Perch

Hey All, I am pretty new to bass fishing and my experience is solely on lakes in Georgia, but I definitely have the fishing bug. Next week, I am heading out to Phoenix, AZ to visit some family out there. They live on a golf course and my father has told me that there is a couple acre pond that people fish and he was told there are 6-8 pound bass and big catfish in it. We plan to fish the pond when we are out there and I am going to send out some cheap Ugly Sticks for me and kids to use and keep out there. I have a couple questions: 1. What type of tackle and/or fishing techniques would you recommend? We will be fishing from the shore. I was thinking about worms and soft plastic swim baits. Maybe some cranks and spinners to experiment. 2. Is there an easy (and relatively cheap) way to buy tackle - like a starter package - or should I just go to tackle warehouse or bass pro shops and order worms, hooks, spinners, etc? I thought about taking a small tackle bag with me, but I can only assume that my wife will be annoyed by that. Also, it will be nice to keep some equipment out there. Any advice on pond fishing, tackle, techniques, etc. is appreciated. Most of my bass fishing has been done on a couple 100 acre lake from a boat or a dock. No bank fishing experience. Thanks in advance!

I am pretty new to fishing and appreciate the post, as well roadwarrior's link which I had not seen. I have had much success using an Aaron Martens Shakey Fish jig paired with a Zoom white fluke or Gulp fluke. I've nailed some big fish this winter fishing this in deep water and around a dock. Have also caught fish swimming it horizontally along shorelines. For worms, I have just started using Senkos and have not caught anything. My go-to worm over the summer was from a company called Touchdown and it is essentially a worm with two hooks with a Carolina rig. Not sure if it is a purist set up, but they caught fish for me all summer. For Senkos (and worms with a Texas rig) do people fish them in open water (depths of 15-30 ft), or just near the banks and observable structure? I haven't caught anything with a worm in open water, yet the way people talk on here and what I see on the fishing shows, it looks like that is what people are doing. Thanks!

I just started bass fishing last summer and have had most of my success with worms and swimbaits on a jig. This weekend, I was getting no bites using worms and Gulp simbaits when I noticed lots of bait fish swarming at the top of the water line in relatively deep water. The bait fish were silver with black backs, so I took out an x-rap with similar colors, cast just beyond the baitfish and reeled in quickly. I think I caught a fish on my second cast. I wound up catching several fish within a two hour period, including a six pounder and an 8 pounder (on my last cast of the night!). I will note that I tried multiple rapala shallow water crankbaits and they all had a similar color to the baitfish and all did well. The 8 pounder was caught on a rapala "flat rap" in chrome. I will say that taking the hooks out of a fish caught on a crankbait with treble hooks is much more time consuming and cumbersome than with a worm/jig. I was happy to be catching them though!