MFBAB

Anything white or bone can be good, especially for the ponds with shad like most of the ones adjacent to the Wolf - this includes Grove. Bream colored stuff is good too right now, they are up bedding on this full moon cycle Do you guys see many people keeping bass out of the ponds? Just curious, I haven't run into too many folks keeping fish, but I have hit a few ponds that were dink city, which to me is a big sign that they need to start coming out. One thing I will say, if you fish a lake like that, it is probably a good big bream pond! There's one near me (sorry, lake x) that I can go to and literally catch 15-20 bass in an hour-not kidding, but I've never seen a fish over 1.5 lbs come out of it-and it is loaded with stud bream. I catch and release on ponds other than private ones under a management program, but there are definitely times when keeping a few unders can be good for a pond. This is an excerpt from a pond management article on the MDWFP website: Small Bass Issues Currently, the most common problem Fisheries Biologists encounter in Mississippi farm ponds is an abundance of small bass from 8-14 inches. A few large bass are usually present and the bream are hand-size -- really nice. Catch rates of small bass are high and body condition is usually poor. They appear skinny and have shallow or inverted bellies. They may have large heads and small bodies. If you are a bream angler this is the idea situation to have. If you want larger bass, you have a problem. The problem is there are too many bass for the amount of food present, so they all grow very slowly and die after 6-7 years before reaching a good weight. If you don't harvest the bass in a pond after they are 2 years old it is almost certain to become bass-crowded with slow growth rates. Full Article: http://www.mdwfp.com/fishing-boating/pond-assistance/small-bass-issues.aspx

I agree on Kroger, it seems to be well maintained other than some litter, but the grass is cut. I didn't see one there, but that's my only experience. Ranger, welcome to the party! I fished Rockyford this morning.

10-4!! I hate snakes, haven't been seeing many so far this spring/summer but I'm always watching where I walk.

Had a fun morning today. I saw the first Hummingbird of the year (for me), saw a red Fox, and did something I've never done before...caught a crappie on a Buzzbait I've caught a lot of them on spinnerbaits and even once flipping a jig, but not ever on topwater. Also caught one pretty nice bass and a few dinks. Is anyone else fishing??

No, I haven't tried the one on Altruria. This was actually my first time fishing the pond behind Kroger as well. It was a little odd, I fished for about an hour and caught only 2, but the funny thing was that they were on back to back casts and pretty soon after I arrived. I thought I was getting ready to put the hurt on them pretty good for a minute there:)

Here's a suggestion for next time you go: RUN POINTS! Take only 3 rods: - Rig up a topwater (floating frog, ribbit frog, buzzbait if the grass allows it, etc..., - A medium running crank (bandit 200) or spinnerbait (for the spinnerbait use a heavy head but a small blade so you can reel it faster), Swimbait, whatever. - And a bottom rig like a C-rig, shaky, or T-rig with a worm, craw, creature or Lizard on it. Just go from point to point, skip everything in between. Obviously, with the topwater you can throw it over the grass, for the others you'll probably be fishing offshore at whatever depth it gets clear enough to run those baits across the tips and sides of the points. Cover water. Vary your retrieves, even with the plastics on the bottom. Stroke it, slow roll it on the bottom, lift/drop like normal, until you get bites. Vary your angles, on one point fish the sides, on another drag it across the tip, on another, try to retrieve it uphill, until the fish tell you something. You can hit the entire lake if you're fishing points this way, make 2-3 good casts with each rig on each point until you start to get some bites, and move to the next one. Once you get a few bites, then you will begin to see how they are holding and you can fine tune your pattern from there. - Are they on the main lake points, secondary points, or back in the backs of the creeks? - Are they on top, middle or bottom? - Are they in shade? For a 4th rod, bring something to pitch into the holes in the grass, on the points. A 1/2 oz. flipping jig is a good choice, use a skinny craw trailer or something that won't snag the grass in the tentacles. Again, don't finesse them, let it fall to the bottom, twitch it a couple of times, maybe jig it a little at the top on the way out in case they're suspended at the top of the mat, and move on. Just try to cover a lot of water, and limit yourself to just a few good casts/presentations per point. Treat each point like a reset on your concentration, you will stay sharp if you know you only get 3 casts per rod before you have to pick up the other presentation. If you look at as many points on that lake as you can, you should find a few fish and hopefully learn a lot about the lake in the process. BTW, some version of this approach is a good way to learn most reservoir style lakes Also, there are definitely times to slow down and fish finesse, but if you're trying to learn a lake, this is the best way I know. You need to know where the fish are to some extent before you can slow down, otherwise you could spend the whole day in a dead area. That is where covering water pays off, if you hit enough points and eventually get enough bites, you should begin to learn what type of places they are feeding on. Once you've learned the areas to fish, then you can slow down and fish them more thoroughly, but I would commit to the run and gun style for a trip or two before worrying about that. And yes, there are some fish in the mid lake trees there, and there are some fish on the dam, and there are some straight banks that will have fish too, but the point deal is just a rock solid way to eliminate about 90% of the lake and get to covering some water fast. Those other patterns are just burning the clock unless you already know where the fish are.

I fished it this morning, only 2 bites (and missed 2) but one was about 5 lbs, spawned out female. The fish looks horrible in the pic, but it was just in muddy water and a little bleached out. Otherwise, pretty healthy fish.

A pond hoppers worst nightmare :) This is at Chickasaw Gardens in Memphis, the pond is a Memphis Park, not a private SD pond, but still no fishing allowed

There's uually a good topwater bite there early and late, it goes a little longer during the day if you've got some clouds and or chop on the water. After that it will tend to be a matter of either going down into the grass after them, or fishing the grass edge around points and drop-offs. I don't know what you mean by deep, but I wouldn't worry too much about anything beyond about 15' there, for the most part that is about the depth where the grass edge will be. Again, the recent post about Glenn in the pond hopper thread (by gr8outdoors) is pretty solid. If you can read that one again and start to apply that info, you are on the right track, IMO Good Luck!! One other thing about Glenn, I haven't had a ton of luck finessing them there, at least not the way most people think of finesse. I will use some finesse type baits, but on heavier heads and worked faster than most people do. That is pretty clear water by our standards here, and they will reject you more often if you let them get too good a look at it.

Ha, Grove is one of those ponds that you never get many bites on (my experience)....But the quality is there. I've honestly had an equal or greater number of 5+ bites there to dinks. I never remember getting more than 2-5 bites on a given trip, but half of those are studs. I just don't get to fish it much because of distance. I usually only fish for about an hour or 2 tops at a pond that size, it helps to keep the concentration level up for me. One tip on Grove, and ponds in general, I think it's important to be quiet and sneaky there, those fish see a lot of baits. You will see those v-wakes shooting out from the bank in front of you a lot over there if you're not a little stealthy. As far as Halle (C-ville civic), the best thing I've found to focus on there is the edge of the grass, it drops off at that point. The trouble is that you can't really parallel it from the bank because of the angle. That edge is too far off the bank to get a parallel retrieve so you have to fish it perpendicular and get something to hang on that edge as long as you can. Dropshpot, crig, trig, weightless fluke or senko, just try to deadstick a plastic bait on that edge. I try to get a bait on the grass edge around points, indentions, any irregularities. That lake would fish a lot easier from a boat though, imo. Again, that's another one I don't fish a lot because of the distance and also because there are a lot of ponds I like to bank fish on better.

I was there around sunrise on Wednesday. I only had 4 bites in an hour or so, but I never seem to get a lot of bites at Grove the few times I've fished there. #1 I missed #2 was a 7 lbr that got off at the bank, it jumped 4-5 x during the fight, just a tough one to get in on the bank. #3 was a 1 lbr #4 was the one in the pic, spawned out female about 5 lbs, probably would've been 6 a couple of weeks ago

Thought I'd share a little redneck invention I came up with. Basically, I was sick of the standard "selfie" bass pics and decided to come up with a quick, easy, cheap and functional way to get a better pic when fishing the ponds alone. This was yesterday without the camera holder: This was this morning (early ) with the camera holder: Here it is: Very simple, and it fits in my fanny pack. I was able to use it today with an iphone without ever having to let go of the fish during setup, which I like A LOT!! The fish was out of the water for maybe a minute total and released in good shape. Basically, you just take it out, set it on the ground, take your iphone and set it on a 10 second timer, lay the phone in the holder with the screen facing away from you, and get ready for the pic. Easy as pie and you get a good high resolution pic instead of the poor quality selfie pics . Also, these are dirt cheap to make, you can make a few and leave one in the boat and anywhere else you might need it. And it floats Hope someone can use this!! Also, these came on buzzbaits, the top one was at Grove park (both pics) and I lost one a couple of pounds bigger that morning. The bait on the pic is a Cavitron, but the larger one hit a SK Tri Wing. The other one was in another Shelby County pond in an undisclosed location That was a fun catch because I was standing on a bulkhead about 4' above the water, so I had to dead-lift that 5.5 lbr up to me on 17 lb Excel :) That was on a cavitron also, and it held up to the punishment pretty well. BTW, that was an excellent post re: Glenn Springs by gr8outdoors, he gave a lot of good advice there!!

Here are two important things to bring to the ponds right now: 1) A Buzzbait!! They are working good on every local pond I've hit in the last couple of weeks!! Don't put a trailer hook on it unless you want to catch about twice as many fish though 2) Also, please bring a trash bag and something to pick up some of the junk along the bank!! Most of the ponds I've fished are full of garbage right now, I just take a lap after I fish and load up a walmart bag, takes 5-10 minutes and makes fishermen look GOOD instead of BAD!! Most of the garbage is styrofoam bait boxes and stuff other fishermen put there, not good. If you drive down I-55, Mississippi has a "No Litter" campaign going. The billboards show a deer hunter and basically frame hunters as major litterbugs, fishermen don't look much better. If we want to improve our image as outdoorsmen in the general public, we need to start doing a better job out there!! Even if that means picking up after other people who don't know any better OK, off the soapbox. 'Good Luck w the Buzzers!!

Don't say another word, good smallie fishing in Memphis is hard to come by :)

Throw a rattle trap in the grass mats. Warning: You will spend a lot of time cleaning off your hooks but you will catch a lot of bass too. If you're not fouling your hooks and ripping it, you aren't catching You've probably got a month or so before the grass gets too thick for traps.

Nice! Here's a link to the free Navionics online map viewer. This might be useful for the people who don't have a lake map for TB, or other lakes for that matter. http://www.navionics.com/en/webapp

This is a great article about structure fishing, enjoy! http://www.rbbassfishing.net/2010/11/16/bass-science-%e2%80%93-what%e2%80%99s-the-point/

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime. - Chinese Proverb Catt, This is an amazing thread you have given us, I think the above quote should be your signature line! I just stumbled across this one a few days ago and I am hooked, I already ordered a Hook and Line map and plan on going through the whole thread with it. I've never been on TB and may never fish it, but I can tell that this isn't just about fishing on "Toledo Bend" per se - although I'm sure many TB anglers have benefitted immensely from it, this is about bass fishing PERIOD. I see a lot of the posts where someone is asking for the "hot bait" or where to go for their particular fishing trip, they just want to "eat for a day"...If I am right, the real point of this thread is to teach people to "eat for a lifetime" by teaching them how to read a map, how to locate fish holding structures, migration routes, etc, and apply that info to ANY LAKE, not just Toledo. I love the way you are making guys ask you questions and think about the map a little before you add your comments, nothing good comes for free. The ones that embrace your teaching methods are going to come away from this thread with a vastly improved fishing acumen! Catching bass isn't about a hot bait, it's about finding bass. Catt clearly understands this and if you will take the info in this thread to heart and apply it to your own lakes, I believe you can learn everything you need to know about bass fishing anywhere from this thread! Fortunately, I've got a few Lowland flood control reservoirs just down the road from me along I55 and from what I'm reading they are very similar to TB. Some of those pictures of the timber at low water could have been shot on my lakes You ever been on Sardis, Enid, Grenada or Ross Barnett Catt? Thanks, I look forward to burning the oil on this one for a while Rob PS - You oughtta give em some assigned reading, maybe Spoonplugging by Buck Perry! Also, I know this Franken-thread has sort of taken a life of it's own, thanks to all of the others who have contributed to it as well!!

Thanks, That's exactly what I was looking for. I see it at the bottom of this thread, but for some reason it isn't present when I go to the thread I was wanting to print out. Go figure. I already did it the hard way, the thread in question is Catt's monster Toledo Bend tutorial (over 2k posts), I came across it in the archives and got hooked :) Thx, Rob

jhoffman - Thanks. That only prints out the page you are on, not the whole thread. I am looking at a thread that is about 145 pages long:) Most forums have a "print thread" option somewhere, that is more what I am looking for. thx, Rob

I just started reading a pretty long thread, is there a way to print it out? Thx, Rob

RW - You said in the first post, if you never caught another fish under 3lbs that would be OK w/ you, right? Then, in this last post, you guys caught 70 multispecies the other day, with the 2 largest bass at 3 and 5. Can you honestly say that your trip would have been just as much fun if you just scratched the other 68 and those 2 fish were the only ones you guys caught all day? I'm really not trying to be a stirrer, but I've had many days fishing over there very similar to the day you described; and yes, the days you get a big smallie probably stand out a little more, but those 70 fish days are still a blast, especially when TVA is jacking around with the water flow. At least to me they are

Get a fly rod and some of that white nylon rope/cord. Cut a piece a couple of inches long off, clip a swivel to one end, melting with a lighter helps to keep it attached, then fray the other end out a little. How to fish it: Put it on the end of a short leader, 3-4' should be fine and basically sight fish for them. It is similar to fishing with a weightless fluke. The nylon will snag in their teeth so you don't need a hook for this. No joke, this works pretty good it you can see them.

Hey RW, I saw your pics from Sunday and I'm kinda jealous, he he Seriously, congrats on a great day to you guys. We haven't been to the river since before Thanksgiving, I plan on changing that early in 2012 for sure. I'll shoot you an email next week, I'd love to hook up and rip some lips after Christmas sometime.

I fish the Yellow Cr to the Dam section more than the section from Yellow up towards Wilson Dam, mainly because it's a little closer to Memphis and I've got a free place to stay on Yellow Cr. The channel is definitely easier to follow as you go upriver towards Wilson Dam, especially from about Bear Creek on up, just because it gets narrower and more riverine. In other words, a creek mouth looks like a creek mouth, the current and eddy's are very visible, islands are really islands instead of underwater humps, etc. Compare the width of Pickwick above and below the dam at Counce and you'll see what I mean, it is similar to the area up at Wilson Dam/Florence - at least in terms of the width. Some good areas to try for offshore fishing on the dam end are above and below Stateline Island (more or less from Panther to Dry Creek) and the area out from Pickwick Landing, there are lots of humps with little creeks cutting through them along these stretches. I'm usually trying to find something that tops out at less than 10-15' and has a reasonably fast drop to deeper water on at least one side of it, preferably on the side of the main channel (current). Most of the really sheer dropoffs, like directly adjacent to the main channel, are pretty deep on that end of the lake, like the shallow side of it may be 30' deep or more dropping into 60', so I tend to gravitate towards the areas like I described above, even though they may be several hundred yards off of the main channel. Now if you go way upriver, you will find the ledges directly adjacent to the channel that top off in shallow water with those sharp drops like you are looking for. They exist on both ends, they're just covered up by more water as you get closer to the dam. A good way to prospect on the offshore stuff is with a heavy C-Rig or FB jig, like 3/4 or even 1 oz, drag it around and when you feel a rough patch you are probably on a shell bed, toss out a marker buoy or drop a waypoint on it and fish it good, a lot of times you'll actually drag up mussel shells on your rig, that is a good sign - even if you don't catch a fish right then, they will be there at some point almost guaranteed. Drop one over when you get a bite too, it is pretty common to catch more than one on a spot offshore. Unfortunately that goes the other way too, you can go for a long time without a bite, you can be on the right type of structure at the wrong time, that's one of the things that makes it hard to develop confidence in fishing open water. I was right where you are a couple of years ago on ledge fishing and I still have plenty of days on Pickwick when I can't figure out what to do, but if you hang with it for a while it will get better.