jeremysayshi

Yea, I think I may wait a few more days, maybe a week before I do anything major, but there is a major heat wav right now. High's in the lower 100's with no chance of rain forecasted for the next two weeks. I'll keep an eye on it, and if it continues to evaporate, I'll get with the owner and Fish & Game and see what we can do. I'll try to snap a picture this afternoon so you guys can see how bad it is.

I'm good friends with the owner. He owns all the ponds on the property. It's a golf course, and I live in a house on the course. I'm just transferring the fish from one pond to another on the same property. He doesn't know what to do either and is also concerned, though not AS concerned as I, because he's not a fisherman...but a lot of his paying golf club members and residents fish these ponds so it does bring up concern for him. I'm sure he'd be very pleased if I were to find a way to pull it off. We don't have to remove ALL of the fish just yet, but probably a good majority. Most of the greenery in the pond is is no longer in the water...there's hardly any vegetation left to produce fresh oxygen for the fish. With all the fish crammed into that one spot...it's a very threatening situation.

Tried a net, they swim away and I can't get em. Maybe a giant net, but then there is a ton of brush that would get in the way. No I don't have a pickup, but I have access to one.

I live in Arkansas and we haven't had rain in what seems like ages. Around my house there lives about 9 different small ponds, most of which are drying up at a drastic rate. One pond in particular used to be about half the size of a football field and teaming with fish...a lot of which are some pretty nice bass. This pond is now reduced to the size of your average swimming pool. I can walk across parts that used to be a few good feet deep. I haven't seen any dead fish lying in the dry areas yet (probably because wild animals got them) and it appears that most of the fish are cornered up in that little pool. If I walk beside the water, the whole thing pretty much moves from the fish stirring around. Recently I've been trying to catch as many as I can and transplant them to a larger healthy nearby pond. However, as you can imagine this process is going very slow as I'm (surprisingly) only 2 or 3 per fishing session. I even thought of trying to net them, but there is still enough water for them to shift away from the net, so netting (with a standard net) is out of the question. I need advice. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can catch these fish and transport them on a slightly larger scale. I'm afraid if we don't get a lot of rain soon, the pond will be almost completely dry and we'll lose all the fish in it. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks, Jeremy

Stop it...just stop it...you're going to make me cry!

I often fish small ponds myself, as there are about 9 within walking distance from my house. I've done REALLY well with buzz baits lately. Caught the one you see in my profile pic on a buzz in a small pond. I found that doing a start/stop retrieve with a buzz works well. This produces the effect that the bait is injured or dying (which bass LOVE). I've recently had the most success (strangely enough) with the bigger bass casting out in the middle of the pond in open water as opposed to structure...I know this is totally bass-ackwards :-) but it's been working for me.

Thanks guys...I've been catching a few of these lately, will post more!

Caught in the pond beside my house on a white/yellow buzz bait, gold blades in about 5 fow. 6lbs and again full of eggs. Caught right at 8PM.

Sweet. Congrats on your new PB!!!

Great way to start the year. Nice bass!

Thanks again guys! You'll see more from me soon. I fish daily and will be sure to share my big catches with you. I look forward to seeing some from all of you as well.

She had eggs so I let her go.

Yep, definitely a PB.

Thanks guys. What is PB?

Weighing in a 9lbs, I caught this beauty in almost exactly the same spot as the 3lbs from yesterday. You can see her belly poking out full of eggs. Yet again, caught on my trusty $1 walmart special lime green buzz bait. 8PM, again, the same time yesterday. Very nice fish indeed.

About 3lbs on a light green buzzbait.

I have a couple lakes very similar to that size very close by that I've been fishing daily. I'm AR and it's around 80+ degrees right now. I've had a lot of luck with top waters for the past 2 weeks. Caught several really nice fish using white buzz baits and plastic frogs. I've been particularly pulling them out of lily pads, throwing directly inside lily patches as well as bumping around the edges. The lily pads I fish are in about 6 fow and are pretty much islands in their own right with plenty of open water around them.

You could start a bait shop with all that. Nice.

Yea, no man cave to speak of for me either. My stuff stays in the trunk so I can pull it out and fish at any given time. I live on a golf course with 8 ponds and a river all within walking distance, as well as a lake about 2 miles away. So I'm out fishing daily, I just hop in the car and start casting. Would love a nice cave though.

Nice. I tried to get him all the way in cause I wanted to take a pic, but alas he let go right at the bank. I thought it was a fish at first, sure fought like one but as he came closer my mouth dropped. That sucker was huge. After letting go he came up to the bank a few feet down and sat there as to mock me. Actually I saw him go after it again but he didn't grab it.

Wow, I had no idea. I've been fishing since I was a wee little lad and never had that happen. I'm surprised it's so common.

True story, the craziest thing just happened to me today. I was fishing with a plastic frog in some lily pads and a freakin monster bullfrog gobbled it up. I swear this really happened. Do bullfrogs eat small frogs??

Well, that's 2 for Power Pro...good enough for me. :-) Thanks guys.

That was actually my first choice when browsing...but wanted some more feedback. Know if SpiderWire is any good?

Anyone have suggestions for a good braided line? I'm looking at 10-20lbs test if not more as long as it's light. I'm using an open face reel so it needs to be light until I can get my hands on another baitcaster.