My little niece, Gwen, seems to be turning into quite a dedicated fisherman. I see her fish when we go up to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula every year on our family vacation. She really seems to enjoy it, but there are so many other things to do there.

She really has gotten the fishing bug. Her dad, Stu, tells me that she always is asking him to go fishing. He takes her to a park district lake near their home. He rigs her up with nightcrawler pieces and lets her have at it. She catches a lot of bluegills and a bass every once in a while. She takes pictures on her phone and sends them to me.

Stu told me that the park district lake they go to is choked by weed growth. The hardest thing they have to do is to look for open pockets of water near the shoreline where Gwen can cast her bait. The pockets are hard to find and difficult to present a bait into.

Are you thinking what I am thinking? I’ll bet you are. Frog fishing leaps into the forefront of my mind. Frog fishing is made for waters like this little lake. Also, if Gwen is catching small bass there, I am willing to wager there also are some big bass swimming in there.

In the interest of writing this column, I found it necessary to check this situation out. I am merely your servant, after all, and I’ll always be willing to do research for my readers.

I went to the pond and Stu wasn’t kidding. The water was really thick with weeds over most of the top. You’ll see a lot of different vegetation floating on top of our area’s waterways. Sometimes, it will be covered with a green scum, and that is not good. There usually is nothing swimming under it and your lure will get clogged up as soon as it hits the water.

You are looking to find green weed, which provides cover from the strong rays of the sun for fish to hide under. The weeds also emit oxygen and make the shallow water rich and fertile. When the weather is hot and the sun is high overhead, fish will usually be relaxing under the weeds that grow thick on top of the water.

Most fishermen avoid this weed growth like the plague, and that is a major area. They avoid the weeds because it is hard to fish through them using traditional methods. Cast almost any type of lure and you’ll get hung up on the weeds. You’ll barley be able to make a crank or two on your reel without picking up a huge pile of “salad.” You’ll give up immediately and begin to look for open water. Doing that will be a lost opportunity.

What you need to do is to try frog fishing. You’ll need a very stout rod for this. Spool up with heavy line. Try something like Power Pro in a 30-pound test. No leader is necessary.

This is heavier weight gear than you’d ever use with the exception of fishing for big pike or muskie fishing. The reason isn’t because of the size of the fish, but because you are going to have to horse your fish out of a mass of weeds when the fish stubbornly tries to tangle your line in the slop.

For your bait, you’ll be using an artificial plastic frog. There are dozens on the market. Experiment until you find the one you like best. Dave Kranz uses the Spro frogs. I like the Snag Proof brand and even better is Snag Proof’s Ish’s Phat Frog, designed by bass professional Ish Monroe.

Frogs can get pricey, but I’ve never found the price to equate to effectiveness. What I find important is how long the frog lasts. If they open up and fill with water after catching a fish or two, I’d try something else.

Now that you are geared up, you need to hit the water. Cast your bait out. Let it land in the slop and wait until the water stops moving, then twitch your frog. Reel in a little bit, twitch it again and reel again.

Now comes the hard part. I can explain this but you’ll have to learn it from practice. You’ll make a few mistakes, but that’s just the way it has to be. The fish will hit your frog. It may be a violent splash or it may just be a boil on the water. No difference, the bass is going to eat your frog and you are going to see him do it.

The natural tendency is to set the hook. Don’t do it. If you set the hook right away, you are going to rip the hook right out of the mouth of the fish. You have to wait until he has it good. Wait for the frog and the fish to totally disappear under the water.

Now you can set the hook. Set the hook and set it really hard. You aren’t going to hurt the fish and you aren’t going to break the rod. Set the hook like you really mean it.

Now hang on and start reeling while the bass tries to wind its way through a veritable forest of weeds. In the end, you will win and land the bass.

Frog fishing is my absolute favorite fishing technique. So, how was that weed-covered park district pond my niece Gwen goes to? Let’s just say there are more fish and bigger fish under the weeds than there are in the open pockets. Sorry, but Gwennie has sworn me to secrecy as to the lake’s location.

• Steve Sarley writes about the outdoors for Shaw Media. Write to him at sarfishing@yahoo.com.