What is Tule, and How to Attack It for Western Bass

Need-to-know info on one of the West's most iconic bass habitats.

April 16, 2025 By David A. Brown

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Jimmy Reese was targeting vertical cover, but an isolated horizontal change-up yielded a textbook example of the potential of tules. Working a long stretch of this iconic western habitat outlining a California Delta slough, the seasoned tournament pro spotted a subtle clue. “Did you see that?” Reese asked his practice partner. “A fish just bumped that tule raft.”

As Reese noted, the distinctive push indicated a bass nosing the dead tules wedged into a pocket amid the standing plants. Recognizing the concentrated feeding effort, Reese fired a topwater frog into the pocket and slowly walked the bait across the raft. The second the frog left the cover, a solid Delta largemouth foamed the surface.

Such dramatic takedowns play out on Western fisheries in California and Arizona throughout the year. And while tules are not the only game on the waters where they occur, they’re one of the key players—a bass magnet well worth your attention.

Fisherman in a boat casts a lure at shoreline vegetation. — When tules die off in winter and lie down, creating mats, a heavy punching rig reaches the bass camped out underneath. (Photo by David A. Brown)

DEPENDABLE HABITAT

Pronounced “TOO-lee,” this tall, stalky vegetation with tufted tops is a large species of sedge in the Cyperaceae family. Sprouting with a thick, rounded green stem, the tule plant sports long, grasslike leaves topped by clusters of light brown flowers.

Reaching heights of about 10 feet along creeks and 15 to 20 feet in marshlands, tules play an ecologically beneficial role by filtering water and buffering shorelines from relentless wind and wave influence. This allows other types of plants to take root and reduce erosion. With multiple species occurring in Western waters, the common tule (Schoeunoplectus acutus) is most abundant.

From vast tule berms anchored in Delta peat moss to sparse stands punctuating points to isolated clumps flanking riprap, tules have a long history of producing both numbers of bass and quality fish. No wonder savvy anglers devote significant attention to prospecting them. “Tules are one of my favorite habitat options,” says Orovile, Calif., pro Luke Johns. “It’s just great habitat for everything from crawfish to baitfish to bass. It’s a healthy ecosystem, so it’s a great place for bass to live.”

As for the scope of tule habitat, most fisheries offer scenarios at both ends of the size spectrum. Johns says he’s caught fish in both large and small clusters of tules, but he definitely has a preference.

“Typically, I feel more confident in smaller tule patches because they’re easier to pick apart,” he says. “It’s easier to predict your bites than when you’re going down a massive wall of tules.”

Man on one knee holds up a large bass. — Tournament pro Jimmy Reese enjoys fishing topwaters for bass in tules, but when a finesse presentation is called for, a drop-shot rig or unweighted Senko often gets the nod. (Photo courtesy of Jimmy Reese)

WHEN AND WHERE

While tules are a year-round habitat feature wherever they occur, shallower tules see the most traffic during the spring spawning season. With the ideal blend of cover and feeding opportunities, tules see fish entering and exiting the shallow, secluded areas from pre-spawn though post-spawn. Beyond the ritual of reproduction, this vegetation meets a bass’ need for concealment and ambush feeding.

“March through April is best because the fish inside the tules are more accessible since the vegetation is not yet 8 feet tall,” Reese says. “They die off in winter, so they’re just nubs in the spring.

“Don’t ever give up on tules, though. As they get taller, they start laying down and creating ambush points. You can cast way back into those tules and catch big fish that way.”

While he’ll fish promising tules pretty much anywhere, Reese has a fondness for tules around creeks where baitfish spawn. The food source, he says, attracts bass, and that fish-friendly habitat gives them a place to park.

“I wouldn’t really say that the tide stages dictate when I fish tules. It’s about finding tules at the right depth during certain tide states,” Johns says. “You can always find fish near tules throughout the tide. One thing that I look for to provide more stability is deeper tules. They can be some of the hardest structure, and they’ll offer a consistent way to catch fish.”

“For locating fish, I like low tide because you can fool them with a topwater in the last hour and a half of outgoing tide,” says Reese. “Then, you go back on high tide and methodically place a craw or drop-shot where you know they are.”

PREFERRED PRESENTATIONS

No surprise, Reese loves prospecting tules with topwaters—frogs and black buzzbaits, specifically. He’ll continue his power-fishing with squarebills, bladed jigs and spinnerbaits.

Reese also likes a weedless-rigged swimbait like the Little Creeper All American Trash Fish for slinking along the lower edges of tule lines. Glide baits can be strategic if you’re patient enough to make short pitches into small gaps and holes in tules, but as Reese notes, you must be ready for a quick, violent bite.

"My favorite finesse presentations are a drop-shot and an unweighted Senko,” Reese says. “Bass love natural looking things, so that slow flutter is hard to beat. When you know they’re there, you can catch some big ones by just dropping a drop-shot in there and shaking it.”

For Johns, flipping a Yamamoto Cowboy or Flappin’ Hog tops his power-fishing techniques. In sparse tules, he likes a Chatterbait with a Yamamoto Zako trailer. On the lighter side, he’ll also have a drop-shot with a 6-inch Roboworm in the Margarita Mutilator color, along with the venerable Senko.

“If I can get away with a wacky-rigged Senko, I do better,” Johns says. “If you’re in the meat of it, you can’t get away with that, so you have to use the unweighted Texas-rigged Senko.”

LOOK FOR THE LANE

A classic California Delta scenario features a line of tules flanking a riprap bank, with submerged grass lining the corridor. It’s hard to beat a bladed jig or a swim jig presentation, but keep a Senko ready for following up on missed bites.

“Tules with other vegetation, like grass or hyacinth, and riprap can be very productive,” Reese says. “You have crawfish on one side, shiners on the other and the fish could be spawning in the middle. It’s the best of all worlds.”

Lake shoreline with tule vegetation. — Indigenous people once used tules to make everything from sleeping mats and flour to boats and shelters. (Photo by David A. Brown)

OTHER TIPS

Consider these insightful points to maximize your tule experience.

Mind the Shadows: Tule pockets are cast magnets, but pay close attention to their orientation. These gaps in the vegetation present prime bass lounges, though location determines potential. You may look at a line of tules and think it’s all the same, but there’s always a spot the bass prefer. Specifically, take note of where the shadows fall. Tule pockets facing the sun typically hold fewer fish than they will when shaded. Bottom line: Play the sun’s angle and remember that the fish you found in the morning will relocate to favorable spots later in the day—often the opposite side of a tule berm.
Monitor the Tide: On the California Delta’s tidal waters, tules offer an instant water-height reference. Look closely and you’ll see a dark, muddy water line marking the stalks. Noting whether the water moves up or down in relation to it provides immediate tide status.
Details Matter: At a distance, a tule field might look like a homogenous mass, but shadow positioning, density and contour offer enough unique details to provide a day’s worth of habitat to explore. Variety keeps it interesting, but Johns constantly looks for replicable patterns.

“The best advice I can give anyone is to pay attention to every bit of detail,” he says. “Treat the tules like a lake and look for points and other features. You can pattern these fish when you find them on points, in cuts or in the thick stuff. There will be a pattern somewhere, and it can save you a lot of time once you figure that out.”

TULE TIDBITS

While their relationship to bass is undeniable, tules also hold historical and cultural connections.

The word “tule” comes from the indigenous Mexican word tullin (Nahuatl for “bulrush”). Early settlers from New Spain likened the marsh plants flourishing throughout the Central Valley to those in the marshes around Mexico City.

Notably, tules once lined the now-extinct Tulare Lake, formerly the largest freshwater body in the Western U.S. Located in the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, the lake was drained for land speculation during the early 20th century, but colloquial remembrance remains in the old California phrase, “out in the tules,” which means “beyond far away.”

California’s Native American Indians harvested tules and fashioned shelters, boats and sleeping/sitting mats from the durable stalks. Grinding dried tules yielded flour, while various preparations of the plant held medicinal properties.

Anderson Marsh State Historic Park at the south end of California’s Clear Lake has an authentic Pomo Indian village with handmade tule houses. Elsewhere, the annual Tule Boat Festival, held at Big Valley Rancheria southwest of Clear Lake, offers boat building workshops and team races.