I missed this post until today!
First, let me say I have spent
MANY hours fishing this spot. Too many, in fact.
To those who talk about throwing spinnerbaits, or buzzbaits, or anything with a treble hook on it inside this stuff, I would advise- think again. If the bait makes it more than 5 feet without getting locked onto a rice stem, you're lucky. Stay to the outside with those tactics.
To be honest, fishing that rice bay and the other rice beds on Mississippi can be very frustrating. The bite is affected drastically by the weather. The fish are spread out over hundreds of acres. It's difficult to get a strike close to the boat. It's difficult to get the fish to the boat once hooked.
The first good limit (that I'm aware of) to come out of the rice was caught by the Wilson brothers, many years ago, using pink sluggos.
Tony is right on with his advice- keep moving, and use heavy jigs or soft plastics- there is a lot of water to cover and 95% of it will be non-productive. When you do find a fish though, they can be dandies.
Me, I head to the other end of the lake and have a ball catching 20 smallies an hour on topwaters. I've never won a tournament on Mississippi, but I do have fun.
CCB