Macrophyte Mastery

Its stems sprout small waxy-green leaves that crowd together toward plant tips. Typically, waterweed grows in softer sediments enriched with organic matter. Some of these areas lie in shallow water, although this plant often grows to depths beyond 25 feet. Like coontail, elodea tolerates lower light conditions and murkier water, which often allows it to remain evergreen, continuing photosynthesis through winter.

“Waterweed is probably the most common overwintering plant,” Radomski says. “Larger panfish seek it because it produces considerable infusions of oxygen, perhaps in greater abundance than other submersed species. And you usually find lots of midge larvae associated with it, which is a key winter food item.”

Searching for overwintering elodea takes time, as the live plants typically grow in isolated patches. Still, even though it can be more elusive than other species, finding a few live patches can seem like finding treasure, often attracting visits from small pods of real palm-stretchers.

Patches cover areas from the size of a typical kitchen to the expanse of a hockey rink. Shallow bays fed by creeks, river backwaters, and oxbow lakes offer top shots at finding wintergreen elodea fields. Marina bays kept partially open by aerators can host elodea and bluegills all winter. Otherwise, late-ice represents a peak phase for finding ’gills in waterweed, as stems sprout new growth early in the calendar year, inviting fresh infusions of life.

Large-leaf Pondweed (Potamogeton amplifolias)—What fishermen call cabbage remains widely familiar, if slightly misunderstood. Big broad leaves furl away from lanky stems that remind you of giant beanstalks. Pondweed holds fish like few other submersed plants. Under ice, though, it only occasionally remains active. Stems of decaying pondweed break underwater, leaves shriveling like dried tobacco. A live pondweed remains erect and intact, brownish leaves absorbing sunrays that generate oxygen. Turbid water, thick ice, or snow cover cut the probability of encountering living plants.

“Large-leaf and fern pondweed [another occasional overwinterer] often intermix with coontail,” Radomski says. “Finding live winter pondweed, which is a relatively frail submergent, indicates a high probability of other persistent macrophyte life and also a good chance of finding panfish.”

Revisiting the “patchy” concept, multiple living plant types in a given area, such as pondweed in conjunction with coontail, accentuate invertebrate and panfish appeal. Further, the presence of bass and pike in these live weed zones nearly assures that panfish swim somewhere in the neighborhood. Keep popping holes until you find those tight-knit schools of thick-bodied bluegills or crappies clustered around small forests of giant beanstalks. These fish feed a bit like birds—pecking baits aggressively then flitting away to avoid predators.