My bladed jig tipped the tops of the emerging milfoil weedbed. A dull weight interrupted the bait’s irregular cadence, at which time my casting rod bent into a solid bow. A minute later, a chunky Pymatuning largemouth bass was swung into the boat.

Submerged vegetation is a primary form of bass cover in many of our region’s lakes and reservoirs. Milfoil is the most common species, though coontail and a variety of pondweeds add to the mix.

Such weed growth is basically limited to waters that have relatively stable levels, unlike Corps of Engineers flood control projects — like Crooked Creek Lake, Loyalhanna Lake and Mahoning Creek Lake — which experience wild fluctuations in levels. Typically, state park lakes such as Yellow Creek, Lake Arthur and Pymatuning support subsurface weeds, as does Keystone Power Dam.

Often, the best (from a fish-habitat standpoint) submerged weed beds are those that feature a mixture of weed types. Such diversity offers a variety of densities and provides numerous edges that gamefish can take advantage of. Less desirable species, such as the invasive hydrilla, which has become established in Pymatuning Lake, exist in thick monocultures that choke out native weeds and offer little for gamefish.

As an angler, when considering a weedbed one should consider the edges it offers, and how best to fish them. In general, weed beds will have an outside edge, a top edge, and often an inside edge. The outside edge is where weedgrowth diminishes, typically at the point where light penetration to the bottom ceases. The clearer the water, the deeper this edge tends to be.

There is also a top edge of the weeds, between the uppermost tips of the growth and the lake’s surface. As summer progresses this zone of “clean water” decreases as weeds extend closer to the surface (and in some cases, eventually reach it). Since submerged weeds rarely grow right up to a lake’s shoreline, there often is an inside edge as well, where the subsurface weeds begin.

Extensive submerged weed beds often feature various levels of thickness — sporadic clumps at times — which offer even more micro edges.

The type of presentation you choose for fishing a weedbed often depends on the characteristics of the cover and edges you intend to target.

In the leading example, we were fishing clumps of milfoil that grew out to around eight feet of water. The bladed jig — in this case a Z-man Chatterbait — was ideal for grinding along the tops of the weeds, making momentary contact and triggering strikes from nearby largemouth bass. The weed beds we were fishing were lengthy, so it made sense to work a bait that covered the water quickly. A swimming jig would have been another excellent choice.

In clear-water lakes like Keystone, where bass can see a bait from a long distance, I like to fish a soft jerkbait (like a Zoom Super Fluke) over the tops of the weeds. This presentation is particularly effective during the morning and evening twilight periods when bass tend to be more active, and more likely to be coaxed up out of the weedgrowth.

A top outside edge presentation is a soft plastic bait rigged Texas-style, a rigging where a light bullet-shaped slip sinker butts up against a wide-gap work hook. Such rigging can be used to present a variety of profiles including worms, beavers and craws.

Light slip sinkers (example: 1/8 ounce) allow for a slow descent and target bass suspended along the outside edge of the weeds. When targeting the bottom, along the outside edge, a heavier Texas rig or flipping jig is appropriate.

Many anglers ignore the inside edge, but it can be productive, especially on clear-water lakes like Keystone where such an edge is found in four- to six-feet of water. Slow sinking worms like a Senko are a good choice here.

Top-waters like the Whopper Plopper can quickly cover the water and dupe active bass cruising the shallows between shore and the inside weed edge. This is also a good twilight tactic.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle