Pad edges and pad pockets were hit & miss - mostly few strikes. But then I remembered a technique I used for bass that involved a weedless lure run across the pads and allowed to pause near openings. In the case of panfish, I worked a jig & grub on top of pads and 3' from the edge and then allowed the lure to drop over the edge in open water. Dang if the fish didn't came out from under the pads and smack the lure!
The jig is not weedless so I had to work it a bit faster than a weedless bass lure.
Remedy that might work: make small jigs weedless.

I have caught fish on weedless jigs in the past but usually on jigs with larger hooks. I had some thin wire sitting around and attached a wire weed guard that depresses pretty easy but not to much on this #6 hook:


Should be interesting to see how many fish are hooked and whether this will do okay near pad edges.