and your catch rate will easily
    double or triple.
    
    Happy Bossin'