When you're fishing the thick vegetation and diverse cover, knowing when to peg your weight—and when not to—can make all the difference. Epic Baits Fishing pro Justin Cooper breaks down his go-to strategy for getting more bites and keeping more fish pinned.
“For me, it all comes down to the type of cover I’m fishing,” says Cooper. “Traveling across the country to fish we use a lot of weights—a lot of tungsten weights—and the Epic Tungsten from Epic Baits is my go-to. But there’s a time to peg, and there’s a time not to.”
When Not to Peg
“If I’m fishing around vegetation like eelgrass or hydrilla, I don’t peg my weight,” Cooper explains. “The reason is simple: I don’t want my worm to punch too deep into the grass. When you don’t peg your weight, the tungsten slips down into the vegetation, but the bait stays up top—right where the fish are feeding.”
In these situations, leaving the weight unpegged keeps the presentation more natural and visible. “It lets the worm kind of float and dance above the grass, and that’s often the key to getting bit.”
When to Peg
On the flip side, there are times when pegging is the best choice. “If I’m flipping reeds, cypress trees, laydowns, or even deep hydrilla, I always peg my weight,” Cooper says. “That keeps the bait and weight together as one unit, so it gets through the cover clean and stays compact.”
Not only does pegging improve accuracy and penetration, but it also helps with bite detection. “When your weight is separated from your bait, sometimes it can give you a false sense of a bite. Pegging it keeps everything together and helps you feel the real strikes more clearly.”
To make that happen, Cooper uses Epic Weight Pegs to keep his setup locked in and dialed for tough cover.
Whether you're fishing matted vegetation or heavy wood cover, Justin Cooper’s advice boils down to understanding your environment. “It’s all about how your bait moves through the water and how fish are reacting. Adjusting your rig with something as simple as pegging your weight can help you get more bites—and land more of them, too.”
With Epic Tungsten Weights and Weight Pegs in his arsenal, Cooper’s approach is all about precision and efficiency. Follow his tips, and you'll be putting more bass in the boat in no time.